African American Lives | |
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Also known as | African American Lives with Henry Louis Gates Jr. |
Genre | Family history Genealogy Documentary series |
Written by | Henry Louis Gates Jr. |
Directed by | Leslie D. Farrell Leslie Asako Gladsjo Graham Judd Jesse Sweet Jack Youngelson |
Presented by | Henry Louis Gates Jr. |
Composer | Michael Bacon |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 9 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Henry Louis Gates Jr. William R. Grant Peter W. Kunhardt |
Producers | Leslie D. Farrell Leslie Asako Gladsjo Graham Judd Jesse Sweet Jack Youngelson |
Running time | 55 minutes (roughly) |
Production companies | Kunhardt Productions thirteen WNET Inkwell Films |
Original release | |
Network | PBS |
Release | February 1, 2006 – February 13, 2008 |
African American Lives is a PBS television miniseries hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., focusing on African American genealogical research. The family histories of prominent people of African American descent are explored using traditional genealogic techniques as well as genetic analysis.
The first installment of the series aired in February 2006. The series featured research into the ancestral lineages of eight prominent African American guests. By billing the guests were: music producer Quincy Jones, astronaut and physician Mae Jemison, comedian Chris Tucker, bishop T. D. Jakes, sociologist Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, actress Whoopi Goldberg, physician Ben Carson and talk show host Oprah Winfrey. Writer, host and executive producer of the series, Henry Louis Gates, also features his ancestral heritage on the show. The miniseries featured interviews with the parents and family members of guests including Winfrey's father, Vernon Winfrey. Geneticists Rick Kittles and Mark D. Shriver also make appearances.
The miniseries' four episodes were broadcast over two nights in two parts. On February 1, the first two episodes were broadcast as "Listening to our Past; The Promise of Freedom". The following week, on February 8, the third and fourth episodes aired as, "Searching for Our Names; Beyond the Middle Passage". [1] Re-runs of the series as individual episodes were broadcast following the joint premier both nights. [1] The miniseries was sponsored by Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble who both produced commercials honoring African American heritage for use in the series. [2]
African American Lives 2 premiered in February 2008, again hosted by Gates. This second set of episodes traced the ancestry of performers Morgan Freeman, Tina Turner, Tom Joyner, Chris Rock, Don Cheadle, theologian Peter Gomes, athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, poet Maya Angelou, Bliss Broyard (the daughter of writer Anatole Broyard) and publisher Linda Johnson Rice (the daughter of publisher John H. Johnson).
In addition to these more publicly known guests, Kathleen Henderson, an administrator at the University of Dayton, was selected from more than 2,000 applicants to have her family history researched and to have DNA testing. The show continued the genealogical research into Gates's own ancestry. He learned, to his surprise, that it is at least 50% European, including at least one male ancestor who fought in the American Revolution. Gates was invited to give a speech when he was later inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution. The four episodes of this miniseries are "The Road Home", "A Way Out of No Way", "We Come From People" and "The Past Is Another Country".
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
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First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 4 | February 1, 2006 | February 8, 2006 | |
Special | 1 | January 24, 2007 [3] [4] | ||
2 | 4 | February 6, 2008 | February 13, 2008 | |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Edited by | Original air date [1] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Listening to our Past" | Jesse Sweet | Eric Davies Michael Weingrad | February 1, 2006 | |
Featured guests:
Family interviews in the episode include Winfrey's father, Vernon Winfrey, at his barbershop and home near Cleveland Park in Nashville, Tennessee. [5] Gates' family is interviewed in his father's home town. Seated during the interview are his father, Henry Louis Gates, Sr., aunt Helen Gates Stephens, and brother Paul Gates. Also featured in the series are Chris Tucker's family members. At a large family gathering in DeKalb County, Georgia his two sisters, three brothers, and mother, Mary Louise Bryant, are identified. Tucker's maternal grandfather, Rev. Theodore Arthur Bryant, is formally interviewed by Tucker himself during a quiet moment at the family gathering. The Reverend Bryant also takes the cameras on a visit to his childhood home, now overrun by brush, it was the first piece of land ever owned by his family. In Austin, Texas, bishop Jakes talks with his uncle Hoover Jakes about his grandfather's mysterious premature death surrounded by other unidentified family members. Quincy Jones also talks about his upbringing and family. [2] | ||||||
2 | 2 | "The Promise of Freedom" | Leslie Asako Gladsjo | Joanna Kiernan Geeta Grandbhir | February 1, 2006 | |
Featured guests:
