African American Lives 2

African American Lives 2 / 2008 PBS Paramount / 240 Minutes / http://www.paramount.com /

African American Lives 2 was a mini-series created by PBS that showcased a number of prominent African Americans in the United States, a group that included Chris Rock, Don Cheadle, Morgan Freeman, Peter Gomes, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. This DVD captures 4 hours – 240 minutes – of documentary footage, and focused on the need for the average Affrican American to get DNA testing, to further link their history back to periods up to and including those years which slavery was legal in the United States. The findings that ultimately come forth during African American Lives 2 is interesting, meaning that Tina Turner is one-third European stock, while Don Cheadle’s family was originally owned by Native Americans.

Each individual has a different story, and this shows that the construction of race into black and white types is something that is simply not borne out by the real data. The data and methods used are slightly different than they were in the first iteration of African American Lives, and I personally feel that the narrative is much more interesting with this documentary than the first volume of the show. Where the first volume of African American Lives dealt more about the general history of the African American in the United States, African American Lives 2 builds off of that and really gets into detail at a level that few individuals would honestly be familiar.

As the years pass and the ability to research one’s family becomes easier and cheaper, and the technology increases to  the point that individuals can increasingly link their narrative history to the truth, I can see African American Lives continuing to show the break between racial conceptions and racial realities. The price of this DVD is at a level that is much lower than many other scholarly documentaries, and this is a good thing. By explaining to individuals of all races – not just African Americans – that their family history likely existed in a state of flux, taking in different races and ethnicities – the racial dialogue present in the United States can begin to reap larger rewards. Purchase and view this DVD, and write in to PBS to see if a third volume of African American Lives is in the pipes. For how interesting the second volume of the series was, let’s hope that this is the case.

Rating: 8.4/10

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