>>> THIS IS "METROFOCUS" WITH RAFAEL PI ROMAN, JACK FORD, AND JENNA FLANAGAN.

"METROFOCUS" IS MADE POSSIBLE BY SUE AND EDGAR WACHENHEIM III, SYLVIA A.

AND SIMON B. POYTA PROGRAMMING ENDOWMENT TO FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM, THE PETER G. PETERSON AND JOAN GANS COONEY FUND, BERNARD AND DENISE SCHWARTZ, BARBARA HOPE ZUCKERBERG, THE AMBROSE MONELL FOUNDATION AND BY JANET PRINDLE SEIDLER, JOEY AND JOHN ARNHOLD, CHERYL AND PHILIP MILSTEIN FAMILY, JUDY AND JOSH WESTON, DR. ROBERT C. AND TINA SOHN FOUNDATION.

>>> ON "AMERICAN EXPERIENCE" -- ♪ LET FREEDOM >> MARIAN ANDERSON CHALLENGED PEOPLE'S IDEAS OF WHAT THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLKS LOOKED AND SOUNDED LIKE.

>> SHE IS WILLING TO SHOW UP BECAUSE SHE IS NOT GOING TO ACCEPT RACIAL OPPRESSION.

>> SHE BECAME THE FACE OF A MOVEMENT.

THAT WAS SOMETHING SHE COULD NEVER STEP BACK FROM.

>> "VOICE OF FREEDOM" ON "AMERICAN EXPERIENCE."

>> GOOD EVENING AND WELCOME TO "METROFOCUS."

I'M JENNA FLANAGAN.

ON EASTER SUNDAY 1939 WORLD-RENOWNED AFRICAN-AMERICAN SINGER MARIAN ANDERSON PERFORMED A HISTORIC CONCERT ON THE STEPS OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.

NOW, THE SITE LATER BECAME RECOGNIZED AS AN IMPORTANT MONUMENT TO CIVIL RIGHTS.

THE CONCERT SHE SANG AT WAS HELD OUTDOORS AND IN FRONT OF THE MONUMENT BECAUSE DESPITE HER WEALTH AND HER FAME AS A BLACK WOMAN MARIAN ANDERSON WAS NOT ALLOWED TO PERFORM INSIDE CONSTITUTION HALL.

"AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: VOICE OF FREEDOM," A NEW PBS DOCUMENTARY PREMIERING FEBRUARY 15th, TELLS THE STORY OF ANDERSON'S LIFE AND OF THIS HISTORIC CONCERT, EXPLORING FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS ABOUT ARTISTRY, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND HISTORIC SYMBOLISM.

AND JOINING ME NOW TO TALK ABOUT THE LIFE OF MS. ANDERSON IS ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES AT DUKE UNIVERSITY AND FEATURED SCHOLAR IN "VOICE OF FREEDOM," DR. ADRIANE LENTZ-SMITH.

DR. LENTZ-SMITH, WELCOME TO "METROFOCUS."

>> HI, JENNA.

THANKS FOR HAVING ME.

>> ABSOLUTELY.

SO FIRST OFF I JUST WANT TO START OFF BY SORT OF REITERATING THAT THIS DOCUMENTARY ISN'T JUST ABOUT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL CONCERT.

IT BEGINS WITH ANDERSON'S EARLY LIFE AND GOES INTO HER CAREER, SPECIFICALLY AS A BLACK WOMAN TRYING TO MAKE IT AS A PERFORMER IN SEGREGATED AMERICA.

CAN YOU JUST TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT THAT EXPERIENCE WAS LIKE FOR HER OR AT LEAST HOW HISTORY INTERPRETS IT AND HOW IT SHAPED THE PERSON SHE BECAME.

>> SO MARIAN ANDERSON WAS BORN IN PHILADELPHIA, RAISED IN PHILADELPHIA.

IN THAT GENERATION OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN THE NORTH BEFORE THE GREAT MIGRATION.

THE GREAT MIGRATION WOULD HAPPEN KIND OF OVER THE COURSE OF HER EARLY ADULTHOOD.

SHE CAME OF AGE IN SEGREGATED-ISH BUT SUPPORTIVE WORLD WHERE THE ADULTS AROUND HER RECOGNIZED HER TALENTS AND INVITED HER TO GET TRAINING FOR IT BUT WHERE SHE WAS DENIED ADMISSION TO MUSIC SCHOOL IN PHILADELPHIA BECAUSE SHE WAS BLACK.

