AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES, an unprecedented four-part PBS series, takes Alex Haley's Roots saga to a whole new level through moving stories of personal discovery. Using genealogy, oral history, family stories and DNA analysis to trace lineage through American history and back to Africa, the series provides a life-changing journey for a diverse group of highly accomplished African Americans: a neurosurgeon, a TV host, an astronaut, a music entrepreneur, a sociologist, a movie star, a minister and a comedian. Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois professor of the Humanities and chair of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, hosts the series. Participants include Dr. Ben Carson, Whoopi Goldberg, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dr. Mae Jemison, Quincy Jones, Dr. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Chris Tucker and Oprah Winfrey. AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES, airing on PBS Wednesdays, February 1-8, 2006, (check local listings), works to restore the participants' lineages in reverse chronological order. Starting with the oral histories of the individuals' families, and drawing on photographs, film clips, music and early personal records, Dr. Gates begins to trace their family trees back through the 20th century. Noted historians and expert genealogists around America help fill in missing branches, in the process explaining how such major events as Jim Crow segregation and the post-World War I "Great Migration" from the South to the North helped shape African-American families. "This is one of the most exciting projects in which I have been involved," said Dr. Gates. "AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES is about African American history, of course, but on a deeply personal level. Slavery deprived African Americans of their historical and familial memory, and this series is an attempt to restore that memory - on both sides of the Atlantic." Dr. Gates' genealogical research becomes increasingly difficult as he works back through the Reconstruction, Civil War, Colonial and early slave trade periods in American history. When the genealogical road comes to an end, he turns to some of the country's leading scientists who are involved in cutting-edge work using DNA samples to trace ancestral roots to Africa. Finally, Dr. Gates joins one series participant in the last leg of the journey, across the Atlantic to the western coast of Africa. There, they visit an area where genetic, historical and anthropological evidence suggests the participant's ancestors lived. In an era when ever-increasing numbers of Americans are investigating their genealogy, AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES provides a timely and powerful demonstration of how meaningful the reclamation of one's past can be. This is the first television series to explore black roots in both America and Africa using genealogy and DNA. And by spotlighting African-American role models, the series hopes to inspire millions to consider their own heritage and underscore for all Americans the importance of knowing their past in order to unlock the future. "In addition to its poignant personal stories," continued Dr. Gates, "AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES will be a great way to introduce young people to the marvels of archival and scientific research and their practical applications. I hope that this project will encourage them - and all Americans, especially those of African descent - to explore their roots." For some Americans, the essential question - "Where do I come from?" - cannot be answered; their history has been lost or stolen. But through genealogical research and groundbreaking DNA analysis, AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES not only provides a transformational discovery for several prominent African Americans, but also serves as an example for all Americans of the empowerment derived from knowing their heritage. * "Discovering Roots" (2/1/06, 9:00 p.m. ET)--In the first episode, Gates begins to piece together the family histories of four of the participants. The episode explores the post-World War I "Great Migration" of African-American families from the South to northern cities like Detroit and Chicago, as well as the experiences of those who stayed in the South during the period of Jim Crow segregation. Gates also begins to examine his own family's past, recounting the discovery of a box of photographs and heirlooms that sparked an obsession with his ancestry. * "The Promise of Freedom" (2/1/06, 10:00 p.m. ET)--Episode two travels back from the early 20th century to the end of the Civil War to look at how African Americans defined their freedom after slavery. Dr. Gates learns that courthouse records of land acquisitions, documents from the Freedmen's Bureau and the 1870 census - the first in which African Americans were counted as citizens, not property - all prove important resources for tracing the participants' lineage through Reconstruction. Gates' personal story continues as he seeks genealogical research to confirm a family legend - that a white slaveholder is one of his 19th-century ancestors. * "Before the War" (2/8/06, 9:00 p.m. ET)--Dr. Gates finds his genealogical research becoming even more difficult as he continues from the Civil War back through the Colonial period of American history. War service records and ways of recording property during slavery's apogee - such as inventories and sales or gifts of slaves - help fill in the participants' family trees. In West Virginia, Dr. Gates learns from a court transcript about the legal struggle of his ancestor Isaac Clifford, a free man who was kidnapped and accused of being a runaway slave. * "Beyond the Middle Passage" (2/8/06, 10:00 p.m. ET)--Having traveled genealogical trails until the paper trail ran out, Dr. Gates visits scientists who are using DNA analysis to trace ancestral roots. Among them is Dr. Rick Kittles, who is building a DNA database of present-day African populations, against which he compares the genetic signature of the series' participants. With their DNA results and genealogical research in hand, Dr. Gates meets with leading historians of the slave trade. Along the way, he learns several stunning facts about his own ancestry. Finally, Dr. Gates and one participant journey to Africa, where they visit the West African port from which the participant's patrilineal ancestor was most likely shipped into slavery and meet local tribal elders, whose DNA suggests they are the participant's long-lost cousins.
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