Legendary music group The Roots is bringing its children’s animated series on race and social justice to Disney Junior. The series, Rise Up, Sing Out, will be geared to children aged two to seven and will be executive produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, and Latoya Raveneau.
“It is an honor to work with the Disney Junior team to help create a series of shorts that will empower and uplift the future generations in the way we know best, through music,” Questlove and Black Thought said in a statement to The Associated Press. “We hope these shorts will encourage the young audience to recognize and celebrate our differences as human beings while learning the tools to navigate real-world issues of racial injustice,” they added.
In 2017, the group created an animated short for an episode of the ABC show Black-ish discussing slavery.
The series, Disney Junior exec Joe D’Ambrosia said, was created to support families who are navigating conversations about race and other sensitive topics.
“We recognize that many kids are experiencing a multitude of feelings around what’s happening in our world today,” D’Ambrosia said, according to a report by The Hill.
“Our goal with these shorts is to open up the conversation and provide families with the tools and knowledge to address these important topics with their preschoolers in an age-appropriate manner through music and relatable kid experiences.”
The series does not have a release date yet.
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