Episode 316 - Dr. Henry Louis Gates On How Genealogy Teaches Us About Ourselves / What To Expect At RootsTech 2020- How To Access From Afar

Host Scott Fisher opens the show with David Allen Lambert, the Chief Genealogist of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and AmericanAncestors.org. The guys talk about a new download record on the podcast side of the show… over 63,000 for January. Thank you genies! David then shares some historic anniversaries from the past two weeks, including the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945, the start of Prohibition in 1920 and the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower. Plus Arlington Cemetery is getting a reprieve on its space problems. Hear what has happened. Speaking of cemeteries, a grave yard in Tennessee is in trouble for reusing a casket! Get the details. Another lost African-American cemetery has been found in Florida. This time its under an office building. David then talks about a DNA study you might play a role in concerning Scotland and the Shetland Islands.

Next, Fisher visits with Dr. Henry Louis Gates from the PBS show Finding Your Roots. Dr. Gates talks about the most recent episode and gets into an important discussion with Fisher about what genealogy can do to teach people about themselves. It's a remarkable conversation by an icon in our field.

Then, if you're wondering what's happening at RootsTech 2020, Tyler Stahle and Jen Allen from familysearch.org take a few minutes to go through the highlights. It's going to be a great conference!

David Allen Lambert then returns for Ask Us Anything. David and Fisher tackle a question about a dispute over an ancestral couple and where they're buried and how to resolve it. Also, a genie wants to know about finding an account of a family story he has heard since his youth.

That's all this week on Extreme Genes, America's Family History Show!