"Looking for Lincoln" explores the life and legacy of the man widely considered one of America’s best and most enigmatic presidents. The documentary, hosted by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., addresses many of the controversies surrounding Lincoln — race, equality, religion, politics, depression — by carefully interpreting evidence from those who knew him and those who study him today. "Looking for Lincoln" airs on November 7 at 10 p.m.

In the film, Gates shows how the Lincoln legend grew out of controversy, greed, love, clashing political perspectives, power struggles and considerable disagreement over how the 16th president should be remembered. His quest to piece together Lincoln’s complex life takes him from Illinois to Gettysburg to Washington, DC, and face-to-face with people who live with Lincoln every day — relic hunters, re-enactors and others for whom the study of Lincoln is a passion.

Among those weighing in: Pulitzer Prize-winners Doris Kearns Goodwin and Tony Kushner; former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush; and Lincoln scholars, including Harold Holzer, vice chair of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Harvard University’s president Drew Faust and history professor David Hebert Donald, Yale University history professor David Blight and Allen Guelzo of Gettysburg College. Former Ebony magazine editor Lerone Bennett challenges Lincoln’s record on race; writer Joshua Shenk talks about Lincoln’s depression; and New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik illuminates how Lincoln’s words changed the course of history.