AND SO IT WAS ONLY THROUGH CONTINUED SUPPORT AND THEN THE MENTORSHIP OF ROLAND HAYES WHO'S ANOTHER FAMOUS AFRICAN-AMERICAN TENOR, THAT SHE WAS ABLE TO GO ON AND HAVE HER PROFESSIONAL CAREER.

AND ONE OF THE VERY STRIKING THINGS ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY IS THAT IT MARKS THE MANY, MANY MOMENTS WHEN SHE KIND OF STUMBLES INTO -- OR IS CONFRONTED WITH THE REALITIES OF SEGREGATION IN THE U.S. AND WHERE THOSE IMPINGE ON BASIC THINGS LIKE TOURING AND HER FEELING OF SAFETY AND THEN WHERE THEY PUSH HER TO GO ELSEWHERE, IN HER CASE EUROPE, FOR CONTINUED SUPPORT.

>> AND THAT'S ACTUALLY A VERY I THINK INTERESTING POINT.

AND IT'S A NARRATIVE THAT WE SEE PLAY OUT OVER AND OVER AGAIN, ESPECIALLY WITH AFRICAN-AMERICAN PERFORMERS, IS THAT PEOPLE WOULD FIND THAT IT WAS EASIER, AND I ALMOST WANT TO PUT AIR QUOTES AROUND EASIER, TO DO WHAT THEY DID IN EUROPE AND THAT THAT ALLOWED MORE FREEDOM FOR NOT ONLY THEM PERSONALLY BUT FOR THEIR CAREER.

HOW DO YOU SEE THAT TIME PERIOD FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS TRAVELING TO EUROPE?

WAS IT REALLY BETTER?

AND WERE THERE ANY ASPECTS OF LIFE THERE THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE SAME?

>> I THINK MY ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION, JENNA, IS YES AND YES.

SO I WROTE A BOOK ON AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN WORLD WAR I, AND SO WHEN I FIRST STARTED THINKING ABOUT WHAT IT MEANT FOR BLACK FOLKS TO GO OUT IN THE WORLD I DID IT THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE OF BLACK SOLDIERS WHO WERE STUNNED BOTH AT THE MEANNESS OF THE AMERICAN ARMY WHEN THEY WERE PART OF THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES AND THE INTENSITY WITH WHICH THE AMERICAN MILITARY POLICED JIM CROW AND TRIED TO MAKE SURE THAT IT WENT ABROAD WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY.

SO FOR THEM AND THEN FOR LATER GENERATIONS OR FOR SOMETIMES THE SAME FOLKS TRAVELING AS CIVILIANS THE REMARKABLE THING ABOUT TRAVELING IN FRANCE ESPECIALLY BUT ALSO ENGLAND AND ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE IS THAT THEY WERE TREATED AS AMERICANS FIRST AND FOREMOST WHEN WHITE AMERICANS WERE NOT TREATING THEM AS SORT OF EQUAL FELLOW CITIZENS.

AND THEY ALL WROTE BACK STORIES OF KIND OF DIFFERENT CODES OF BEHAVIOR.

SO YOU KNOW, SHOCKED AT INTERACTIONS BETWEEN WHITE AND BLACK PEOPLE.

SHOCKED AT ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN WHITE AND BLACK PEOPLE.

SHOCKED AT THE KIND OF -- THE LESS -- THE LIKE LESS RIGID STRUCTURES OF RACE AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR THAT THEY ENCOUNTERED.

THAT SAID, YOU KNOW, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IMPERIAL EUROPE DURING A WAR AND IN THE AFTERMATH OF A WAR.

AND THEY HAD THEIR OWN THINGS.

YOU KNOW, FRANCE, GERMANY, ENGLAND, WHAT HAVE YOU, HAD THEIR OWN WAYS OF POLICING EMPIRE AND OF MAINTAINING SOCIAL AND RACIAL DIFFERENCE.

FOR MOST AMERICANS THEY JUST WEREN'T PART OF THOSE IMPERIAL RELATIONS AND SO THEY DIDN'T NECESSARILY EXPERIENCE THEM AS IMMEDIATELY OR READILY.

>> MM-HMM.

THAT'S -- AND I THINK THAT'S REALLY NOT ONLY INTERESTING BUT AN IMPORTANT NARRATIVE TO PULL OUT AS TO WHY YOU HAD SO MANY -- THE HANDFUL OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS WHO HAD THE MEANS TO TRAVEL TO EUROPE ON THEIR OWN DIME WHO CHOSE TO SIMPLY STAY.

