The DNA Kit Winner

BOSTON--, AfricanDNA.com, the first company dedicated to offering both genetic testing and genealogical tracing services for African Americans, is being launched this month by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University, in partnership with the Inkwell Foundation and Family Tree DNA, the world's leader in genetic genealogy. The precedent-setting site is the only company in the field of genetic genealogy that will provide African Americans with family tree research in addition to DNA testing.

"I was able to trace the family trees of several prominent African Americans deep into slavery, following the paper trail. And then when the paper trail ended, we tested their DNA in an attempt to discover the origins of their mother's line or their father's line on the African continent."
~Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

With the DNA Kit being available for African Americans to find out their biological ancestors, DPTV wanted to give one lucky person the opportunity to win a kit. So we held an essay contest and asked our viewers why they should be the winner. Although there were many outstanding essays we were only able to choose one, and that winner was Cristal Nichols who won with the following essay:

I was told that I ruined my life. That having a child at sixteen reduced me to being a statistic. I believed it for a while. Then, one day, while sitting on my front porch waiting on the mailman to bring my welfare check, I thought to myself: they can't pay me enough money to give my life away. I found my way to a training program that lead to a job and eight years later, I had saved enough to start community college. After I graduated, I received a scholarship to University of Michigan and Florida A&M University (FAMU). I choose FAMU because it was a historical black college.
What really motivated me was the fact that it had always been hard for our people. They had children and obstacles and look what they accomplished. My great uncle often talked about how my grandmother came to Detroit from Alabama and scrubbed floors and sent for anyone that wanted to come. She died when my mother was fifteen. My mother always told my siblings and me that we only needed each other. That's not true. You need to know whose shoulders you are standing on. Please help me find out!
~Ms. Cristal Nichols

2008 DNA Kit, Contest Winner

Telling Our Story

I get a lot of email and probably read 150 e-mail "stories" in a month. This week, however, I received an email from our employee Sarah Kittle which, for me, really sums up what we do best. “AAL2" refers to the PBS series African American Lives 2 which aired last month, and was a perfect example of great programming – engaging, entertaining, inspiring – that connected us to important audiences. For example, we held a training event for 200 Detroit educators to help them use AAL2 in the classroom and co-hosted an event with Buick with series host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Sarah also mentions our Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest, which is underway and will showcase the creative talents of young children in a TV special this June.Here’s an abbreviated version of Sarah’s email. By the way, Andy is her hardworking, indispensible husband.“Last Tuesday, Andy and I delivered AAL2 goody bags to seven schools in and around Detroit. We got hugs from teachers and principals who were shocked that we not only delivered, but hand delivered, on a promise. On the road, we got many a "thumbs up" from people both in cars and on the street. At a red light, a man in a car next to us rolled down his window and yelled, "That's our favorite station!" We replied, "Ours, too!" Kids standing in line elbowed one other and pointed at the truck. You could see them mouthing the words, "Detroit Public Television." It was way cool.

On Friday I drafted Andy once again to help me host the Reading Rainbow Author's Social for nearly 100 school children at Bates Academy. We invited eight fourth-graders who had written a story for last year's Contest, and (miraculously) still had their books, to be the special guests at this event. The young authors each sat at a table with 11 or 12 third-graders and read their stories, then answered questions before switching tables for a new audience. After all the stories were heard, we served juice and cookies while the kids fleshed out story ideas. With the more seasoned authors, we talked about revisions and character development. It was classic! Bates Academy has already expressed interest in doing this again next year.”

This is the kind of effort that our audience appreciates and understands. It illustrates the way Detroit Public Television goes beyond broadcasting to actually touch lives. Thanks, Sarah. Your "week in review" is typical of what we accomplish in a week...and, that is lot.

Rich Homberg

President & General Manager

What’s your DPTV story? Here’s mine.

One of the things that constantly amazes me about public television is how much people are touched by our programming. Nearly every day someone tells me how our programming has changed their lives or given it new meaning.

Me, too. A little history might be helpful.

I’ve always been interested in media, entertainment, culture and news. School plays, talent shows, public speaking, I tried it all. I sang “Gary, Indiana” (poorly) in the “The Music Man,” worked as a gofer in summer stock, and made “Super 8” movies with pals. I can still recite the lines from my kindergarden debut.

Before college, filmmaking and a new generation of television captured my attention. I loved every minute of American Graffiti and The Godfather. Movies like The Graduate and Easy Rider revolutionized film in the late '60s and early '70s; I studied them all. I stayed up late watching Dick Cavett devote entire shows to subjects that The Tonight Show would never tackle.

In 1973, my local PBS station aired a series titled The Men Who Made Movies, written by film critic Richard Schickel. It celebrated some of Hollywood’s greatest directors, including Frank Capra and Alfred Hitchcock. I was mesmerized, watched every single episode and sent away for the materials that were offered with the show. Today, all these years later, I remember getting the materials from the station and reading every word.

In 1974, I went off to Temple University, hoping to follow Francis Ford Coppola or George Lucas. Somewhere along the way, television production and, later, radio took over and I found a career. To this day I shoot a little video, take a ton of still pictures, and try to find a way to turn meetings into entertainment. Someday I’ll show you the video from the talent show I produced for my wife’s 50th birthday.

There's a lot of television on television these days. We constantly talk about a “300 channel universe.” One of the reasons I came to work here is my certainty that one channel plays an incredible role in our lives, Detroit Public Television.

We change lives. That’s pretty cool.

So, that’s my story about public television. I’m looking for yours.









- Rich Homberg, Detroit Public TV President & General Manager