Finding Oprah's Roots: Finding Your Own

by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Finding Oprah’s Roots will not only endow readers with a new appreciation for the key contributions made by history’s unsung but also equip them with the tools to connect to pivotal figures in their own past. A roadmap through the intricacies of public documents and online databases, the book also highlights genetic testing resources that can make it possible to know one’s distant tribal roots in Africa. For Oprah, the path back to the past was emotion-filled and profoundly illuminating, connecting the narrative of her family to the larger American narrative and “anchoring” her in a way not previously possible. For the reader, Finding Oprah’s Roots offers the possibility of an equally rewarding experience.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, African American, Biography Memoir, Audiobook, History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. is a Professor of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. He is well-known as a literary critic, an editor of literature, and a proponent of black literature and black cultural studies.

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't let the size of this book fool you, it is a tremendous book that has needed to be written for a long time. There are many guides and tools for researching roots, but this one, highly specialized to pre and post slavery sources is exceptional.

Why is it exceptional? 1) It documents a search. 2) It provides inspiration. In demonstrating a typical search (while Oprah is not typical, the search for her roots is) it shows the dynamics of the oral history, specific written records and the larger regional histories. It discusses the uses and limits of DNA.

The photos and documents are excellent. I like the way the full document is shown with the pertinent info blown up.

Everything Oprah does increases my respect for her. This search could have turned up reprobates and losers, but she didn't know that from the start. She approved potential embarrassment on an international level so that people could have this model... this encouragement.

I cried when I saw Oprah's South African school on TV. I almost did, like she did, when I saw the record of her ancestor's actual ownership.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book that presents the difficulties that African Americans face chasing down their ancestors. It makes me feel sad to know that most will not be able to ever know the Grandparent that was stolen from Africa and brought to the colonies as slaves due to the fact that not even their names were considered important. People are not their race...they are people!

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The "finding Oprah's roots" part of the book is interesting and informative. This wasn't intended to be a full biography. There are other more in-depth books about Oprah if that is what you are looking for. The "finding your own" parts of the book are most helpful if your ancestors were slaves in the South. It was not as helpful for my research.

For example, the author repeats several times "... starting out by turning to the 1870 U.S. census -- the first U.S census, as we have seen, that listed African Americans with two names, first and last." African Americans were listed by two names on all censuses once they were free and slaves were freed much earlier in the North than in the South. One of the African American families that I am researching was already free and is listed on the 1800 census and one is listed on the 1820 census. True, only the head of household is listed by first and last name on early censuses (before 1850) but the 1870 census is clearly not the first census to list African Americans by two names.

Unfortunately, my local library did not have an up-to-date book on African American genealogy so I will have to buy or borrow something else.

[Kali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will be honest, I probably would have never made it through this book if I wasn't listening to it on tape because Gates is repetative. However, at only 5 hours it was great/very worthwhile background to household chores and working out. I especially enjoyed it because of my LDS upbringing. It was inspiring to hear about the struggles and work arounds genealogists are finding in tracing slave ancestry. I especially liked the lessons Gates pulled out -- genealogy lets you paint individualized lives on the sometimes abstracted canvas of history, you can become empowered when you know the exceptions/the people who struggled and overcame against the odds. Gates and Oprah also nicely (although repetatively) summed up the insights that can come when you take the time to discover your ancestors - the feelings of being bought and paid for with their sacrifices. The DNA/mitrocondrial female line work is also fun and interesting to think about.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book! Great Book!
Henry gates is an author that goes straight to the point but talks in a eloquent and firm way.
After I finished the book I immediately started investigating on different companies to do DNA tests in myself. Now i am waiting on recieving my results back, i recieve them in a month.
This book also made me want to learn more and more about Oprah, even after I knew so much about her from this book. She is such an admirable person and I just hope that there are more people in the world like her. HOPES! she gives me HOPES on the world.

[Nancy Mackay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has great potential but, in fact, is disappointing. Even though the author is a professor at Harvard, he seems to be writing for a 5th grade audience.