BUT MOVING ON, TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE ROLE THAT ELEANOR ROOSEVELT PLAYED IN ANDERSON'S PERFORMANCE.

SHE SEEMS LIKE SOMEBODY WHO WOULD FIT QUITE NATURALLY INTO THIS NARRATIVE.

>> YEAH, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, YOU KNOW, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT IS A PRETTY REMARKABLE PERSON IN A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT WAYS.

AND AS MANY HISTORIANS WILL BE QUICK TO TELL YOU MANY STEPS AHEAD OF HER HUSBAND WHEN IT COMES TO QUESTIONS OF SOCIAL REFORM AND OF NOT NECESSARILY -- TIPTOEING UP TO IF NOT GETTING QUITE THERE WITH MATTERS OF CIVIL RIGHTS.

AND WHAT HAPPENS WITH MARIAN ANDERSON'S 1939 PERFORMANCE IS THAT ORIGINALLY ANDERSON WAS DOING A FUND-RAISER FOR HOWARD.

AND THEY WERE TRYING TO GET IT SCHEDULED IN CONSTITUTION HALL, WHICH IS RUN BY THE -- OWNED BY THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, OF WHICH ELEANOR ROOSEVELT WAS A KIND OF HONORARY MEMBER.

WALTER WHITE, WHO WAS THE HEAD OF THE NAACP, UNDERSTOOD THE KIND OF -- THE SYMBOLIC AND TACTICAL UTILITY OF ASKING THE D.A.R., OF PUSHING THE D.A.R.

TO LET MARIAN ANDERSON, AGAIN, THIS INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY, DO A CONCERT IN WHAT HAD HISTORICALLY BEEN SEGREGATED SPACE.

WHEN THE D.A.R.

SAYS NO, WALTER WHITE KIND OF PULLS ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH ELEANOR ROOSEVELT TO SEE WHAT THEY CAN MAKE HAPPEN.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT INITIALLY RESIGNED FROM THE D.A.R.

IN PROTEST.

WHICH IS KIND OF AN EASY THING FOR HER TO DO BECAUSE SHE WASN'T SUPER INVOLVED IN IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

BUT IT STILL -- AGAIN, SYMBOLICALLY IT SPEAKS VOLUMES.

AND THEN TALKS IT TO HAROLD I ICKES WOOS THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR AND TALKS WITH IKKES TO SEE IF THEY CAN FIND AN ALTERNATE SITE FOR THIS CONCERT, NAMELY THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.

>> NOW LOOKING BACK AT THAT EVENT WITH HISTORICAL GLASSES, WE CAN SAY OF COURSE THAT WAS THE PLACE TO DO IT AND THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF IF.

BUT THE CHOOSING OF THE LINCOLN MEM MEMORIAL, THE PEOPLE WHO WERE ABLE TO ATTEND, I'M WONDERING WHAT WOULD THAT EXPERIENCE HAVE BEEN LIKE, AT LEAST FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE ABLE TO GO TO THIS CONCERT?

BECAUSE AGAIN, THIS WAS VERY UNIQUE.

>> YEAH.

AND IT WAS -- CHOOSING THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL MADE SEVERAL CLAIMS AT THE SAME TIME.

AGAIN, IT'S D.C.

IN THE 1930s.

IT'S A SEGREGATED TOWN.

AND THE DEDICATION OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL IN THE 1920s HAD BEEN A SEGREGATED EVENT.

THE MEMORY OF LINCOLN AS THE GREAT EMANCIPATOR AS, YOU KNOW, FOLKS DID AND DO NOW TALK ABOUT HIM, HAD BEEN PUSHED AWAY AS THE SOUTH HAD WON THE POST-WAR ARGUMENT ABOUT THE MEANING OF THE CIVIL WAR.

SO WE REMEMBER THAT VERSION OF PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR WHERE IT'S -- YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT ABOUT SLAVERY, IT'S A BATTLE BETWEEN BROTHERS.

LINCOLN -- >> STATES' RIGHTS.

>> STATES' RIGHTS.

IT'S A DIFFICULT THING THAT HAPPENED TO WHITE MEN, RIGHT?

THAT WAS THE AMBIENT STORY.

AND WITH IT LINCOLN AS THE KIND OF GREAT CONSTCILIATOR WAS PARTF THAT STORY.

BUT LINCOLN AS THE EMANCIPATORY FIGURE WAS GONE.

