PBS announced today a fall primetime line-up featuring a strong roster of wide-ranging programs, including a few that you’ll probably be interested in knowing about – like this one from Henry Louis Gates Jr., titled The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.

It was last fall when Gates launched a weekly black history series on TheRoot.com, highlighting the varied experiences of African Americans, going back the Transatlantic slave trade. That online print column was part of a run-up to Gates upcoming six-part PBS series, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, which filmed last year.

Written and presented by Gates, PBS states that the six-part, six-hour series is the first documentary film to air, since 1968, to chronicle the full sweep of African American history, from the origins of slavery on the African continent, through more than four centuries of remarkable historic events up to the present day – when America has a black president yet remains a nation divided by race.

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross is scheduled to begin airing on PBS on Tuesdays, October 22 to November 26 from 8-9pm ET.

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