African American Lives

Episode One focuses on stories of participants’ ancestors in the early 20th century, including the tragic account of Tom Joyner’s great-uncles, who were executed in 1915 for a crime that evidence suggests they did not commit, and Bliss Broyard’s stunning discovery about the identity of her father – renowned New York Times critic, Anatole Broyard – at the time of his death.

Episode Two traces the guests’ lineages back through the late 1800s to the Civil War, featuring such stories as Chris Rock’s great-great grandfather, a black Civil War veteran who was twice elected to the South Carolina State Legislature, and Don Cheadle’s great-great grandparents, who, as Chickasaw Freedmen, struggled to build lives for themselves in Oklahoma.

Episode three reveals stories of participants’ ancestors during the early years of the United States, such as a riveting account of life in slavery by Morgan Freeman’s great-grandmother, unearthed within the records of the Depression-era Works Progress Administration, and Peter Gomes’s ancestors, who were freed and supported by Quaker families in Virginia in the late 1700s.

Fascinating discoveries about participants’ lineages thanks to DNA analysis, including a groundbreaking study linking Professor Gates to a powerful medieval Irish warlord, and evidence that Peter Gomes’s direct paternal line traces back to a Portuguese Jew who fled the country in the early 1500s to escape the Inquisition.