a film by Kunhardt Productions ; executive producers, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., William R. Grant, Peter W. Kunhardt ; written by Henry Louis Gates. Jr. ; series producers, Graham Judd, Leslie D. Farrell ; a production of Kunhardt Productions, Inc. and Thirteen/ WNET New York.
ISBN
1415716943
Edition
Widescreen format.
Place of Publication
[Alexandria, Va.] : Hollywood, Calif
Publisher
PBS Home Video ; distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment,
Date of Publication
[2006]
Physical Description
1 videodisc (ca. 240 min.) : sd., col. and b&w ; 4 3/4 in.
Notes
Originally broadcast as a four-part television series in 2006.
Host: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; features Oprah Winfrey, Chris Tucker, Quincy Jones, Sara-Lawrence-Lightfoot, Mae Jemison, T.D. Jakes, Ben Carson, Whoopi Goldberg.
Contents
Listening to our past / producer and director, Jesse Sweet; editors, Eric Davis, Michael Weingrad -- The promise of freedom / producer and director, Leslie Asako Gladsjo ; editors, Joanna Kiernan, Geeta Gandbhr -- Searching for our names / producer and director, Leslie D. Farrell; editors, Merril Stern, Kathryn Moore -- Beyond the middle passage / producer and director, Graham Judd; editors, Kate Hirson, Stefan Knerrich.
Summary
A compelling combination of storytelling and science, this series uses genealogy, oral histories, family stories and DNA to trace roots of several accomplished African Americans down through American history and back to Africa.
"By following the story of my great-grandmother Isabella Ford's life, and adding to it with information from available sources, I have been able to get a better understanding of the circumstances of Lancaster's free blacks. Her story provides a sense of life in mid-nineteenth century Lancaster County and shows how free black families held their own, despite an environment that was often unfriendly and that restricted their opportunities by both law and custom."
"A relationship between [Thaddeus] Stevens and...[Robert Boston] is an important counter narrative. Most traditional accounts of the local Underground Railroad activity emphasize the actions of white stationmasters such as William Wright in Columbia or Daniel Gibbons in Bird-in-Hand. African-American involvement while not ignored is generally presented as being of secondary importance. Each demonstrable piece of evidence of Black involvement in effort to combat slavery strengthens arguments for a tradition of Black agency and necessitates a reassessment of the lives and experiences of African Americans in the Antebellum Era."
32 pages : color illustrations, color map ; 28 cm.
Series
Colonial people
Notes
Includes index.
Contents
Quasheba's family -- Slavery in the colonies -- Slave families -- Marriage and children -- Helping one another -- The lives of slave children -- The education of slaves -- Field hands -- House servants -- Tradespeople -- Culture from Africa -- The cost of freedom.
Summary
Introduces the personal relationships and daily activities that were part of the family life of slaves in colonial America.