Director: Graham Judd
Cast: Henry Louis Gates Jr., Don Cheadle, Chris Rock, Tina Turner, Morgan Freeman, Maya Angelou, Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Rating: PG
Studio: PBS & Paramount
Release Date: May 6, 2008

I’ve always found the study of a person’s ancestry to be absolutely fascinating. After watching Roots and reading about the controversy over the authenticity of the story Alex Haley told I’ve been quite fascinated by the ancestral roots of famous African Americans. Thanks to the African American Lives series I’ve been able to go along with many African American celebrities as they trace their fascinating roots.

Harvard intellectual and educator Henry Louis Gates Jr. not only hosts the show, he produces it. Alone the way, Gates explores his own unique lineage, which has followed the path of his white ancestry as well as his African American ancestry. In this installment, which debuted as a series of mini-series episodes starting in February of 2008 on PBS, Gates looks back at his connections in Ireland, as well as his ancestors within an African American tribe in Nigeria. Whatever way you cut it this is some pretty interesting stuff!

Release Information:
With the success of the first African American Lives miniseries, which aired in 2006, and featured Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg amongst other famous individuals, it only seemed right to do a follow-up series. This is why African American Lives 2 was produced. A new set of famous individuals as well as one, everyday woman, who was accepted from a list of 200 applicants, have the chance to find out where they came from and who their ancestors are.

The miniseries spans through four episodes, each one delving deeper into the past of each celebrity. The series premiered on PBS on February 6, 2008. The first two episodes of the series aired on this date at 9:00 and 10:00 PM. The second two episodes aired on February 13, 2008 at 9:00 and 10:00 PM. Now, it is available through the distribution efforts of PBS and Paramount. African American Lives 2 was released on DVD May 6, 2008. You can pick up your own copy of this DVD at Amazon (or any online/local retailer) for $21.49.

The African American Lives 2 Plot
There really isn’t a plot for African American Lives 2, in the way you would expect to talk about the plot of a movie. The purpose of the miniseries is to explore the lives of a select group of African American celebrities and individuals in the intellectual community to see where they come from and how their ancestry branches out.

Hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor and all around interesting individual, African American Lives 2 looks at a diverse group of people. The group includes Tina Turner, Chris Rock, Morgan Freeman, Tom Joyner, Don Cheadle, Peter Gomes, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Maya Angelou, Bliss Broyard and Linda Johnson Rice. The show also explores the lineage of Kathleen Henderson, who works as a college administrator. Henderson was chosen from a list of applicants to be on the show.

The show is split up into four episodes, with each one delving further into the African American individual’s past. The episodes are:

“The Road Home”
“A Way Out of No Way”
“We Come from People”
“The Past is another Country”

Throughout the episodes, roots are traced back to Africa, Europe and various other locations around the globe. More than one guest learns about their Native American roots and one learns that her father wasn’t white like he had claimed. He was Louisiana Creole with African American roots. There is also a look into more recent relatives including two who fought during the civil war, a man who might have been wrongly executed by an all-white jury for a crime he probably didn’t commit, a slave to the Chickasaw Nation, and a man who helped to build the school their relative later attended.

The histories are compelling and make me want to trace my own roots, just to see what I find. Additionally, the stories presented, plus additional information found will be included in a new book that is being written by Gates Jr. “In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past”. Originally intended for a spring 2008 release, the book is going to be released by Crown publishing in January of 2009.

Enjoyability:
Replayability:

Audio/Visual:
The visual quality in full frames at a 1.33:1 aspect ratio is typical for any television show that is put on DVD. There really isn’t any change in quality from the quality you’ll find when watching this on PBS. The picture is clear. The amount of problems with the visual quality is limited, but it really isn’t dynamic. While the colors are bright and contrast is sharp, an anamorphic transfer could have made this DVD even more beautiful than it already is.

The standard Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound is typical for a documentary of this sort. I can’t imagine using anything bigger for this diluted soundtrack. A 5.1 would be wasted on the dialogue-driven series. This is your standard sound mix. No volume toggling was necessary and everything manages to come through loud and clear.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There are no bonuses included on this DVD. I didn’t really think there would be so I’m not going to penalize the DVD by listing a rating for something that really shouldn’t be included on this kind of DVD.

Bottom Line:
African American Lives 2 is a compelling, four part series on the connection we all share as Americans and the story our roots can tell us about ourselves and who we’ve become. While not everyone is going to enjoy this series, those who love history, true storytelling and genealogy will want to pick this up. This comes highly recommended.

Overall Rating:

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