African American Lives
Wednesdays, Feb. 1 - Feb. 8 at 9 p.m.
This 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.
Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 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 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.
?This is one of the most exciting projects in which I have been involved,? says 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.?
In an era when ever-increasing numbers of Americans are investigating their genealogy, this program 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. By spotlighting African American role models, the series may inspire millions to consider their own heritage.
Visit African American Lives online at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/
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History of Black Achievement
Fridays at 9:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 7 ? Thursday, Feb. 16 at 1:30 a.m.
This original series documents black achievement in American history and its defining role in the growth of a country.
Against all odds, American blacks have built their own institutions: families, schools, churches and businesses. They have created great art and science and fought heroically in every American war. Against all odds, black men and women have worked endlessly to secure their own freedom and equality. The untold story of blacks in America is a 350-year saga of incredible achievements.
Independent Lens, Negroes With Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power
Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 10 p.m.
Credited with inspiring the Black Power Movement, Robert Williams led his North Carolina hometown to defend itself against the Ku Klux Klan and challenge repressive Jim Crow laws. Negroes With Guns follows Williams? journey from southern community leader to his exile in Cuba and China ? a journey that brought the issue of armed self-defense to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.
Visit Independent Lens online at http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/
American Experience, Reconstruction: The Second Civil War
Mondays, Feb. 13 & Feb. 20 at 10 p.m.
Spanning the momentous years of 1863 to 1877, this two-part series tracks the extraordinary stories of ordinary Americans, southern and northern, white and black, as they struggle to shape new lives for themselves in a world turned upside down.
Visit American Experience online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/
Independent Lens, July ?64
Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 10 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 2 a.m.
In the summer of 1964, a three-night riot erupted in two predominantly black neighborhoods in downtown Rochester, N.Y. ? the culmination of decades of poverty, joblessness and racial discrimination and a significant event in the Civil Rights era. Using archival footage and interviews with those who were present, July ?64 explores the genesis and outcome of these three devastating nights.
Visit Independent Lens online at http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/
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