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Presented by The Inkwell Society
Renowned scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. returns to the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center for a special screening of FINDING YOUR ROOTS. Gates will present an episode of the show featuring businesswoman and former Senior Advisor to the President of the United States Valerie Jarrett, who will then join Gates on stage for a discussion. Gates uses genealogical detective work and cutting-edge DNA analysis to guide guests through the branches of their family trees. Uncovering buried secrets and inspiring stories of long- forgotten ancestors.
FINDING YOUR ROOTS highlights the genealogical backgrounds and ancestral stories of prominent guests that helped to define who they are today. At the center of it all, guiding every discovery, is host and executive producer Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University.
Gates remarks, “I am deeply proud of this series—and especially this season. I think it is so important today to show what we have in common, as Americans, and as human beings, despite our apparent differences. The stories we find in our guests’ family trees demonstrate—repeatedly— that we are a fundamentally blended nation that draws strength from our diversity.”
Assembling the extensive family trees and ancestral narratives alongside Dr. Gates are DNA expert CeCe Moore (chief genetic genealogist for Parabon Nanolabs and host of ABC’s “The Genetic Detective”) and genealogists Nick Sheedy and Kimberly Morgan, who together have solved hundreds of mysteries and reconnected innumerable lost relatives over the past two decades.
Episode 206: We Come From People
Guests: Angela Bassett, Valerie Jarrett and Nas
Three guests whose roots run back into the heart of slavery, revealing there is no single narrative and challenging our preconceptions of an era that has profoundly shaped our nations sense of itself. Hiphop artist Nas discovers a web of his slave ancestors and their intimate relationship with their slave master; award-winning actress Angela Bassett meets her ancestors whose slave family tragedy is rivaled only by a triumphant emancipation story; and presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett goes back in time over 200 years to meet a formidable line-up of free people of color – all of them are trailblazers.
The Honorable Valerie Jarrett is Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of The Obama Foundation where she is overseeing the creation of a new world class cultural and civic institution on Chicago’s south side, and the Foundation’s programs that inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world.
Ms. Jarrett is also a Senior Distinguished Fellow at The University of Chicago Law School, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward, published in April 2019.
Jarrett is Board Chairman of Civic Nation and serves on the boards of Walgreens Boot Alliance, Inc., Ralph Lauren Corporation, Sweetgreen, Inc., Ariel Investments, The University of Chicago, and the Sesame Street Workshop. Jarrett also serves on the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women Advisory Board, the Bank of America Enterprise Executive Development Council, and the Microsoft Advisory Council.
Ms. Jarrett was the Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama from 2009-2017, making her the longest serving senior advisor to a president in history. She oversaw the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and Chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls.
Ms. Jarrett has a background in both the public and private sectors. She served as the Chief Executive Officer of The Habitat Company. During her tenure Habitat was the largest multi family housing developer and manager in Chicago. Prior to joining Habitat, Ms. Jarrett was the Commissioner of Planning and Development for the city of Chicago, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. She practiced law for ten years in the private and public sector.
She previously served as the director of numerous corporate and not-for-profit boards, including leadership roles as Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chairman of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board of Trustees, Vice Chairman of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees, Chair of Chicago Transit Board, and Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Ms. Jarrett has also received numerous awards and honorary degrees, including TIME’s 100 Most Influential People Award and Forbes 50 Over 50.
Jarrett received her B.A. from. Stanford University in 1978 and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.