SO WHEN THEY PLACED MARIAN ANDERSON'S CONCERT AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL PART OF WHAT THEY WERE DOING WAS REVIVING THE SYMBOLOGY OF LINCOLN AS AN EMANCIPATORY FIGURE, AFRICAN-AMERICANS LAYING CLAIM, ALLOWING AFRICAN-AMERICAN SPACE TO LAY CLAIM TO HIM AGAIN AND HOSTING THIS CONCERT THAT HAD 75,000 PEOPLE AT IT THAT WAS OPEN TO WHOEVER WOULD COME.

>> WELL, I COULD CONTINUE TALKING TO YOU ABOUT THIS DOCUMENTARY AND OF COURSE ABOUT MARIAN ANDERSON'S LIFE.

BUT WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME.

WE HAVE ABOUT A MINUTE AND A HALF LEFT.

I JUST WANTED TO GET YOUR TAKE ON WHAT HER ROLE ENDED UP BEING IN THE LARGER CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

WHEN WE TEND TO THINK OF CIVIL RIGHTS AS AMERICANS, WE TEND TO THINK OF OF COURSE WHAT HAPPENED IN THE '60s AND SUBSEQUENTLY THE '70s.

BUT WHAT WAS HER ROLE IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT?

>> WELL, I THINK THERE'S A COUPLE OF THINGS TO REMEMBER.

ONE, THE CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE, THE BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLE HAD BEEN GOING ON FOR SEVERAL DECADES BEFORE THE MASS MOVEMENT KICKED OFF IN THE 1950s.

BUT ALSO THE -- MARIAN ANDERSON WASN'T AN ACTIVIST.

SHE WAS AN ARTIST.

SHE WAS CONSCRIPTED INTO A MOMENT OF ACTIVISM.

BUT IT'S IMPORTANT FOR US TO THINK ABOUT THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACTIVISM AND ART AND THE WAYS IN WHICH CERTAIN FIGURES, TALENTED, VISIBLE, CAN USE THEIR POSITION TO DO GOOD THINGS AND CAN INSPIRE THOSE ACTIVISTS AND GIVE THEM THE ENERGY AND THE FORTITUDE TO KEEP ON WITH THEIR WORK.

SO MARIAN ANDERSON'S CONCERT WAS A GIFT TO THE MOVEMENT BUT ALSO TO THE BROADER NATION.

AND THAT SHE GAVE IT TO THEM AND TO US IS A SIGN OF HER TALENT AND HER GENEROSITY.

>> WELL, UNFORTUNATELY, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO LEAVE IT THERE.

BUT I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR JOINING US.

DR. ADRIANE LENTZ-SMITH, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES AT DUKE UNIVERSITY.

IT WAS SO GREAT TO SPEAK WITH YOU.

AND OF COURSE WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE FILM ON PBS.

>> ALL RIGHT.

THANKS FOR HAVING ME.

>> ABSOLUTELY.

>>> TO TALK ABOUT AFRICA IS TO TALK OF THE ORIGIN OF ALL HUMANKIND.

THROUGH DNA SCIENTISTS NOW KNOW THAT ALL HUMANS ON EARTH HAVE A COMMON ANCESTOR AND THAT THAT ANCESTOR CAME FROM AFRICA.

PERHAPS LESS WELL KNOWN IS THAT AFRICA IS ALSO HOME TO SOME OF THE WEALTHIEST, MOST ADVANCED AND MOST ARTISTICALLY CREATIVE CIVILIZATIONS THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN, CIVILIZATIONS THAT QUITE LITERALLY ALTERED THE COURSE OF HISTORY.

THAT PART OF THE STORY HAS BEEN HIDDEN BY CENTURIES OF EUROPEAN DOMINATION.

.

BUT IF IN AN AMBITIOUS SIX-PART SERIES PREMIERING ON PBS PROFESSOR HENRY LOUIS GATES AIMS TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT.

"AFRICA'S GREAT CIVILIZATIONS" TAKES US ON A TRIP ACROSS THE CONTINENT CHRONICLING 200 YEARS OF AFRICAN HISTORY.

AND IT ALL BEGINS TONIGHT.

HERE'S A PREVIEW.

>> FROM THE ORIGINS OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION TO THE THRESHOLD OF THE MODERN WORLD I'LL BE GOING ON A JOURNEY THROUGH 200,000 YEARS OF AFRICA'S RICH HISTORY.

