On the latest episode of GBH's Basic Black, host Callie Crossley is joined by four experts to celebrate and discuss Black love, relationships, and rituals in honor of Valentine's Day this weekend. The episode also explored the history of the Black family and how that history shaped and impacted relationships today. The program further raised how mass incarceration, legislation, and economic prosperity touch the Black family.

Joining the panel discussion are guests Dr. Traci Parker, Associate Professor of African American Studies at UMASS, Amherst; Marita Rivero, President of Rivero Partners and the former director of the Museum of African American History; Dr. Dianne Marie Stewart, Associate Professor of Religion & African American Studies at Emory University and the author of Black Women, Black Love. America’s War on African American Marriage; and Dr. Cecil Webster, Jr., an adult, adolescent and child psychiatrist and psychotherapist.

Crossley begins the show reflecting on the history of Black love, and how the Valentine’s Day holiday is not something Black Americans have always felt the right to claim. Yet Black love thrived throughout the brutal and painful displace of slavery and the oppression of segregation. These days, positive images of Black love reflected in art offer a joyful counterpoint to persistent negative portrayals of African American lives. Webster, Jr., starts the conversation by discussing the term Black love and its wide variety of meanings.

Watch: Webster, Jr., discusses the wide variety of Black love meanings.

Rivero expands on Black love within the extended family and the community. She said it helps us understand just how broad the community is when you think about family, and the institutions within the community that help form the core we need.

Watch: Rivero discusses the power of Black love in the community.

Watch the full episode of Basic Black here.