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The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
6 Episodes 2013 - 2013
Episode 1
The Black Atlantic (1500-1800)
Tue, Oct 22, 2013 57 mins
Henry Louis Gates Jr. chronicles the history of African-Americans, beginning with the years 1500 to 1800. Included: the first documented introduction of slaves to North America, which occurred in 1619 at Jamestown, Va.; and the expansion of slavery during the 18th century, which is told via the story of a 10-year-old girl named Priscilla who was brought to South Carolina from Sierra Leone. Also: what the American, French and Haitian revolutions meant for African-Americans and slavery in America.
Episode 2
The Age of Slavery (1800-1860)
Tue, Oct 29, 2013 57 mins
The years 1800 to 1860 are covered. The burgeoning cotton industry led to the expansion of slavery to new territories during this time; and many slaves were forcibly relocated to the Deep South in what's become known as the Second Middle Passage. But even as slavery intensified, so did resistance large and small. To that end, the courage and heroism demonstrated by Harriet Tubman, Richard Allen and Frederick Douglass are recalled.
Episode 3
Into the Fire (1861-1896)
Tue, Nov 5, 2013 57 mins
Recalling the years 1861-96, which include the Civil War, end of slavery and Reconstruction. During the Civil War, many slaves fled plantations and joined the United States Colored Troops. After the war, ex-slaves worked to build new lives for themselves and reform their fractured families, but an intransigent South soon embarked on a terror campaign to restore white supremacy and roll back African-American rights.
Episode 4
Making a Way Out of No Way (1897-1940)
Tue, Nov 12, 2013 57 mins
Chronicling 1897-1940, when African-Americans struggled to succeed within a segregated society; and when many migrated from the South to the North and West. Also recalled are such leaders as Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey; racial violence; and the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.
Episode 5
Rise! (1940-1968)
Tue, Nov 19, 2013 57 mins
The years 1940-68 are chronicled. African-Americans returned from WWII to the same racial violence they faced prior to the war, but the news media began to report the injustices. Rosa Parks' refusal in 1955 to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus ushered in an era of nonviolent protests. Although many gains were made in the following decade, the nonviolence was often met by violence. Also: the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Black Power movement are recalled.
Episode 6
A More Perfect Union (1968-2013)
Tue, Nov 26, 2013 57 mins
"A More Perfect Union (1968-2013)" chronicles the post-civil rights era, when African-Americans made great political and economic progress. Even as the black middle class was growing, however, the urban poor faced new social ills. Barack Obama's historic 2008 presidential campaign fueled the hope that America had finally moved past race and racism, but by his 2012 re-election bid it was clear that there was much work left to be done.