GREAT CITIES, BREATHTAKING ARCHITECTURE, ART OF UNPARALLELED BEAUTY AND TECHNICAL BRILLIANCE.

THIS IS THE UNTOLD STORY OF HOW FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS AFRICANS HELPED SHAPE OUR MODERN WORLD.

>> AND JOINING ME NOW IS AUTHOR, SCHOLAR, FILMMAKER AND ONE OF THE WORLD'S LEADING EXPERTS ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURE AND HISTORY, PROFESSOR HENRY LOUIS GATES.

PROFESSOR, THANKS SO MUCH FOR TALKING TO US TODAY.

>> THANKS FOR HAVING ME ON THE SHOW.

>> NOW, LET ME START WITH THE OBVIOUS QUESTION.

>> THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL, WHAT YOU JUST SAID.

>> THANK YOU SO MUCH.

SO PROFESSOR, THE SIX-HOUR DOCUMENTARY WAS OBVIOUSLY MONUMENTAL UNDERTAKING.

HOW DID YOU BEGIN IT, AND HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO DO IT?

>> I ASKED MY FELLOW EXECUTIVE PRODUCER DYLAN McGEE I GO WHEN DID WE START THIS?

SHE GOES THE FIRST E-MAIL YOU WROTE ABOUT IT WAS 2012.

SO FIVE YEARS.

AND THEN LAST YEAR I WAS ON SABBATICAL FROM HARVARD, TOOK A YEAR OFF AND WE FILMED IT AND WENT TO 12 AFRICAN COUNTRIES.

IT'S GREAT.

AND I WANTED TO TELL THE FULL STORY FROM THE BEGINNING, FROM MITOCHONDRIAL EVE, OUR COMMON FEMALE ANCESTOR OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS, DOWN TO MARCH 1st, 1896.

AND THAT IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEFEAT BY THE ETHIOPIANS, THE ETHIOPIAN EMPEROR, MENELIK II, DEFEATED THE INVADING ITALIAN ARMY.

AND I WANT TO TALK TO YOU OVER THE COURSE OF THREE NIGHTS, I'M GOING TO TOUCH ON THAT IN OUR LAST CONVERSATION, BUT LET'S TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE THINGS WE FIND IN THE FIRST COUPLE OF EPISODES, TWO OR THREE EPISODES.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS AND SOME OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES INCLUDING THE DISCOVERY OF MITOCHONDRIAL EVE THAT HAVE LED US TO UNDERSTAND THAT AFRICA WAS INDEED THE HOME OF THE FIRST HUMAN BEINGS?

>> I'LL TELL YOU TOO, FIRST OF ALL, ON YOUR MOTHERTION MOTHER'S MOTHER MOTHER'S MOTHER'S LINE, THAT'S CALLED YOUR MITOCHONDRIAL DNA, WHICH YOU COULD TRACE AND IT'S AN IDENTICAL GENETIC SIGNATURE, IT VIRTUALLY NEVER CHANGES, SO YOU CAN USE IT TO TRACE ANCESTRY, AND IT TURNS OUT IT'S A LOT MORE COMPLICATED THAN I'M SAYING BUT WE'RE ALL DESCENDED FROM ONE COMMON FEMALE ANCESTOR WHO HAD A DAUGHTER WHO HAD A DAUGHTER WHO HAD A DAUGHTER, 200,000 YEARS.

AND WE ALL, ALL HUMAN BEINGS, DESCEND FROM -- SHE'S THE ORE MOTHER.

AND SHE'S FROM WHAT WE THINK OF NOW AS EAST AFRICA OF COURSE.

THE SECOND THING IS THAT ALL HUMAN BEINGS DESCEND FROM A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO MIGRATED OUT OF AFRICA SOME 50,000 TO 80,000 YEARS AGO.

SO WHETHER YOU'RE FROM INDIA WHERKTS YOU'RE FROM CHINA, AUSTRALIA, ENGLAND, FRANCE, OUR COMMON HUMAN ANATOMICALLY MODERN ANCESTORS, THEY MUST HAVE GOTTEN IN A FIGHT WITH EACH OTHER.

THAT'S THE WAY I FIGURE.

AND THEY JUST SAID I'M OUT OF HERE.

>> IN THE SECOND EPISODE CALLED "THE CROSS AND THE CRESCENT" YOU PUNCTURE THE MYTH THAT CHRISTIANITY ENTERED AFRICA THROUGH -- >> MISSIONARIES.

>> EXACTLY.

WHAT'S THE REAL STORY?

