TV The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. - Season 1 Episode 1 : The Black Atlantic (1500-1800) The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. - Season 1 Episode 1 : The Black Atlantic (1500-1800) 10/10 by 1 users From PBS: "The Black Atlantic" explores the global experiences that created the African-American people. Beginning a century before the first documented "20-and-odd" slaves who arrived at Jamestown, Virginia, the episode portrays the earliest Africans, slave and free, who arrived on these shores. The transatlantic slave trade soon became a vast empire connecting three continents. Through stories of individuals caught in its web, the episode traces the emergence of plantation slavery in the American South and examines what the late 18th-century era of revolutions - American, French and Haitian - would mean for African Americans and slavery in America. Details Casts Posters Images Title The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. - Season 1 Episode 1 : The Black Atlantic (1500-1800) Alternative Titles First Air Date 2013-10-22 Last Air Date 2013-11-26 Number of Episodes 6 Number of Seasons 1 Genres Documentary, Networks , Casts Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Plot Keywords , Self Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Episodes List The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Season 1 :Episode 1 The Black Atlantic (1500-1800) The Black Atlantic (1500-1800) 2013-10-22 Professor Gates describes the history of the African American people by talking to historians, authors, and the people who made history. The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Season 1 :Episode 2 The Age of Slavery (1800-1860) The Age of Slavery (1800-1860) 2013-10-29 Professor Gates describes the history of the African American people by talking to historians, authors, and the people who made history. The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Season 1 :Episode 3 Into the Fire (1861-1890) Into the Fire (1861-1890) 2013-11-05 Professor Gates describes the history of the African American people by talking to historians, authors, and the people who made history. The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Season 1 :Episode 4 Making a Way Out of No Way (1897-1940) Making a Way Out of No Way (1897-1940) 2013-11-12 Professor Gates describes the history of the African American people by talking to historians, authors, and the people who made history. The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Season 1 :Episode 5 Rise! (1940-1968) Rise! (1940-1968) 2013-11-19 Professor Gates describes the history of the African American people by talking to historians, authors, and the people who made history. The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Season 1 :Episode 6 A More Perfect Union A More Perfect Union 2013-11-26 Professor Gates describes the history of the African American people by talking to historians, authors, and the people who made history.