A great genealogy program on PBS
This one kept me up way past my bedtime for a typical work night, but it was well worth it. It is entitled "African American Lives 2," by Harvard history professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The 2 is added to the end of the title, because he put out a similar program last year. But, that one focused only on media maven Opra Winfrey.
This latest production weaves twelve different family tales that actually transcend race and geography. They include, besides Dr. Gates' discoveries about his own roots:
Linda Johnson Rice - CEO of a media empire that includes "Ebony" and "Jet" magazines, who receives evidence of why her father left Arkansas for Chicago as a young man.
Don Cheadle - The actor is shocked to discover his ancestors were enslaved not by white plantation owners but by Chickasaw Indians.
Chris Rock - The comedian is amazed at the roller coaster life of his ancestor who (in just 15 years) went from being a slave, to fighting in the Civil War, to serving as a South Carolina legislator, to returning to farm land near Charleston.
Tom Joyner - the radio talk show host is stunned to discover two great-uncles were apparently framed from murder and sent to the electric chair.
Peter Gomes - a minister from Cambridge, Massachusetts, talks about the complicated racial identities of his Cape Verde ancestors and growing up in an overwhelmingly-white community.
Maya Angelou - the poet gained even deeper knowledge about the characters who feature so prominently in her masterpiece "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."
Morgan Freeman - discovers an interracial couple in his family tree, who did whatever it took to stay together despite the prevalent racism in 19th Century Mississippi.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee - the Olympic runner draws strength from the examples of her East St. Louis ancestors.
Tina Turner - the mega-star is brought to tears when she discovers her elementary school was built on land donated by her great-uncle and that an ancestor performed 50+ wedding ceremonies in her Tennessee hometown.
Kathleen Henderson - a fan of the original episode had the legend behind her ancestor's Woodbridge surname disproved by the historical record.
And, finally . . .
Bliss Broyard - another non-famous participant was shocked to discover her father's true racial identity after his death in 1990.
If you like ancestor hunting and root digging as much as yours truly, check your local PBS listings to see when/if this great series will re-air.
You will not be disappointed.
Labels: African Americans, genealogy, Henry Louis Gates, Oprah Winfrey, PBS
posted by wsmv at
2:59 AM
2 Comments:
As an avid researcher, I enjoyed the show also.
Bliss Broyard is a white woman (as opposed to the myth of just looking like one). Her father, Anatole Broyard, was a white man, although "tarbrushed."
Everyone wants to be part Indian precisely because Indians do not try to claim everyone who has "Indian blood." Hypodescent yields contempt. Unfortunately, elite American blacks like Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (the one who first denounced Anatole Broyard as a lighter kind of "black" too inferior for the honor of calling himself white) actively mislead people of good will by promoting and demanding obedience to the lie that whites "tainted" with Negro blood have no right to be "white." If that were true, Hispanics and Arabs would be "black" since nearly all of them have some "black blood."
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