In this episode we find Gates looking for answers about the unknown father of his great-great grandmother's many children and in doing so finds unexpected answers. Gates' father and aunt make appearances, again, as well as Gate's cousin, John Gates, who helps him to find records at the Allegany County court house. During the end credits we see highlights of a Gates' family gathering. Meanwhile Goldberg learns of an attempt of her ancestors' to own land only a few years after gaining freedom. Ben Carson's mother, Sonya Copeland, with her brothers Eddie and John Copeland, sit down to look through old family photos and tell stories for the series. In his sit-down with Gates, Carson discovers a heart warming tale of reunion in his genealogical past. In keeping with the episode's theme of ancestors lives immediately after finding freedom, Oprah Winfrey discovers her family's long ties to education. Also featured in the episode is Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, who learns more information about her grandfather's profession with the historic Utica Normal and Industrial Institute. [6] Consulted professionals:
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3 | 3 | "Searching for Our Names" | Leslie D. Farrell | Merril Stern Kathryn Moore | February 8, 2006 | |
4 | 4 | "Beyond the Middle Passage" | Graham Judd | Kate Hirson Stefan Knerrich | February 8, 2006 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 | 1 | "Oprah's Roots" | January 24, 2007 [3] [4] | |
A special episode consisting entirely of footage from Oprah Winfrey's original interview for African American Lives' first series. |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date [1] |
---|---|---|---|
6 | 1 | "The Road Home" | February 6, 2008 |
7 | 2 | "A Way Out of No Way" | February 6, 2008 |
8 | 3 | "We Come From People" | February 13, 2008 |
9 | 4 | "The Past Is Another Country" | February 13, 2008 |
Due in part to a centuries-long history within the United States, historical experiences pre- and post-slavery, and migrations throughout North America, the majority of contemporary African Americans possess varying degrees of admixture with European ancestry.
Many historians and critics believe that a majority of African Americans also have some Native American ancestry but, according to the experts on this show, it may be much less frequent. [7] [8]
With the help of Mark D. Shriver, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. put African-American ancestry in these terms:
However, critics suggest that the program failed to fully acknowledge to the audience, or inform guests, that not all ancestry may show up in such tests. [10] [11] Full survey DNA testing cannot accurately determine an individual's full ancestry. [12]
In more recent genetic testing research reported in 2015, scholars found that varied ancestries among African Americans related to different by region and sex of ancestors. These studies found that on average, African Americans have 73.2-82.1% West African, 16.7%-29% European, and 0.8–2% Native American genetic ancestry, with large variation among individuals. [13] [14] [15] [16]
The genetic tests done on direct paternal or maternal line evaluate only a few ancestors among many. Ancestral information markers (AIM) must also be done to form a more complete picture of a person's ancestry. [10] For instance, MtDNA testing is only of direct maternal ancestors. AIM markers are not as clearly defined for all populations as suggested, and depend on data still being accumulated. Historic populations migrated, which also influences results. [10] Particularly, geneticists note that genetic analysis is incomplete related to Native Americans, and new genetic markers for these populations may be identified. [10] [11]
Gates has written an associated book, In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past, which was published in early 2009.
The one-drop rule was a legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th-century United States. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry is considered black. It is an example of hypodescent, the automatic assignment of children of a mixed union between different socioeconomic or ethnic groups to the group with the lower status, regardless of proportion of ancestry in different groups.
In biology and genetic genealogy, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as the last common ancestor (LCA), of a set of organisms is the most recent individual from which all the organisms of the set are descended. The term is also used in reference to the ancestry of groups of genes (haplotypes) rather than organisms.
Genetic genealogy is the use of genealogical DNA tests, i.e., DNA profiling and DNA testing, in combination with traditional genealogical methods, to infer genetic relationships between individuals. This application of genetics came to be used by family historians in the 21st century, as DNA tests became affordable. The tests have been promoted by amateur groups, such as surname study groups or regional genealogical groups, as well as research projects such as the Genographic Project.
Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws in the United States that define Native American status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the federal government and state governments as a way to establish legally defined racial population groups. By contrast, many tribes do not include blood quantum as part of their own enrollment criteria.
A genealogical DNA test is a DNA-based genetic test used in genetic genealogy that looks at specific locations of a person's genome in order to find or verify ancestral genealogical relationships, or to estimate the ethnic mixture of an individual. Since different testing companies use different ethnic reference groups and different matching algorithms, ethnicity estimates for an individual vary between tests, sometimes dramatically.
Black Indians are Native American people – defined as Native American due to being affiliated with Native American communities and being culturally Native American – who also have significant African American heritage.
