Finding Your Roots

Culture Series / 6 Seasons

For more than a decade, renowned Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has helped to expand America’s sense of itself, stimulating a national conversation about identity with humor, wisdom, and compassion. Professor Gates has explored the ancestry of dozens of influential people from diverse backgrounds, taking millions of viewers deep into the past to reveal the connections that bind us all.

5m 27s

Sunny Hostin Learns About Her Grandmother's Missing Father

6m 4s

A 1940 census, reveals that Sonny Hostin's grandmother, Mary's father was absent from her parental home. Mary's father, Robert Cummings, left the family around 1937. This absence likely impacted Mary, who was close to her mother but didn't discuss her father much.

Jesse Williams Learns About His Swedish Great Grandmother

5m 31s

Jesse Williams learns about his great grandmother, Inge, who left her small farming parish in Sweden to study at the Royal Music Academy in Stockholm in 1871 -- a significant move for a young woman at that time.

Jesse Williams Discovers the Story of An Enslaved Ancestor

2m 57s

Jesse learns about his ancestor, July Hadley's life as an enslaved individual, tracing connections to Samuel Hadley's estate and the cultivation of cotton. Despite geographical proximity to ancestral lands, the emotional impact of visiting evokes a profound sense of connection and reflection.

Far and Away Preview

32s

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the extraordinarily diverse roots of journalist Sunny Hostin and actor Jesse Williams—telling long-lost stories of African and European ancestry that compel his guests to rethink their own identities.

Iliza Schlesinger Discovers Her Connection to the Holocaust

7m 51s

Iliza Schlesinger's great-grandmother Esther journeyed from Poland to New York in 1921, leaving behind five siblings who faced hardship during World War II in Poland. Eliza reacts to the emotional impact of discovering family history tied to tragic events such as the Holocaust.

Bob Odenkirk Learns The He is Descended from Royalty

1m 11s

Bob learns that his fifth great-grandfather, Friedrich Karl, didn't list his mother, Marie Catherine Bein, on his marriage record. Further research reveals that Marie had a relationship with the Duke of Plune and had several children with him, including Bob's ancestor. This surprising revelation leads to Bob discovering that he is descended from royalty, making his sixth great-grandfather a Duke.

Hold the Laughter Preview

31s

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uncovers the roots of comedians Bob Odenkirk and Iliza Shlesinger—two very funny people whose family trees brim with stories that are more drama than comedy. Moving from Napoleonic France to Nazi-occupied Poland to the castle of a European duke, Gates introduces them to relatives who took great risks and overcame enormous hardships for the sake of their families.

Ed O'Neill Learns About His Immigrant Ancestor's Harsh Start

7m 36s

Ed O'Neill's maternal ancestors migrated from Ireland to Youngstown, Ohio, in the 1800s to escape the Great Potato Famine. They worked as coal miners, enduring harsh conditions underground.

Sammy Hagar Tears Up Over His Mother's Hard Life

1m 13s

Sammy Hagar is overcome with emotion while reflecting on his family's difficult past and discussing the challenges his mother faced growing up with a traumatized grandmother and the lack of proper love and support.

Sammy Hagar Discovers His True Biological Surname

7m 20s

Despite assuming a family connection, Sammy Hagar's DNA test results show he doesn't genetically belong to the Hagar lineage as expected. This discovery leads to the question of his true biological surname, introducing uncertainty and curiosity about his heritage.

Buried Secrets Preview

31s

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps singer Sammy Hagar and actor Ed O’Neill uncover their hidden roots, revealing scandals and secrets that their ancestors went to great lengths to conceal. Traveling from criminal underworlds to Civil War battlefields, they explore the meaning of family bonds—meet heroes and villains—and celebrate the virtue of accepting one’s relatives, whoever they may be.

Wes Studi's Discovers His Connection to the Trail of Tears

7m 34s

Wes hears the story of his how his ancestor journeyed on the Trail of Tears, which was a forced displacement of about 60,000 Native Americans, including Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes, from their homelands to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) in the 1830s.

Levar Burton Reflects Proudly on "Reading Rainbow"

1m 4s

When asked, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "What are you proudest of?", Levar Burton replied, "...It's gotta be Reading Rainbow... Believing so much in the power of education, as we do in my family, and having an impact on the reading habits of a couple of generations of human beings, It doesn't get any better than that."

The Secret Marriage in Valerie Bertinelli's Family History

7m 4s

Historical records reveal that Valerie Bertinelli's grandfather left behind his pregnant wife in his home country of Italy, immigrating to the United States and meeting Valerie's actual grandmother.

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