Ancestry.com sponsored a three-part miniseries that will accompany the Lincoln work, which debuts February 20, the latest in A+E’s efforts to craft bespoke programming segments that burnish ad messages while at the same time keeping viewers tuned to the programming for which they originally came. Each of the content segments accompanying the “Lincoln” project will be introduced by Christy Coleman, executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Williamsburg, VA, and a contributor to the documentary. In each vignette, descendants of formerly enslaved people in the U.S. discover family connections using recently added Freedman’s Bureau records on Ancestry. They discuss these findings with Nicka Sewell-Smith, a professional genealogist. HollandWest was tasked to produce, direct, and craft the stories that were written and produced by Jenile Brooks.

Directed by

Warren Oliver | Kurt Williamson