African American Lives 2 DVD Credits:

Region: 1

African American Lives 2 DVD Release Date: 5th May 2008

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African American Lives 2 DVD Review:

The original African American Lives was a PBS miniseries that aired in 2006 and sought to trace the roots of 8 guests using genealogy, oral history, family stories, and DNA analysis. In African American Lives 2, Henry Louis Gates Jr. returns as series host to guide notable African Americans on a search for their ancestry. Genealogical investigations and DNA analysis help Maya Angelou, Bliss Broyard, Don Cheadle, Morgan Freeman, Peter Gomes, Kathleen Henderson, Linda Johnson Rice, Tom Joyner, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Chris Rock, and Tiny Turner discover where they come from and who they are.

The four episodes that make up the second installment of African American Lives are included on this DVD. Episode One, entitled The Road Home, focuses on stories of the participants’ ancestors from the early 20th century. Episode 2, entitled A Way Out of No Way, continues to trace the guests’ lineages back through the late 1800s to the Civil War. Episode 3, entitled We Come From People, reveals stories of the participants’ ancestors during the early years of the United States. Finally, Episode 4, entitled The Past is Another Country, presents the culminating discoveries about the participants’ lineages thanks to DNA analysis.

The idea that African American celebrities have to be the selling point for a show like this is a bit disheartening, but the actual show turns out to be rather interesting nonetheless. At its core, the show is an interesting look into the history and sociology of a lineage, on par with something you might watch on the History channel. As far as that goes, I have nothing to complain about. However, I find it annoying that the series has to look into the histories of celebrities in order for the show to be marketable. I understand that famous faces attract attention, but in a show about sociological history the whole celebrity angle seems a bit out of place.

All that being said, if you can look past the opportunistic marketing ploy of the show, then you’ll get to see the informative historical content found underneath and you could very well enjoy this show. There are no special features on the DVD to speak of, but this type of historical documentary doesn’t really call for any seeing as it’s almost a special feature documentary in and of itself. My advice: enjoy it for what it is.

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African American Lives 2 DVD review written by: Anthony Berk