Finding Oprah's Roots: Finding Your Own - Softcover

Gates Jr., Henry Louis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1510720693 ISBN 13: 9781510720695

Publisher: Skyhorse, 2017

Synopsis

Prominent African American scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., traced Oprah’s roots and shares the lessons of her ancestors the legacy one generation bequeaths another, how who we are is influenced by the paths our ancestor have trod, and the extraordinary impact that even the most humble among us can have on future generations through the simple process of building a life for our loved ones.

In Finding Oprah’s Roots, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., shines a searchlight into the shadows that have enveloped African American ancestry. By assembling an elite team of historians and geneticists in coordination with his well-received PBS documentary and using Oprah and her forebears as his chief example, Gates unveils a process akin to resurrection.

Literally, those who were denied identity nameless slaves who died believing their ancestors would never know them have their identities restored here through a dazzling array of search methods. Acting as a roadmap through the intricacies of public documents and online databases, this book also highlights genetic testing resources that can make it possible to know one’s distant tribal roots in Africa.

Oprah’s path back to the past was profoundly illuminating, connecting the narrative of her family to the larger American narrative and anchoring” her in a way not previously possible. For the reader, Finding Oprah’s Roots offers the possibility of an equally rewarding experience.

About this title

From the Author

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is the author or co-author of twenty-one books and has created fifteen documentary films, including Finding Your Roots, his groundbreaking genealogy series on PBS.

From Booklist

Gates follows his PBS documentaries on African American genealogy with a book detailing the search for the family tree of the documentaries' best-known subject, talk show host Oprah Winfrey. He chronicles the process of uncovering Oprah's family history, challenged by the same obstacles that all African Americans face in finding documentation during and after slavery. Gates advises readers to begin by gathering oral histories from living relatives, even as he recalls the process of talking to Oprah's relatives and the arduous task of finding a paper trail. Gates also encourages readers to get beyond the inevitable hurtful and embarrassing memories that inform so much black family history, including slavery, sexual assaults on black women, and relatives who passed for white, all elements that cloud the process of establishing a family tree. As he did in the documentaries, Gates offers DNA testing as a means of locating genealogical ties to particular ethnic groups in Africa. This book is every bit as engaging as the documentaries and offers helpful resources. Vanessa Bush
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About this edition

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1510720693
• ISBN 13: 9781510720695
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192