NATCHEZ — Natchez and other areas of the Miss-Lou will be featured in the second installment of a six-part PBS documentary about African-American history that airs Tuesday.

The series, titled “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates Jr.,” is written and presented by Gates, a noted Harvard scholar.

The six-hour series explores “the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed — forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable odds,” according to PBS.

The series begins with the origins of slavery in Africa and moves through five centuries of “remarkable historic events right up to the present — when America is led by a black president, yet remains a nation deeply divided by race.”

Darrell White, director of the Natchez Association for the Preservation of Afro-American Culture Museum, will be featured in the series.

White said he was filmed as a reenactor of a slave picking cotton at Frogmore Plantation and also giving  Gates a tour of the Forks of the Road in Natchez.

White said the documentary will bring much-needed attention to the stories of local African-Americans and the Forks of the Road, once the second-largest slave market in the country.

“The story of the Forks of the Road, as compelling as it is, has not been told until a period within the past 20 years,” White said. “Whereas many within this community would prefer not as much emphasis be placed upon it, it has great significance and impact to the development of this nation.”

The wealthy planters who occupied the homes in Natchez, White said, served as conduits that fueled the nation’s economy because they controlled cotton, the nation’s biggest cash crop.

“By giving attention to the Forks, we provide a look at the human element that made that wealth possible,” he said.

“The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates Jr.” will air at 7 p.m. Tuesday on PBS.