Viewers Like You
After a national casting call that received over nine thousand submissions, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. meets 3 everyday Americans. Each has a family mystery that they have spent years trying to solve—only to reach dead ends. Using genetic genealogy and old-fashioned detective work, Gates unravels these mysteries, allowing each of his guests to understand themselves—and their families--as never before.
Episodes
-
Where Did We Come From?
S8 E10 - 52m 16s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. journeys with Erin Burnett, Amy Carlson and André Leon Talley, three guests from diverse backgrounds, as they meet the ancestors who laid the groundwork for their success.
-
Watchmen
S8 E9 - 52m 11s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. guides Regina King and Damon Lindelof, the creative forces behind a visionary television series, as they discover that they have more in common than meets the eye.
-
Songs of the Past
S8 E8 - 52m 11s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. accompanies Broadway stars Leslie Odom, Jr. and Nathan Lane as they meet a cast of inspiring ancestors hidden in the branches of their family trees.
-
Forgotten Journeys
S8 E7 - 52m 11s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps John Leguizamo and Lena Waithe retrace the paths of their ancestors, uncovering crucial pieces of their own identities that were lost on the journey to America.
-
Fighters
S8 E6 - 52m 11s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. sits down with Terry Crews and Tony Danza, both guests who overcame adversity, to discover they aren’t the first in their families to beat the odds through sheer force of will.
-
Mexican Roots
S8 E5 - 52m 16s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the deep Mexican roots of talk show host Mario Lopez and comedian Melissa Villaseñor, uncovering ancestors stretching back to the 1500s. Weaving together stories of migratory farmers, Spanish Conquistadors and Native Americans, Gates conjures up personal histories of diverse, sometimes conflicting, elements.
-
Things We Don't Discuss
S8 E4 - 52m 11s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. works with Pamela Adlon and Kathryn Hahn, two guests whose family trees were obscured by scandals, to discover the truth about their ancestors.
-
Activist Roots
S8 E2 - 52m 11s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. welcomes Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Anita Hill, two guests who made profound sacrifices for social justice, and helps them discover the ancestors who made sacrifices for them.
-
Children of Exile
S8 E3 - 52m 11s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. retraces the ancestral journeys of David Chang and Raúl Esparza, whose families fled their homelands, leading them to find lost parts of themselves along the way.
-
Hidden in the Genes
S8 E1 - 52m 11s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps Rebecca Hall and Lee Daniels solve family mysteries through DNA detective work, illuminating both history and their own identities.
Extras + Features
-
Regina King: “This is Pretty Fantastic”
S8 E9 - 1m 20s
“Even though he couldn’t read, and he couldn’t write, he could feel.” Regina King sheds tears of joy while reading the voter registration card of her third-great-grandfather, who registered only two years after slavery ended.
-
Leslie Odom, Jr.'s 5th Great-Grandfather Was a Slaveowner
S8 E8 - 1m 14s
Leslie Odom, Jr. wrestles with the realization that his 5th great-grandfather was a white slave owner after reading the will in which he bequeathed some of his belongings to his “illegitimate, colored” children.
-
Songs of the Past Preview
S8 E8 - 32s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. accompanies Broadway stars Leslie Odom, Jr. and Nathan Lane as they meet a cast of inspiring ancestors hidden in the branches of their family trees.
-
Leslie Odom, Jr.’s Great-Grandfather Comes to America
S8 E8 - 1m 29s
Leslie Odom, Jr. looks over a ship's manifest that could document his great-grandfather's arrival in the U.S. as a ship's crewman from England in 1920.
-
Joe Lane Becomes Nathan Lane
S8 E8 - 1m 11s
Nathan Lane, who was born Joseph Lane, explains how the stage name he had to pick to join the Actors’ Equity Union was inspired by the character Nathan Detriot from Guys and Dolls, one of his favorite roles.