>> THE THIRD COUNTRY, THE THIRD NATION IN THE WORLD TO BECOME CHRISTIAN AFTER ROME AND ARMENIA WAS ETHIOPIA.

IN 350 A.D.

THE EMPEROR, IZENA, CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY.

THIS IS BEFORE NORTHERN EUROPE, BEFORE ANY OTHER NATION EXCEPT FOR ARMENIA AND EXCEPT FOR ROME.

WE HAVE THIS MYTH THAT AFRICAN PEOPLE WERE PRIMITIVE, STATIC, BACKWARDS, ALL OF THESE STEREOTYPES WHICH HAVE BEEN FOISTED ON AFRICA AND OUR COMMON AFRICAN ANCESTORS BECAUSE OF SLAVERY AND THEN BECAUSE OF COLONIALISM.

AND ONE IS THAT THEY WERE, QUOTE UNQUOTE, SAVAGE, QUOTE UNQUOTE BARBARIC, QUOTE UNQUOTE HEATHENS AND NEEDED TO BE SAVED BY MISSIONARIES COMING IN THE 19th CENTURY OR THE 18th CENTURY.

AND THAT'S TOTAL RUBBISH.

>> AMONG THE MANY REVELATIONS IN YOUR DOCUMENTARY IS THE REVELATION FOR US, FOR MANY OF THE VIEWERS, OF THE EXTENT OF LEARNING AND SCHOLARSHIP THAT HAD BEEN GOING ON IN AFRICA FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS -- >> HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

>> EVEN AT THE SAME TIME AS THE SO-CALLED DARK AGES IN EUROPE.

>> ABSOLUTELY.

ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT UNIVERSITIES AT THE SANKOFA MOSQUE WAS IN TIMBUKTU.

WHEN I WAS GROWING UP I'D GO TO THE BARBERSHOP ONCE EVERY PULL OF WEEKS WITH ANY FATHER AND ONE TIME IT WAS CLASSIC COMIC BOOKS AND RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT AND BOTH OF THEM AT DIFFERENT TIMES HAD IMAGES OF BLACK MEN WITH TURBANS HOLDING BOOKS AND THIS UNIVERSITY THAT WAS 500 YEARS OLD, AND I DIDN'T KNOW IF THIS WAS BARBERSHOP B.S.

OR IF IT WAS REAL.

AND IT WAS REAL.

>> YOU SAY IN THE DOCUMENTARY THAT WHEN YOU VISITED THE LIBRARIES OF TIMBUKTU YOU WENT.

>> I DID.

>> WHY?

>> BECAUSE IN THE 18th CENTURY SOME OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST PHILOSOPHERS, STARTING WITH HUME IN 1754, TEN YEARS LATER IMMANUEL KANT, THOMAS JEFFERSON IN HIS NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA, AND HEGLE IN HIS PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY ALL SAID THAT AFRICANS HAD NO INDIGENOUS SYSTEMS OF WRITING AND NO WRITTEN TRADITION AND THEREFORE NO WRITTEN HISTORY, THEREFORE NO RELIABLE MEMORY, AND THEREFORE THEY WERE SUBSPECIES.

AND THEREFORE THEY COULD BE ENSLAVED.

BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T REALLY HUMAN BEINGS LIKE US.

AND IT TURNS OUT THERE'S THIS GREAT LITERATE TRADITION.

NOT ONLY WAS THERE A GREAT UNIVERSITY IN WHAT IS NOW MALI BUT THE MAROITIC KINGDOM, WHICH WAS THE LAST YEARS OF B.C.

AND CONTINUING INTO A.D., DEVELOPED THEIR OWN INDIGENOUS WRITTEN LANGUAGES WHICH IS STILL NOT TRANSLATED.

AND ONE OF ITS GREAT LEADERS WAS A WOMAN, A ONE-EYED WOMAN, A FEROCIOUS WARRIOR.

AND HER NAME WAS AMANI RENUS.

AND AMANI RENUS IN 24 B.C.

DEFEATED THE ROMAN ARMY IN ROMAN EGYPT.

AND NOT ONLY THAT HER TITLE WAS KANDIKE.

ANY WOMAN NAMED CANDICE DERIVES HER NAME FROM THE TITLE FOR THE QUEEN OF THE MAROITIC PEOPLE, KANDIKE.

ISN'T THAT AMAZING?

JUST AMAZING.

>> ALL ALONG AFRICA'S WEST AND CENTRAL ATLANTIC COAST EUROPEANS MARKED THEIR PRESENCE WITH COASTAL FORTS.

