African American Lives
Encyclopedia
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 African Americans are explored using traditional genealogic techniques as well as genetic analysis.
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.
, Quincy Jones
, Oprah Winfrey
, sociologist Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
, physician Ben Carson
, astronaut and physician Mae Jemison
, Chris Tucker
and pastor T. D. Jakes
. The miniseries has four episodes: "Listening to our Past", "The Promise of Freedom", "Searching for Our Names", and "Beyond the Middle Passage". The series featured the geneticists Rick Kittles
and Mark D. Shriver
.
, 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 the more publicly known guests, Kathleen Henderson, a college administrator, 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 ancestry, which was found to be more than half European, including at least one male ancestor who fought in the American Revolution
. Gates gave a speech when he was 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".
, historical experiences pre- and post-slavery, and migrations throughout North America
, the vast majority of contemporary African Americans possess varying degrees of admixture with European ancestry. There is popular belief that a majority of African Americans also have Native American
ancestry, but it may be much less frequent.
With the help of geneticists, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. put African American ancestry in these terms:
Critics suggested the program did not fully acknowledge or inform guests (and the audience) that not all ancestry may show up in the tests. 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. For instance, MtDNA testing is only of direct maternal ancestors. Unless other ancestry is evaluated, a person may miss a paternal line's connection to Europe. This gives a false impression that the person has little heritage of another ethnic group. 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. Particularly, critics note that genetic analysis is incomplete related to Native Americans, and new genetic markers for these populations may be identified.
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television miniseries hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., is an American literary critic, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual. He was the first African American to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and...
, focusing on African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
genealogical research. The family histories of prominent African Americans are explored using traditional genealogic techniques as well as genetic analysis.
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.
African American Lives
The first miniseries aired in February 2006 and included research into the ancestral lineages of nine prominent African Americans: performers Whoopi GoldbergWhoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
, sociologist Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot is an American sociologist who examines the culture of schools, the patterns and structures of classroom life, socialization within families and communities, and the relationships between culture and learning styles...
, physician Ben Carson
Ben Carson
Benjamin Solomon "Ben" Carson, Sr., M.D., is an American neurosurgeon and the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States by President George W...
, astronaut and physician Mae Jemison
Mae Jemison
Mae Carol Jemison is an American physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.-Early years:...
, Chris Tucker
Chris Tucker
Christopher "Chris" Tucker is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the role of Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series.-Early life:...
and pastor T. D. Jakes
T. D. Jakes
Thomas Dexter "T. D." Jakes Sr. is the chief pastor of The Potter's House, a non-denominational American megachurch, with 30,000 members, located in Dallas, Texas.T.D...
. The miniseries has four episodes: "Listening to our Past", "The Promise of Freedom", "Searching for Our Names", and "Beyond the Middle Passage". The series featured the geneticists Rick Kittles
Rick Kittles
Rick Antonius Kittles is an American biologist specializing in human genetics. He is of African American ancestry, and achieved renown in the 1990s for his pioneering work in tracing the ancestry of African Americans via DNA testing.He grew up in Central Islip, New York. He holds a B.S...
and Mark D. Shriver
Mark D. Shriver
Mark D. Shriver is an American population geneticist. His research is focused on admixture mapping, signatures of natural selection, and phenotypic variability in common trait variation. A major goal of his work is to apply these methods and understanding of genomic variation to studies of common...
.
African American Lives 2
African American Lives 2 premiered in February 2008, again hosted by Gates. This second set of episodes traced the ancestry of performers Morgan FreemanMorgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
, Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
, Tom Joyner
Tom Joyner
Thomas "Tom" Joyner is an American radio host, host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and also founder of REACH Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com.-Early life:...
, Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...
, Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...
, theologian Peter Gomes, athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those four different events...
, poet Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...
, Bliss Broyard (the daughter of writer Anatole Broyard
Anatole Broyard
Anatole Paul Broyard was an American writer, literary critic and editor for The New York Times. In addition to his many reviews and columns, he published short stories, essays and two books during his lifetime...
), and publisher Linda Johnson Rice (the daughter of publisher John H. Johnson
John H. Johnson
John Harold Johnson was an American businessman and publisher. He was the founder of the Johnson Publishing Company. In 1982 he became the first African-American to appear on the Forbes 400.ÀčĐċĎ- Biography :...
.) In addition to the more publicly known guests, Kathleen Henderson, a college administrator, was selected from more than 2,000 applicants to have her family history researched and to have DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
testing. The show continued the genealogical research into Gates's ancestry, which was found to be more than half European, including at least one male ancestor who fought in the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. Gates gave a speech when he was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution
Sons of the American Revolution
The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is a Louisville, Kentucky-based fraternal organization in the United States...
. 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".
Criticism
Due in part to a centuries-old history within the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, historical experiences pre- and post-slavery, and migrations throughout North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, the vast majority of contemporary African Americans possess varying degrees of admixture with European ancestry. There is popular belief that a majority of African Americans also have Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
ancestry, but it may be much less frequent.
With the help of geneticists, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. put African American ancestry in these terms:
- 58 percent of African Americans have at least 12.5 percent European ancestry (equivalent of one great-grandparent);
- 19.6 percent of African Americans have at least 25 percent European ancestry (equivalent of one grandparent);
- 1 percent of African Americans have at least 50 percent European ancestry (equivalent of one parent); and
- 5 percent of African Americans have at least 12.5 percent Native American ancestry (equivalent to one great-grandparent).
Critics suggested the program did not fully acknowledge or inform guests (and the audience) that not all ancestry may show up in the tests. The genetic tests
Genealogical DNA test
A genealogical DNA test examines the nucleotides at specific locations on a person's DNA for genetic genealogy purposes. The test results are not meant to have any informative medical value and do not determine specific genetic diseases or disorders ; they are intended only to give genealogical...
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. For instance, MtDNA testing is only of direct maternal ancestors. Unless other ancestry is evaluated, a person may miss a paternal line's connection to Europe. This gives a false impression that the person has little heritage of another ethnic group. 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. Particularly, critics note that genetic analysis is incomplete related to Native Americans, and new genetic markers for these populations may be identified.
External links
- Series 1 at PBS.org
- Series 2 at PBS.org
- Afrocentrifugal Force: Looking Blackward With Henry Louis Gates Jr., Village Voice, Joy Press, 24 January 2006
- Lloyd, Robert. "The roots of black America - Maya Angelou and Don Cheadle are among the personages who trace their lineage this time around", Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, 6 February 2008 (second series review) - Hochschild, Adam. "35 Million Ways to Be Black", Mother JonesMother Jones (magazine)Mother Jones is an American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...
, 14 March 2007 - http://www.times-news.com/entertainment/local_story_024200509.html
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ILh3BphzUU
- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/business/25dna.html
- http://www.oxfordaasc.com/public/letters/letter_1.jsp
- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/arts/television/05root.html?ref=television
- http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/africanamericanlives2206
- NPR interview with Henry Louis Gates