Court TV Honors Great Legal Minds in African American History With Host Phylicia Rashad During Black History Month.

Entertainment Editors

NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Jan. 19, 2000

Who Killed Martin Luther King, Jr? Airing February 4 As Part of

Month Long Special Programming

In honor of Black History Month, Court TV's February schedule will feature Great Legal Minds In African American History. The series of vignettes, hosted by award winning actress Phylicia Rashad will honor ten outstanding African Americans in the legal profession, spotlighting their various accomplishments and achievements. The campaign will air throughout the entire month of February from 8:30-4:00 AM/ET, Monday - Friday and from 1:00 PM- 4:00 AM/ET on Saturday and Sundays.

"Each of the honorees used their unique intelligence and idealism to forward the cause of the American ideal of equality and justice for all," says Phylicia Rashad. Because of her strong passion for education, Rashad supports Recruiting New Teachers (RNT), an organization which encourages the pursuit of careers in education. She also is dedicated to communicating the importance of Fine Arts in education.

In addition to the vignettes, Court TV's February schedule will feature a special edition of its signature prime time series "Crime Stories" when Prime Suspects: Who Killed Martin Luther King Jr.? will premiere February 4 at 10:00 PM/ET. Hosted by Court TV anchor Rikki Klieman, the special will explore the various theories connected with the King assassination.

On Presidents Day Monday, February 21, Court TV will dedicate the entire day of programming to episodes featuring African Americans in law enforcement. Specially selected episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street, and The Client will be shown. The Court Marshall of Jackie Robinson, starring Andre Braugher and Ruby Dee will also air on February 21 at 3:00 PM/ET.

Among those being profiled within the Great Legal Minds in African American History interstitial campaign throughout February are: Thurgood Marshall: Supreme Court Justice; who fought for the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in which racial segregation in U.S. public schools was declared unconstitutional.

Charles Hamilton Houston: Served as editor of the Harvard Law Review and helped to lay the groundwork that led to the historic Brown v. Board of Education.

Julian Bond: A civil rights activist who fought for the rights of the misrepresented and also protested against the Vietnam War. He later was elected as the chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Marion Wright Edelman: A Yale Law School graduate who led rallies to fight for the rights of the impoverished and later founded The Children's Defense fund.

Lutie Lytle: After earning her law degree from Central Tennessee Law School, Lytle went on to become the first woman to teach law in an American university.

Patricia Roberts Harris: Served on the presidential Cabinet for the Carter Administration and was named Secretary for the departments of Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development.

Barbara Jordan: A member of the US congress, she devoted her time to furthering and safeguarding the nation's policies regarding civil rights.

Leon Higgenbotham: The former chief justice of the court of appeals was a mediator in the first South African elections that gave blacks the right to vote. He was then awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom for his distinguished civil service in times of peace.

Damon J. Keith: Known for the landmark decision in U.S. v. Sinclair, commonly known as "The Keith Decision." This decision found that without a warrant, then-President Richard Nixon and then-Attorney General John Mitchell could not engage in wiretap surveillance of three persons suspected of conspiring to destroy government property because the surveillance was in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Elaine R. Jones: Director-Counsel of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund who served as counsel of record in Furman v. Georgia, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that abolished the death penalty in 37 states.

Court TV (www.courttv.com), a basic cable network, provides a window on the American system of justice through distinctive programming, that both informs and entertains. As the first and only cable network dedicated to crime and justice, Court TV broadcasts live trials by day and crime stories in the evening. A service of Time Warner Entertainment and Liberty Media Corp., Court TV's current subscriber base is over 40 million.