Growing the Family Tree

摘要

Few individuals have contributed more to the popularization of genealogy in the United States than Dr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. In addition to serving as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, he is perhaps best known as the creator of PBS's hit show Finding Your Roots. With the help of librarians and genealogists across the country, the series traces the family trees of well-known Americans from Branford Marsalis to Gloria Steinem to Stephen King. Guests discover unexpected chapters in their family histories that include immigrations, adoptions, marriages, murders, and tales of hardship and courage-on a recent episode, Dustin Hoffman wept to learn of his great-grandmother's years in a Soviet concentration camp after the execution of both her husband and son. LJ caught up with Gates to see what librarians and patrons can learn from his approach to genealogy as narrative.