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The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr

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Photo Credit:  WNET
  • Premiered: 
    October 22, 2013
    (Click date to see TV listings for that day)

  • Network: PBS
  • Category: Series
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Type: Live Action
  • Concept: 
  • Subject Matter: Historical
  • Tags: African-American

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  • Complete Series
    • Amazon
  • The African Americans / Black in Latin America
    • Amazon
Legal Full Episodes
Not Available Online
(That We Know Of)

Plot Synopsis

This six-hour series chronicles African-American history, from the origins of slavery on the African continent through more than four centuries of historic events up to the present -- when America is led by a black president, yet remains a nation deeply divided by race. Written and presented by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this series explores the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed, while forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable odds. Plus, Professor Gates travels throughout the United States, visiting key historical sites, partaking in lively debates with some of America's top historians, and interviewing living eyewitnesses, including: school integration pioneers Ruby Bridges and Charlayne Hunter-Gault; former Black Panther Kathleen Neal Cleaver; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Congressman John Lewis; civil-rights activist Diane Nash; and many more. Each one-hour installment focuses on a different period of history, including these episodes: "The Black Atlantic (1500 - 1800)," which begins a full century before the first documented "20-and-odd" slaves arrived at Jamestown and goes through the global explosion of freedom movements of the late 18th century, examining the effect of the Era of Revolutions on slavery in America; "The Age of Slavery (1800 - 1860)," which illustrates how black lives changed dramatically in the aftermath of the American Revolution, following courageous individuals, such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, who played a crucial role in forcing the issue of slavery to the forefront of national politics; "Into the Fire (1861 - 1896)," which examines the most tumultuous and consequential period in African-American history -- from the Civil War through the Emancipation and finishing with an intransigent South that mounted a swift and vicious campaign of terror to restore white supremacy and roll back African-American rights; "Making a Way Out of No Way (1897 - 1940)," which chronicles how a steady stream of African Americans left the South -- fleeing the threat of racial violence and searching for better opportunities in the North and the West -- and how the Harlem Renaissance would not only redefine how America saw African Americans, but how African Americans saw themselves; "Rise! (1940 - 1968)," which reveals how the deep contradictions in American society finally became unsustainable, showing how mass media planted seeds of resistance, reliving how Rosa Parks and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ushered a new movement of quiet resistance, and documenting the call for Black Power across the country; and "A More Perfect Union (1968 - 2013), "which highlights how African American set out to build a bright new future on the foundation of the civil rights movement's victories, showing how people of all backgrounds came together to support Illinois' Senator Barack Obama in his historic campaign for the presidency of the United States, while revealing how issues of true racial equality remain to be resolved.

Production & Distribution

  • Produced by Kunhardt McGee Productions
  • Produced by WNET
  • Produced by Inkwell Films
  • In association with Ark Media