TIME

Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The scholar is busy with a new book, 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro, a forthcoming anthology and the fourth season of Finding Your Roots

Which of the facts in your book do you think is most amazing? The first African American was Juan Garrido, who joined Ponce de Leon’s expedition to Florida, searching for the fountain of youth—the fact that there was a black man present at that event. One of the most shocking facts to me is that there were black slaveholders.

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