This PBS special was so moving, I wrote brother Skip Gates (the host/producer) a letter of congratulations.

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Product Description

Renowned scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., W.E.B. DuBois professor of the Humanities and chair of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University, takes Alex Haley’s Roots saga to a whole new level. Using genealogy and DNA science, Dr. Gates tells the personal stories of eight accomplished African Americans, tracing their roots through American history and back to Africa. 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.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54214 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2006-05-02
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .15 pounds
• Running time: 240 minutes

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Customer Reviews

African American Lives
I was so pleased with this project. This is an excellent source for college professors and instructors who teach courses on race. As someone who has lived in Africa, I was moved by Chris Tucker's reaction to the reception he received by the Angolan people. The idea that we can trace our ancestry to Europe, Africa the Middle East based on our DNA is absolutely fascinating. Finally African Americans, all Americans have a lens in which to view the concept that we are more alike than we are different. Henry Louis Gates is to be commended for his foresight and scholarship.

African American Lives
I saw the program on PBS and was inspired by the quality of production, variety of locations, subject matters and the huge amounts of detailed research that was displayed. What an enormous budget to produced such an epic document.
Dr. Henry Louis Gates seems to have fun mining the gold that is lying out in the fields of our African America history. Thanks for taking me along.

Speechless!!
I watched this on PBS during it's initial airing. Unfortunately, many friends did not. I'm purchasing this now one as a gift for a dear friend and one for myself to watch with other friends. I found it extremely interesting and educational for people of all nationalities. Whether you are African-American or any other nationality this is something to watch. The diversity on the outcome of the research done on Oprah, Q, Whoopi, Chris Tucker, & all the others done during this research was astounding and very interesting. Just to find out Penn State doing the Master File on genetic tracking. Just a swab of your saliva from your mouth and your family genes can be backtracked to the actual birthplace of your family. Just so thought-provoking on so many levels.