HISTORY(R) BRINGS 'ROOTS' CAST AND PRODUCTION TEAM TO THE WHITE HOUSE FOR SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSIONS ON WHY 'ROOTS' MATTERS TODAY ON TUESDAY, MAY 17

New York, NY - May 13, 2016 - The cast and producers from HISTORY's event series "Roots" - including Academy Award(R) winner Forest Whitaker, Tony Award(R) winner Anika Noni Rose, Malachi Kirby, Co-Executive Producer and original Kunta Kunte LeVar Burton, Executive Producers Will Packer and Mark Wolper, Directors Phillip Noyce (Night one), Mario Van Peebles (Night two), Thomas Carter (Night three) and Nancy Dubuc, President and Chief Executive Officer, A+E Networks - will visit the White House for a day-long exploration of how we find our American stories. Valerie Jarrett, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor, will join HISTORY in welcoming an audience that includes students from Howard University, University of Maryland-Baltimore County and other area institutions, as well as key opinion leaders from across the country.

The event includes a sneak peek screening of the four-night, eight-hour event series before it premieres on HISTORY on Monday, May 30 at 9 p.m. The "Roots" cast and producers will lead a panel discussion about why now is an ideal time to reimagine this series with the hope that "Roots" will spark further conversations about the legacy of slavery and inspire a new generation to explore our nation's past.

HISTORY(R) premieres "Roots" on Memorial Day 2016, airing over four consecutive nights at 9 p.m. beginning Monday, May 30. The four-night, eight-hour event series developed by HISTORY, from A+E Studios, is a historical portrait of American slavery recounting the journey of one family and their will to survive and ultimately carry on their legacy despite hardship.

The panel discussions will be webcast live at www.whitehouse.gov/live.

Engage with us online via #ROOTS; http://roots.history.com/; www.facebook.com/RootsSeries; Twitter: www.twitter.com/RootsSeries; and www.instagram.com/history.

About "Roots"

HISTORY(R) premieres "Roots" on Memorial Day 2016, airing over four consecutive nights at 9 p.m. beginning Monday, May 30. The four-night, eight-hour event series developed by HISTORY, from A+E Studios, is a historical portrait of American slavery recounting the journey of one family and their will to survive and ultimately carry on their legacy despite hardship. The stellar cast includes Academy Award(R) winners Forest Whitaker ("Fiddler") and Anna Paquin ("Nancy Holt"); Academy Award(R) nominee and Emmy Award(R) winner Laurence Fishburne ("Alex Haley"); Golden Globe Award(R) winning and Emmy Award(R) nominated actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers ("Tom Lea"); Tony Award(R) winner Anika Noni Rose ("Kizzy"); Grammy Award(R) winner Tip "T.I." Harris ("Cyrus"); Chad L. Coleman ("Mingo"); Emayatzy Corinealdi ("Belle"); Matthew Goode ("Dr. William Waller"); Derek Luke ("Silla Ba Dibba"); Mekhi Phifer ("Jerusalem"); James Purefoy ("John Waller"); Erica Tazel ("Matilda") and introduces Regé-Jean Page ("Chicken George") and Malachi Kirby ("Kunta Kinte")."Roots" is an A+E Studios production in association with Marc Toberoff and The Wolper Organization, the company that produced the original "Roots." Will Packer, Marc Toberoff, Mark Wolper, Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal and Barry Jossen serve as executive producers. LeVar Burton and Korin D. Huggins are co-executive producers. Questlove is executive music producer. "Roots" is directed by Phillip Noyce, Mario Van Peebles, Thomas Carter and Bruce Beresford. Arturo Interian and Michael Stiller serve as Executives in Charge of Production for HISTORY. A+E Networks handles international distribution for "Roots."

About HISTORY(R)

HISTORY(R), now reaching more than 96 million homes, is the leading destination for award-winning series and specials that connect viewers with history in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across all platforms. The network's all-original programming slate features a roster of signature series including "Pawn Stars," "American Pickers," "Swamp People," "Alone" as well as the hit drama series "Vikings." The HISTORY website is located at history.com. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/history and Facebook at facebook.com/history.

About A+E Studios

A+E Studios is the studio unit of the award-�winning global media company A+E Networks, LLC. A+E Studios creates, produces and distributes high quality scripted programming across all networks and platforms in the A+E Networks portfolio, including A&E(R) Network, Lifetime(R), History(R), LMN(R), FYI(TM), and A&E IndieFilms(R). A+E Studios' slate of programming consists of scripted series, event series and movies, including "UnREAL" for Lifetime, and the upcoming event miniseries "ROOTS," the series "SIX" and "Knightfall," as well as "Sons of Liberty(TM)" and "Houdini" for History, among others.