and the spiritual leader behind it all is professor henry louis gates, jr.nk you for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now, for another in our thanksgiving week food series: a profile of food writer and cookbook author paula wolfert as she calls on her culinary skills to battle back against alzheimer's. paula wolfert has the hands of someone who's been cooking a long time. >> what i'm going do is i'm just going to fry this for flavor. rough fluff the kitchen of her sonoma, california home, wolfert is preparing a cauliflower recipe she loves. >> this is an armenian dish taught to me by a very famous armenian cook. i like the dish because it's so simple to make. >> woodruff: the 75-year-old wolfert has been writing about mediterranean food for four decades. she authored nine cooking books and has won numerous awards, including five james beard. wolfert made her mark long before the rise of the modern-day celebrity chefs, but her commitment to authentic recipes and ingredients still influence miss in the culinary world today. >> i like real food. i'm not a

. >> rose: we conclude with henry louis gates, jr., his new pbs series is called "the african americans: many rivers to cross." >> and you think what gave our slave ancestors hope? they didn't know there would be an emancipation proclamation. they didn't know there would be a civil war yet they built families. do you know that there were only 388,000 africans who were brought to the united states in the whole history of the slave trade. you know how many were brought to brazil? >> rose: how many? >> five million. the 42 million african americans today grew, that's what the phrase was, we're going to grow our own slaves out of this body of 388,000. so that means these people, despite the fact they were slaves, believed in the principles of democracy in this great republic. >> rose: a look at the golden age of television and a look at african american history when we continue. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios new york city, this is charlie ros >> you all know exactly who i am. say my name. >> do what? i don't -- i don't have a damn clue who the hell you are. >>

rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org [bells ringing] henry louis gates jr.: the american revolution was an inspiration to black people. they hoped the words of the patriots would apply equally to them, but they were wrong. when the armies left the fields, we were a country of farmers founded on notions of freedom, and our largest farms were worked by slaves. there were 700,000 slaves in the united states at its birth. they had no rights and no power, yet they were determined to hold america to its ideals. their struggle would last for generations, and that struggle would fundamentally reshape the character of our nation. announcer: funding for "the african americans: many rivers to cross" was made possible by... different announcer: senegal, africa-- the door of no return. from these shores, millions of africans went across oceans and continents, battlefields, racial barriers, and constitutional divides. bank of america is proud to sponsor "many rivers to cross," an epic journey through 500 years of african american history. we believe connecting to our

henry louis gates, jr.: i've spent much of my life searching for the stories of the african american people. man: our first notation of anthony johnson essentially defines him as "antonio the negro." gates: i've always wanted to tell their history: 5 centuries in the making. it's a living history, and i've traveled around the country... and across the globe to chronicle it. as-salaam-alaikum. did any of you receive wealth inherited from the slave trade? gates: black people changed american society. america probably wouldn't have much of a popular culture without black people. we blackified it. we took everything and made it, like, made it better. mmm. you're a good cook, man. gates: black people redefined the american dream. robert smalls epitomizes america. come from nothing and to be a success. gates: they held the country to its ideals, even when it abandoned them. [sirens] in these 6 hours, i'll tell the stories of some of the people, places, and events... woman: free huey. gates: that made black history... man: we want black power! we want black power! gates: stories of courage.