The book was recommended to me because I am an oral historian interested in family history. Even with my interest, it couldn't keep my interest.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

for the information about Oprah's ancestors -- what they did, how they lived, how they contributed to their communities -- i really liked this book. however, i was a little disappointed in how the steps taken to get the information were briefly discussed or quickly glossed over. i'll need to look to other resources for that. otherwise, this was an entertaining read.

[Joyce Gillis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was as close as I could get to a bio on Oprah. It was educational and informative regarding how to do your own geneaology search. It told quite a bit about Oprah's life and family. Amazing how her life began and how it is now.

[Bart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of the challenges of researching African-American genealogy. Oprah's genealogy allowed Dr. Gates the opportunity to map out just how they figured out her past. The use of DNA testing is something I haven't done yet but will in the near future.

[Sherece · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book that encourages all to take the time and effort to try to learn and know their roots, their family history. Knowing one's history is a great map to guide or shape where you go in the future.

[Diane Mueller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I love genealogy I liked this book. It was interesting to read about Oprah's family and how information was found out about them.

[Sallie]

While i might just scan the technical "how-to" info, this seems to be another important, personal way to understand this part of America's history.

[jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. A little short. Good tips for geneologists.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story of tracing an African-American genealogy.

[Lee Ellsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

good followup to the tv series

[DAGMARA · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second of Professor Gate's books I have read and enjoyed. His writing style is fluid and easy to read, his books are interesting, well researched and are very informative on Black History. He explains the substantial difficulties encountered in tracing ancestry before emancipation. In the available historical records slaves were nameless(entries logged only by age, race, and sex under the owners' names) . He traces Oprah's lineage to her first slave ancestors by using the 1870 census which was the first to register newly freedmen under first and last name, then searches for earlier ancestors based on an assumption that emancipated slaves lived near their last owner and kept the owner's last name (adding the caveat that this assumption was not always true). Professor Gates then discussed DNA testing to search for for remote ancestry, genetic racial composition (by percentages), and family origins.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up more for the tips on how to research African-American genealogy. It gave me a good starting point for that, but also gave me an appreciation for what a privilege it is to be able to trace my ancestry beyond 1870. As a white person, I can trace the paper trail of my family back to the 1500s. For African-Americans, they are lucky if they can find the white family that owned their ancestors prior to the Civil War. The erasure of their ancestry is one of the many tragedies of slavery.

[C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more than a book about Oprah; it is a book about hope, resilience, and destiny. The content, organization, and flow is perfect. Whether you are a fan of Oprah or Mr. Gates, this book will move you, excite, encourage, and inspire you. The tips and explanations of the advanced research processes are helpful and vital to moving beyond the 1870 census. I highly recommend this book.

[Simon Jeffries · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gripped the sides of my chair, fervently flipping through the pages. This book gripped me. This book changed me. I have never felt so possessed and helpless, as I read the raw EMOTION and PASSION that was Oprah’s journey. I hope that someday I can mentally recover from the emotional rollercoaster of Oprah.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was dry compared to the TV show “Finding your Roots” which is entertaining.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

very cool opened my eyes a lot

[Melinda Johnson M.Ed. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!! This book has many tips for finding your roots!!

[Tina Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting view of the process. Also, she has no while ancestry and is about 11% Native American.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting, not as fascinated by ancestry however was an interesting read.

[Nora Olmo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Gates, Jr. should attempt to do people from ancestry and 24and Me - also. That would be even more interesting...

[Heather Leipart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one- Oprah is a phenomenal rags to riches story and so learning of her familiy's meager beginnings and her African heritage shed new light on her very fortunate rise to success. Truly incredible the things her family had to overcome. Not as biographical as I was expecting- mostly family tree focused and, as the title suggests, very heavily about "Oprah's roots." I really did like this book a lot, and even appreciated the author injecting some of his own family history tidbits into the book dialogue. I must admit, I still do not have a desire to go tracking my own family geneology, but thrilled there are those who do. Excellent!

[Pretty Boi]

good book

[Erin Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh