Season 1

The project demonstrated how men and women of color have been forced -- arguably more so than any other ethnic group in the U.S. to rise above their circumstances to flourish and prevail, guided by their unshakeable faith in a divine power (either one borne of their own African religions or one instilled in them by white society).

Episodes

Each episode has its own detail page.

Episode 1360 min2003-02-02

There Is a River

Explore the evolution of African-American religious thought, from the beliefs and rituals Africans brought to America to the influence of Christian teachings imposed on slaves in the new world.

Episode 2360 min2003-02-03

God Is a Negro

After Emancipation, the minister and journalist Henry McNeal Turner uses the black church to engage newly freed blacks in the political realm.

Episode 3360 min2003-02-04

Guide My Feet

Trace African-Americans as they move from the rural South to the promised land of the industrial North.

Episode 4360 min2003-02-05

Freedom Faith

Faith sustained black families through the oppression of segregation in the 1940s and 1950s.

Episode 5360 min2003-02-06

Inheritors of the Faith

Follow those who seek spiritual fulfillment outside of Christianity. It explores Islam and Yoruba.

Episode 6360 min2003-02-07

Rise Up and Call Their Names

In 1998, 60 people embarked on an Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage.

Season Cast

Featured cast for this season.

Cast

Lorraine Toussaint

Narrator

Season Media

Posters and videos for this season.

Videos

No season videos available.

Posters

No season posters available.