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African-American Lives
ResumeOprah Winfrey didn't know. Quincy Jones didn't know. Whoopi Goldberg didn't know. Even Henry Louis Gates Jr. - academia's "Captain Africa," the man who edited the continent's encyclopedia — didn't know where his family, its genealogy and its genetics really traced to.
Like millions of African-Americans, their family stories, their family trees, were lost in the apocalypse of slavery. Names, lost. Countries of origin, lost. Trails of paternity lost and hijacked by slave owners.
Now, with a lot of research and new genetic science, Oprah and Whoopi and Quincy and Skip Gates and many more are discovering family trees and big surprises.
Guests:
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Professor of Humanities, Harvard University.
This program aired on February 7, 2006.