Finding Your Roots

This project gathers together the Geni profiles for all of the notable figures who have been - or will be - featured on the genealogical television program, Finding Your Roots. It is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) public television series hosted by Professor Henry Louis Gates.

The first season originally aired March 25 – May 20, 2012 from 8–9 p.m. EDT. A second season airs September 23 - November 25, 2014: " ... Gates continues his quest to understand our collective American identity, bringing to life the family histories of African American, Asian, Chinese, Greek, Indian, Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Latin American guests alike."

Guidelines

When you add a profile for someone featured on the program, please make sure they are listed and linked below by editing this page as necessary.

Please feel free to build and extend Geni trees. Start a discussion for genealogical assistance.

List of Episodes

Season One (2012)

1. March 25, 2012 – Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr.
2. March 25, 2012 – John Lewis and Cory Booker
3. April 1, 2012 – Barbara Walters and Geoffrey Canada
4. April 8, 2012 – Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon
5. April 15, 2012 – Angela Warnick Buchdahl, Yasir Qadhi, and Rick Warren
6. April 22, 2012 – Maggie Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey, Jr.
7. April 29, 2012 – Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice and Ruth Simmons
8. May 6, 2012 – Sanjay Gupta, Margaret Cho and Martha Stewart
9. May 13, 2012 – John Legend, Wanda Sykes and Margarett Cooper
10. May 20, 2012 – Michelle Rodriguez, Adrian Grenier and Linda Chavez

Season Two (2014)

1. September 23, 2014 "In Search of our Fathers" – Stephen King, Gloria Reuben and Courtney B. Vance
2. September 30, 2014 "Born Champions" – Derek Jeter, Billie Jean King, and Rebecca Lobo
3. October 7, 2014 "Our American Storytellers" – Ken Burns, Anderson Cooper and Anna Deavere Smith
4. October 14, 2014 "Roots of Freedom" – Ben Affleck, Khandi Alexander and Benjamin Jealous This episode has been withdrawn from all forms of distribution by PBS (see Ben Affleck controversy).
5. October 21, 2014 "The Melting Pot" – Tom Colicchio, Aarón Sánchez and Ming Tsai
6. October 28, 2014 "We Come From People" – Angela Bassett, Valerie Jarrett and Nas
7. November 4, 2014 "Our People, Our Traditions" – Alan Dershowitz, Carole King and Tony Kushner
8. November 11, 2014 "The British Invasion" – Deepak Chopra, Sally Field and Sting
9. November 18, 2014 "Ancient Roots" – Tina Fey, George Stephanopoulos and David Sedaris
10. November 25, 2014 "Decoding Our Past Through DNA" – Jessica Alba, Governor Deval Patrick, Anderson Cooper (originally aired in S2E3), Valerie Jarrett (originally aired in S2E10), and more

Season Three (2016)

1. January 5, 2016 "The Stories We Tell" - Donna Brazile, Ty Burrell, Kara Walker
2. January 12, 2016 "The Irish Factor" - Bill Maher, Soledad O'Brien, Bill O'Reilly
3. January 19, 2016 "In Search of Freedom" - Shonda Rhimes, Maya Rudolph, Keenen Ivory Wayans
4. January 26, 2016 "Tragedy + Time = Comedy" - Bill Hader, Jimmy Kimmel, Norman Lear
5. February 2, 2016 "Visionaries" - Sir Richard Branson, Frank Gehry, Maya Lin
6. February 9, 2016 "War Stories" - Patricia Arquette, John McCain, Julianne Moore
7. February 16, 2016 "Family Reunions" - Sean Combs, LL Cool J
8. February 23, 2016 "The Pioneers" - Sandra Cisneros, Neil Patrick Harris, Gloria Steinem
9. March 1, 2016 "The Long Way Home" - Lidia Bastianich, Julianna Margulies, Azar Nafisi
10. March 8, 2016 "Maps of Stars" - Mia Farrow, Dustin Hoffman

Season Four (2017)

1. October 3, 2017 "The Impression" - Larry David, Bernie Sanders
2. October 10, 2017 "Unfamiliar Kin" - Fred Armisen, Carly Simon, Christopher Walken
3. October 17, 2017 "Puritans and Pioneers" - Ted Danson, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen
4. October 24, 2017 "The Vanguard" - Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ava DuVernay, Janet Mock
5. October 31, 2017 "Immigrant Nation" - Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd, John Turturro
6. November 7, 2017 "Black Like Me" - Bryant Gumbel, Tonya Lewis Lee, Suzanne Malveaux
7. November 14, 2017 "Children of the Revolution" - Carmelo Anthony, Anna Navarro, Lupita Nyong'o
8. November 21, 2017 "Relatives We Never Knew We Had" - Gaby Hoffmann, and Téa Leoni
9. December 12, 2017 "Southern Roots" - Questlove, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Phil McGraw
10. December 19, 2017 "Funny Business" - Aziz Ansari, Maya Rudolph (originally aired in S3E3), Amy Schumer This episode originally featured Garrison Keillor. His segment was replaced by Maya Rudolph's from season 3.