-
Leslie Odom, Jr. on How “Hamilton” Changed His Life
S8 E8 - 1m 6s
Leslie Odom, Jr. wanted to be in the room where it happened – and he was! Here, he shares the impact his role as Aaron Burr in “Hamilton: The Musical” had on his life and how groundbreaking the play was in promoting colorblind casting on Broadway.
-
Leslie Odom, Jr.: His Ancestors Were People, Not Possessions
S8 E8 - 1m 38s
After hearing the dollar amount that some of his enslaved ancestors were appraised for at an auction, Leslie Odom, Jr. says that "to honor their presence and to honor the fact that they lived and that they weren't things... is deeply meaningful."
-
Nathan Lane’s Grandfather Died in a Workhouse
S8 E8 - 51s
Nathan Lane gets the disturbing news that his great-great-grandfather died while living in a workhouse, an arcane system of labor in the UK that was basically a factory that exchanged dorms and food for hard labor. You literally lived at work.
-
Lena Waithe Learns the Source of the Name “Waithe”
S8 E7 - 1m 21s
“It’s painful because your name is such a huge part of your identity. So for someone to put their identity onto your family, it just feels unjust,” Lena Waithe reacts to hearing that her surname derives from her ancestors’ slave-owning family in Christ Church, Barbados.
-
John Leguizamo’s Lineage is Traced Back 17 Generations
S8 E7 - 1m
“My family is going to freak out and bug out.” We were able to trace back John Leguizamo’s lineage over ten generations, learning that his 15th great-grandfather was the governor of the Pompeian district in Spain.
-
Forgotten Journeys Preview
S8 E7 - 32s
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps John Leguizamo and Lena Waithe retrace the paths of their ancestors, uncovering crucial pieces of their own identities that were lost on the journey to America.
-
Lena Waithe Learns Grim Statistics on Slave Life Expectancy
S8 E7 - 1m 22s
“I think there’s a level of ‘not being able to understand’ that I don’t think will ever come. It’s not meant to be understood.” Lena Waithe learns that the life expectancy of slaves on a sugar plantation was seven to nine years.
Schedule
-
Image
Finding Your Roots
Born to Sing
Saturday
Apr 20
1 Hour
Singers Ciara and Alanis Morissette examine their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Born to Sing
Sunday
Apr 21
1 Hour
Singers Ciara and Alanis Morissette examine their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Born to Sing
Sunday
Apr 21
1 Hour
Singers Ciara and Alanis Morissette examine their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Born to Sing
Sunday
Apr 21
1 Hour
Singers Ciara and Alanis Morissette examine their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Born to Sing
Sunday
Apr 21
1 Hour
Singers Ciara and Alanis Morissette examine their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Born to Sing
Monday
Apr 22
1 Hour
Singers Ciara and Alanis Morissette examine their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Born to Sing
Monday
Apr 22
1 Hour
Singers Ciara and Alanis Morissette examine their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Born to Sing
Monday
Apr 22
1 Hour
Singers Ciara and Alanis Morissette examine their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Born to Sing
Tuesday
Apr 23
1 Hour
Singers Ciara and Alanis Morissette examine their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Tuesday
Apr 23
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Tuesday
Apr 23
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Wednesday
Apr 24
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Wednesday
Apr 24
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Wednesday
Apr 24
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Wednesday
Apr 24
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Saturday
Apr 27
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Sunday
Apr 28
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Sunday
Apr 28
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Sunday
Apr 28
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories. -
Image
Finding Your Roots
Forever Young
Monday
Apr 29
1 Hour
Actors Valerie Bertinelli and Brendan Fraser explore their family histories.
WETA Passport
Stream tens of thousands of hours of your PBS and local favorites with WETA Passport whenever and wherever you want. Catch up on a single episode or binge-watch full seasons before they air on TV.
Similar Shows
Making Menuhin: A Documentary
Culture
iQ: smartparent
Culture
A Brief History of the Future
Culture
Truth Tellers
Culture
Rick Steves' Art of Europe
Culture
Getting Dot Older
Culture