Black history is getting more screen time in kids' TV

Driving the news: This year, PBS Kids is introducing two new animated shows that prominently feature Black characters: "Weather Hunters" (created by and starring Al Roker) and "Phoebe and Jay."

• Cartoon Network will premiere a new animated series centered around Nigerian culture and mythology in April.

Catch up quick: "Post-George Floyd, [networks] wanted to have conversations around the racial reckoning and couch it in learning. So situating it around Black history was one of the entryways into the discussion," Kareem Edouard, creative producer of "Work It Out Wombats," tells Axios.

Case in point: "Lyla in the Loop," a show centered around a 7-year-old Jamaican American girl and her family, includes episodes that celebrate Jamaica Day and highlight Black inventors and history-makers like Mae Jemison.

• In "Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum," a time-traveling trio meet Black history-makers, including Willard Wigan, Zora Neale Hurston, Jackie Robinson and Wilma Rudolph.

What they're saying: "You want to tell stories that connect with everybody, but you can't do it generically," Dave Peth, creator of "Lyla in the Loop," tells Axios.

• "What welcomes viewers into the show is keeping it honest, authentic and specific," says executive producer and head writer Fracaswell Hyman.

Zoom in: Studies show that children benefit from seeing positive representations of marginalized groups in the media, even if they are not part of that group themselves.

By the numbers: Nearly 57% of all characters in kid's programming launched in 2023 were people of color, according to GDI data.

• Leads of color have increased in new shows since 2018 and have outnumbered white leads since 2020.
• 63.4% of leads were characters of color in 2023, an increase of 7.3% from 2022.

Yes, but: "One of the issues that we're running into is that not enough Black creators are creating Black stories," Edouard says.

• "When you have shows that are created by Black leads and Black writers, you can distinctly see the difference in how they're shared around the community and the cultural zeitgeist."

The other side: GDI also found that diversity in popular children's programming like Cocomelon, Paw Patrol, etc., is going the opposite way.

• Characters of color make up 52% of all characters, down from 71.9% in 2022.
• The percentage of leads played by people of color in 2023 decreased by 29.5% from 2022.

Zoom out: TV isn't the only avenue to diverse programming.

• Video-sharing platforms like YouTube and TikTok offer kids more ways to access Black history.