Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Before the popularity of AncestryDNA, journalist and cultural critic Henry Louis Gates, Jr. divulges the family trees of various celebrities, many times with stunning revelations.

Genre: DocumentaryBiographyHistory

Cast:Henry Louis Gates Jr.CeCe MooreMia FarrowAnita HillTy BurrellSterling K. BrownKehinde WileyCory BookerTina FeySally FieldAngela BassettStingAnderson CooperTony KushnerNasAarón SánchezDerek JeterGeorge Stephanopoulos


1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis

Sun, Mar 25, 2012

Actor and musician Harry Connick, Jr. and legendary jazz musician Branford Marsalis share their love of jazz and New Orleans itself, but they both also have European immigrant ancestors who blazed unconventional trails in America.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ Cory Booker and John Lewis

Sun, Mar 25, 2012

Two African-American politicians from different generations and opposite backgrounds, legendary civil rights leader John Lewis, and Democratic senator Cory Booker, learn about black and white slavery era ancestors they never knew about.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ Barbara Walters and Geoffrey Canada

Sun, Apr 1, 2012

Prof. Gates unearths missing links in the family histories of legendary broadcast journalist Barbara Walters, and equally notable activist and educator Geoffrey Canada, as they try to learn the original last names of their fathers.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick

Sun, Apr 8, 2012

What do husband and wife Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick have in common? Other than being famous Hollywood actors in their own right, they both also come from old abolitionist families. But that's just the beginning.

5Season 1

S1.E5 ∙ Angela Buchdahl/Rick Warren/Yasir Qadhi

Sun, Apr 15, 2012

Family roots of Baptist evangelical Christian megachurch founder, pastor Rick Warren, Angela Buchdahl, the first Asian-American Rabbi, and American Muslim scholar Yasir Qadhi unearth a story about the spiritual foundations of America.

6Season 1

S1.E6 ∙ Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal

Sun, Apr 22, 2012

Actors Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal are textbook examples of Americans with a rich medley of European immigrant stories in their family trees.

7Season 1

S1.E7 ∙ Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice and Ruth Simmons

Sun, Apr 29, 2012

Actor Samuel L. Jackson, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Brown University president Ruth Simmons were all once second-class citizens in the Jim Crow south. Where in Africa do they come from and who are their white ancestors?

8Season 1

S1.E8 ∙ Sanjay Gupta/Margaret Cho/Martha Stewart

Sun, May 6, 2012

Comedienne Margaret Cho, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and TV personality Martha Stewart are all children of first or second-generation immigrants and share the peculiar burdens of that heritage.

9Season 1

S1.E9 ∙ John Legend/Wanda Sykes/Margarett Cooper

Sun, May 13, 2012

Musician John Legend and comedienne Wanda Sykes, as well as Professor Gates himself and his 98-year-old friend Margarett Cooper, discover the extraordinary stories of the free black ancestors they never knew about.

10Season 1

S1.E10 ∙ Michelle Rodriguez/Adrian Grenier/Linda Chavez

Sun, May 20, 2012

Actress Michelle Rodriguez, actor Adrian Grenier and Republican analyst Linda Chavez all share Spanish colonial roots, yet each views their own identity very differently.