Yo-Yo Ma – Faces of America

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Yo-Yo Ma

What “home” means to me

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. asks Yo-Yo Ma what he hopes to learn about his family history, and what idea of "home" means to him.

Jan 19th, 2010

Returning to China

Yo-Yo Ma talks about the first time he visited China as an adult, and what he learned about the way cultures interact and inform each other.

Jan 19th, 2010

What’s in a name?

Yo-Yo Ma reveals the origin of his unusual first name.

Jan 19th, 2010

The trip that changed everything

Yo-Yo Ma tells a story about how his childhood visit to New York City changed the course of his family's life forever.

Jan 19th, 2010

About the Program

What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of the new PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Harvard scholar turns to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans — professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, journalist Malcolm Gladwell, actress Eva Longoria, musician Yo-Yo Ma, director Mike Nichols, Her Majesty Queen Noor, television host/heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, actress Meryl Streep, and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

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Corporate funding is provided by The Coca-Cola Company and Johnson & Johnson.

Additional funding is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Atlantic Philanthropies, and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS.