Henry Louis Gates, Jr., presented a history of African Americans in the United States from the 16th century to the present. He talked about why this book was dedicated to his father, and what inspired the illustrated format of the book. Topics included misconceptions about the earliest history of interactions between Europeans and Africans, the first blacks to arrive in the Americas, the activities of free blacks, and the numbers of Africans involved in the slave trade. He also talked about education and interesting children in science and history through genealogy and genetics.

This was an Aiken Lecture at the Atlanta History Center.