‘The Black Church’ explores the ‘most important institution’ in African American history

The two-part documentary "The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song" premieres Tuesday and Wednesday on PBS at 9 p.m. Eastern time. We talked to Harvard professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. — the documentary's executive producer, writer and host — and producer Stacey Holman about what it was like to pack 400 years of history about the foremost institution that has nurtured African Americans through enslavement and civil rights battles and into the 21st century into four hours. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.