The Malagasy are a group of Austronesian-speaking ethnic groups indigenous to the island country of Madagascar. Traditionally, the population have been divided into ethnic groups. Examples include "Highlander" groups such as the Merina and Betsileo of the central highlands around Antananarivo, Alaotra (Ambatondrazaka) and Fianarantsoa, and the "coastal dwellers" with tribes like the Sakalava, Bara, Vezo, Betsimisaraka, Mahafaly, etc. The Merina are also further divided into two subgroups. The “Merina A” are the Hova and Andriana, and have an average of 30–40% Bantu ancestry. The second subgroup is the “Merina B”, the Andevo, who have an average of 40–50% Bantu ancestry. They make up less than 1/3 of Merina society. The Malagasy population was 2,242,000 in the first census in 1900. Their population experienced a massive growth in the next hundred years, especially under French Madagascar.
Native American identity in the United States is a community identity, determined by the tribal nation the individual or group belongs to. While it is common for non-Natives to consider it a racial or ethnic identity, for Native Americans in the United States it is considered to be a political identity, based on citizenship and immediate family relationships. As culture can vary widely between the 574 extant federally recognized tribes in the United States, the idea of a single unified "Native American" racial identity is a European construct that does not have an equivalent in tribal thought.
DNAPrint Genomics was a genetics company with a wide range of products related to genetic profiling. They were the first company to introduce forensic and consumer genomics products, which were developed immediately upon the publication of the first complete draft of the human genome in the early 2000s. They researched, developed, and marketed the first ever consumer genomics product, based on "Ancestry Informative Markers" which they used to correctly identify the BioGeographical Ancestry (BGA) of a human based on a sample of their DNA. They also researched, developed and marketed the first ever forensic genomics product - DNAWITNESS - which was used to create a physical profile of donors of crime scene DNA. The company reached a peak of roughly $3M/year revenues but ceased operations in February 2009.
Multiracial Americans or mixed-race Americans are Americans who have mixed ancestry of two or more races. The term may also include Americans of mixed-race ancestry who self-identify with just one group culturally and socially. In the 2020 United States census, 33.8 million individuals or 10.2% of the population, self-identified as multiracial. There is evidence that an accounting by genetic ancestry would produce a higher number.
Mark D. Shriver is an American population geneticist. He leads genetic research at the Pennsylvania State University.
Faces of America is a four-part Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television television series hosted by Professor Henry Louis Gates. The series originally aired February 10 to March 3, 2010 from 8–9 p.m. ET. In Australia, this program aired on SBS One each Sunday at 7:30pm from 9 -30 January 2011.
In Brazil, a sarará is a multiracial person, being a particular kind of mulato or juçara, with perceivable Black African facial features, light complexion and fair but curly hair, called cabelo crespo, or fair but Afro-like frizzly hair, called carapinha, cabelo encarapinhado or cabelo pixaim. In the 1998 IBGE PME, 0.04% of respondents identified, in an inquiry on race/colour, as "sarará".
Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans occurred during the Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic. The interbreeding happened in several independent events that included Neanderthals and Denisovans, as well as several unidentified hominins.
The inhabitants of Latin America are from a variety of ancestries, ethnic groups and races, making the region one of the most diverse in the world. The specific composition of the group varies from country to country. Many have a predominance of European-Amerindian or Mestizo population; in others, Amerindians are a majority; some are dominated by inhabitants of European ancestry; and some countries' populations have large African or Mulatto populations.
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a documentary television series hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. that premiered on March 25, 2012, on PBS. In each episode, celebrities are presented with a "book of life" that is compiled with information researched by professional genealogists that allows them to view their ancestral histories, learn about familial connections and discover secrets about their lineage.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is a trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. He rediscovered the earliest known African-American novels and has published extensively on the recognition of African-American literature as part of the Western canon.
A ghost population is a population that has been inferred through using statistical techniques.
Cherokee descent, "being of Cherokee descent", or "being a Cherokee descendant" are all terms for individuals with some degree of documented Cherokee ancestry but do not meet the criteria for tribal citizenship. The terms are also used by non-Native individuals who self-identify as Cherokee despite lacking documentation or community recognition.
African American genealogy is a field of genealogy pertaining specifically to the African American population of the United States. African American genealogists who document the families, family histories, and lineages of African Americans are faced with unique challenges owing to the slave practices of the Antebellum South and North. These challenges rise from a range of events, including name changes following the American Civil War, the act of separating families for sale as slaves, lack of issued birth or death records for slaves, etc.