Wednesday, February 1, 9pm
Join Henry Louis Gates Jr. as he tells the personal stories of eight accomplished African Americans, tracing their roots through American history and back to Africa.

In the first episode, Gates begins to piece together the family histories of four of the participants, taking them on a journey through the lives of their recent ancestors. In doing so, the episode explores the post-World War I "Great Migration" of African-American families from the South to northern cities such as Detroit and Chicago, as well as the experiences of those families who stayed in the South during the period of Jim Crow segregation. Regardless of geography, each African-American family, as relatives tell Gates, saw struggles and achievements that held their families together and put their children in a position to succeed. The participants express a heightened appreciation for the influence their families have had on their lives, and are eager to learn more. Gates also begins to examine his own family's past, recounting the discovery of a box of photographs and heirlooms that sparked an obsession with his ancestry.