Video | Faces of America

Video

Native American connections
Eva Longoria learns of her Native American ancestry, and talks about her personal connection to that heritage.

Growing up English, Jamaican and Canadian
Malcolm Gladwell discusses his upbringing as the child of English and Jamaican parents, and his own awareness of racial differences.

Reactions to an interracial marriage
Malcolm Gladwell relates the reactions of his English and Jamaican grandparents to his parents' interracial marriage.

Family, race and color
Malcolm Gladwell talks about the variations in race and "skin politics" in Jamaica and America among West Indians and African Americans.

How does family history affect us?
Malcolm Gladwell and Henry Louis Gates Jr. discuss why family trees continue to be important, and how family history affects us today.

What makes us who we are?
Malcolm Gladwell and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. discuss the factors that inform our identity — is it our experiences, our family history, society, or a combination of the three?

Native Americans and the importance of ancestry
Louise Erdrich on why ancestral history is central to the existence of Native Americans, and why protecting that valuable history is so important.

Ethnic identification and discrimination
Louise Erdrich talks about how she self-identifies, and her grandfather's influence on whether or not she belonged in the tribal nation.

The federal government and “the Indian problem”
Louise Erdrich discusses her grandfather's role in the fight against the American government's policy of Indian termination from the 1940s to the 1960s.

Relationships between Europeans and American Indians
Louise Erdrich talks about the fractious relationship between European settlers and her American Indian ancestors.

The Colbert family history
Stephen Colbert relates stories within his own family about their ancestry in Canada.

Family traditions and customs
Stephen Colbert talks about traditions and customs he's kept alive in his own family over the generations.

About the Program

What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of the new PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Harvard scholar turns to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans — professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, journalist Malcolm Gladwell, actress Eva Longoria, musician Yo-Yo Ma, director Mike Nichols, Her Majesty Queen Noor, television host/heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, actress Meryl Streep, and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

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Corporate funding is provided by The Coca-Cola Company and Johnson & Johnson.

Additional funding is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Atlantic Philanthropies, and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS.