PBS Explorer Collection: History Exploring Our Roots With Henry Louis

Produced by the renowned sociologist as a series of documentaries for public television, "Exploring Our Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr." uses genealogy and DNA investigation to form an expansive look at African-American history, touching on cultural identity, contributions to American society, historical struggles and more. The first two programs, "African American Lives" (2006) and "African American Lives 2" (2008), document the ancestry of famous African-Americans, including Chris Tucker, T.D. Jakes and Oprah Winfrey. The third program, "Faces of America" (2010), looks at Americans from a broader spectrum of ethnicities such as Meryl Streep, Stephen Colbert and Yo-Yo Ma.