THESE FORTS NOW BECAME COMMERCIAL HUBS WHERE MUCH OF THIS ENORMOUS AND GROWING BUSINESS BETWEEN EUROPEANS AND AFRICANS WAS CONDUCTED.

WITH THE PORTUGUESE AND THE SPANISH, THE DUTCH, THE BRITISH, AND THE FRENCH NOW BOASTING COLONIES OF THEIR OWN IN THE AMERICAS, THE DEMAND FOR SLAVES GREW GREATER THAN EVER.

>> THAT WAS A CLIP FROM "AFRICA'S GREAT CIVILIZATIONS," THE EPIC SIX-HOUR SERIES WHICH CONCLUDES TONIGHT HERE ON PBS.

THE SERIES, HOSTED, EXECUTIVE PRODUCED AND WRITTEN BY PROFESSOR HENRY LOUIS GATES, CHRONICLES 200,000 YEARS OF AFRICAN HISTORY.

AND TONIGHT IT BRINGS US TO THE TURN OF THE 20th CENTURY, WHEN ETHIOPIA'S HEROIC STAND AGAINST ITALY'S COLONIAL ARMY BECAME THE STUFF OF LEGEND.

ONCE AGAIN WE WELCOME PROFESSOR GATES TO THE PROGRAM.

PROFESSOR, WELCOME.

>> THANK YOU.

NICE TO BE -- IT'S BECOMING A HABIT.

>> NOW, PROFESSOR, WE TOUCHED ON THIS YESTERDAY BUT I WONDER IF WE COULD TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE EXTENSIVELY ABOUT THE SLAVE TRADE AS WE KNOW IT HERE IN AMERICA.

HOW DID IT ORIGINATE IN OF COURSE SXFRK WHO ARE THE ORIGINATORS?

>> WE NOW KNOW BECAUSE OF SCHOLARS HEADED BY PROFESSOR DAVID ELTIS AND DAVID RICHARDSON AND A NUMBER OF THEIR ASSOCIATES, WHO WENT THROUGH ABOUT 36,000 LOGS OF VOYAGES ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, WE KNOW HOW MANY SLAVES CROSSED THE OCEAN AND WE KNOW WHERE THEY CAME FROM.

SO BETWEEN ROUGHLY 1501 AND 1866, 12.5 MILLION AFRICANS WERE SHIPPED TO THE NEW WORLD.

5 MILLION, APPROXIMATELY, WENT TO BRAZIL.

A MILLION WENT TO JAMAICA.

ABOUT A MILLION WENT TO CUBA.

AND WE KNOW THAT A QUARTER OF THOSE THAT CAME FROM THE UNITED STATES CAME FROM WHAT IS NOW CONGO ANGOLA.

AND ANOTHER QUARTER CAME FROM SENEGAL AND GAMBIA.

AND OVERWHELMINGLY OVER THE COURSE OF THE TRADE ANGOLA, SLAVES WERE SHIPPED OUT OF THAT PORT IN HUGE, HUGE NUMBERS.

BY AND LARGE.

SOME WERE CAPTURED BY THE PORTUGUESE ON THEIR OWN WITH THE HELP OF THEIR MERCENARY ALLIES THE IMBAGALAP BUT MANY, MANY MORE WERE JUST BROKERED THROUGH DEALS.

MADE DEALS WITH KINGS AND QUEENS.

>> WHAT HAS BEEN THE LONGEST-LASTING LEGACY OF SLAVERY IN AFRICA?

>> THE LONGEST-LASTING LEGACY OF SLAVERY IN AFRICA WAS THE OBLITERATION OF THE MEMORY OF GREAT AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS.

BECAUSE EUROPEANS HAD TO BLOT OUT THE HISTORY OF THESE GREAT KINGDOMS IN ORDER TO JUSTIFY TO THEMSELVES, TO ATTEMPT TO JUSTIFY TO THEMSELVES AND THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT THESE PEOPLE WERE INFERIOR BY NATURE, SUBSPECIES, MORE AKIN TO APES THAN EUROPEANS.

THESE ARE ALL CATCHPHRASES I'M REPEATING FROM THE 18th AND 19th CENTURY.

AND THAT ONE OF THE GREATEST HARMS TO PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT WAS THE MET APHYSICAL HARM.

