In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past

Host of PBS's Finding Your Roots and famed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. examines African-American immigration and ancestry through the lineage of famous Black Americans.

Unlike most white Americans who can search their ancestral records, identifying who among their forebears was the first to step foot on this country’s shores, most African Americans encounter a series of daunting obstacles when trying to trace their family’s past. Slavery brutally negated identity, denying black...