SLAVERY, NOTHING WORSE THAN SLAVERY, BUT IN ADDITION TO THAT TAKING AWAY YOUR HISTORY, TAKING AWAY YOUR NAMES, TAKING AWAY YOUR LANGUAGES, TAKING AWAY THE IDEA THAT YOU WERE A HUMAN BEING, TAKEN AWAY, DENYING YOUR COMMON HUMANITY WHEN IT TURNS OUT THAT THEIR GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, GREAT MOTHER WAS A BLACK WOMAN FROM AFRICA.

>> THE WHOLE SERIES MAKES THE POINT AGAIN AND AGAIN, CONVINCINGLY MAKES THE POINT OF THE DYNAMISM, THE POWER, THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES.

WHY THEN WERE THEY SO VULNERABLE TO EUROPEAN COLONIALISM AND LOST TO EUROPEAN COLONIALISM?

>> BY THE TIME OF THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN, WHICH WAS 1884, ARMAMENTS, WEAPONRY HAD DEVELOPED IN A VERY SOPHISTICATED AND OVERPOWERING WAY VIS-A-VIS WHAT WAS ON THE GROUND IN AFRICA, SO THAT THESE COUNTRIES OR KINGDOMS COULD BE OVERPOWERED, AND THEY WERE THROUGHOUT.

>> I'M SURE THE VIEWERS OF THIS DOCUMENTARY ARE GOING TO BE VERY SURPRISED BY A LOT OF WHAT THEY LEARN.

BUT I'M WONDERING, WHAT SURPRISED YOU IN THE COURSE OF MAKING THIS?

>> YOU KNOW WHAT SURPRISED ME?

TWO THINGS.

TECHNOLOGY.

THE OLDEST IRON TECHNOLOGY IN THE WORLD IS ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT.

1800 B.C.

SECOND, SOME OF THE EARLIEST CERAMIC TECHNOLOGY AND COTTON TEXTILE WEAVING.

MAYBE SECOND IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

DEVELOPED IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF AFRICA.

SO TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS.

YOU DON'T THINK OF AFRICA AS A SITE OF GREAT INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY.

WHAT ELSE SURPRISED ME?

TRADE.

THE FACT OF -- I WAS RAISED TO BE RIVETED, STORIES OF DR. LIVINGSTON I PRESUME, STANLEY PENETRATING THE JUNGLE, THIS WHITE MAN WHO WAS LOOKING FOR THE SOURCES OF THE NILE.

AFRICANS HAVE BEEN CROSSING THE CONTINENT, TRADING WITH EACH OTHER AS WE KNOW, THE GREAT ZIMBABWE, WE KNOW THROUGH THE PARAPLUS, PEOPLE WERE COMING FROM EUROPE AND NORTHERN AFRICA, TRADING DOWN THE RED SEA.

WE KNOW BECAUSE OF ALL THAT GOLD, WE KNOW THAT WAS IN EUROPE BETWEEN 1000 AND 1500, PEOPLE WERE CROSSING THE DESERT.

PARTICULARLY AFTER THE DOMESTICATION OF THE CAMEL AFTER ABOUT 200 A.D. AND YOU HAVE TO THINK OF THE SAHARA DESERT, THE NILE RIVER, THE RED SEA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN AS HIGHWAYS.

AND THE AFRICANS WERE JUST AS CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT WAS OVER THERE AS THEY WERE ABOUT WHAT WAS HERE.

AND THEY WERE JUST AS MOTIVATED BY PROFIT, JUST AS CLEVER, AND SO TRADE, AFRICA WAS CRISSCROSSED WITH NETWORKS OF TRADE.

AND THAT WAS THE BIGGEST SURPRISE TO ME.

>> WELL, PROFESSOR, YOU CERTAINLY SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT WITH THIS MONUMENTAL SERIES.

AND WE THANK YOU FOR THAT SERVICE TO ALL OF US.

>> THANK YOU, MY BROTHER.

>>> "METROFOCUS" IS MADE POSSIBLE BY SUE AND EDGAR WACHENHEIM III, SYLVIA A.

AND SIMON B. POYTA PROGRAMMING ENDOWMENT TO FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM, THE PETER G. PETERSON AND JOAN GANS COONEY FUND, BERNARD AND DENISE SCHWARTZ, BARBARA HOPE ZUCKERBERG, THE AMBROSE MONELL FOUNDATION AND BY JANET PRINDLE SEIDLER, JODY AND JOHN ARNHOLD, CHERYL AND PHILIP MILSTEIN FAMILY, JUDY AND JOSH WESTON, DR. ROBERT C. AND TINA SOHN FOUNDATION.