Season Five (2019)

1. January 8, 2019 "Grandparents and Other Strangers" - George R. R. Martin, Andy Samberg
2. January 15, 2019 "Mystery Men" - Felicity Huffman, Michael K. Williams
3. January 22, 2019 "Reporting on the Reporters" - Christiane Amanpour, Ann Curry, Lisa Ling
4. January 29, 2019 "Dreaming of a New Land" - Kal Penn, Sheryl Sandberg, Marisa Tomei
5. February 5, 2019 "Freedom Tales" - S. Epatha Merkerson, and Michael Strahan
6. February 12, 2019 "Roots in Politics" - Tulsi Gabbard, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan
7. February 19, 2019 "No Laughing Matter" - Seth Meyers, Tig Notaro, and Sarah Silverman
8. February 26, 2019 "Hard Times" - Laura Linney, Michael Moore, Chloë Sevigny
9. April 2, 2019 "The Eye of the Beholder" - Marina Abramović, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Kehinde Wiley
10. April 9, 2019 "All in the Family" - Henry Louis Gates, Jr., in regards to his personal DNA story and "The Finding Your Roots: The Seedlings" STEM Camp. They are also using Ty Burrell (originally aired in S3E1) and Joe Madison in some form in this episode.

Season Six (2019-2020)

1. October 8, 2019 "Hollywood Royalty" - Isabella Rossellini, Anjelica Huston, Mia Farrow (originally aired in S3E10).
2. October 15, 2019 "Off the Farm" - Melissa McCarthy, Eric Stonestreet
3. January 7, 2020 "Homecomings" - Sterling K. Brown, Jon Batiste, Sasheer Zamata
4. January 14, 2020 "This Land is My Land" - Queen Latifah, Jeffrey Wright
5. January 21, 2020 "Beyond the Pale" - Terry Gross, Marc Maron, Jeff Goldblum
6. January 28, 2020 "Secrets & Lies" - Sigourney Weaver, Amy Ryan, Justina Machado
7. February 4, 2020 "Science Pioneers" - Harold Varmus, Francis Collins, Shirley Jackson
8. February 11, 2020 "Slave Trade" - Questlove (originally aired in S4E9), S. Epatha Merkerson (originally aired in S5E5), Ava DuVernay (originally aired in S4E4)
9. February 18, 2020 "Italian Roots" - Marisa Tomei (originally aired in S5E4), Jimmy Kimmel (originally aired in S4E4), John Turturro (originally aired in S4E5)
10. February 25, 2020 "Criminal Kind" - Laura Linney (originally aired in S5E8), Lisa Ling (originally aired in S5E3), Soledad O'Brien (originally aired in S3E2)
11. October 13, 2020 "Fashion Roots" - Diane von Furstenberg, Narciso Rodriguez, RuPaul
12. October 20, 2020 "DNA Mysteries" - Téa Leoni (originally aired in S4E8), and Joe Madison (originally aired in S5E10).
13. November 10, 2020 "War Stories" - Kehinde Wiley (originally aired in S5E9), Julianne Moore (originally aired in S3E6), Bill Hader (originally aired in S4E4).
14. November 17, 2020 "Flight" - Lupita Nyong'o (originally aired in S4E7), Lidia Bastianich (originally aired in S3E9), Scarlett Johansson (originally aired in S4E5)
15. January 5, 2021 "Breaking the Silences" - Gayle King, Jordan Peele, and Issa Rae
16. January 12, 2020 "Coming to America" - Nancy Pelosi, Norah O'Donnell, Zac Posen

Season Seven (2021)

1. January 19, 2021 "To the Manor Born" - Glenn Close, John Waters
2. January 26, 2021 "Against All Odds" - Andy Cohen, Nina Totenberg
3. Feb 2, 2021 “No Irish Need Apply“ - Jim Gaffigan, Jane Lynch
4. Feb 9, 2021 “The Shirts on Their Backs“ - Tony Shalhoub, Christopher Meloni
5. Feb 16, 2021 “Write My Name in the Book of Life“ - Kasi Lemmons, Pharrell Williams
6. Feb 23, 2021 “Country Roots“ - Clint Black, Rosanne Cash
7. Apr 13, 2021 “The New World“ - John Lithgow, Maria Hinojosa
8. Apr 20, 2021 “Anchored to the Past” - Gretchen Carlson, Don Lemon
9. Apr 27, 2021 “ On Broadway” - Audra McDonald, Mandy Patinkin
10. May 4, 2021 “Laughing on the Inside“ - Lewis Black, Roy Wood, Jr.

Season Eight (2022)

1. January 4, 2022 "Hidden in the Genes" - Rebecca Hall and Lee Daniels
2. January 11, 2022 "Activists Roots" - Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Anita Hill
3. January 4, 2022 "Children of Exile" - David Chang and Raúl Esparza.
4. January 25, 2022 "Things We Don't Discuss" - Pamela Adlon and Kathryn Hahn
5. February 1, 2022 "Mexican Roots" - Mario Lopez and Melissa Villaseñor
6. February 8, 2022 "Fighters" - Terry Crews and Tony Danza
7. February 15, 2022 "Incredible Journeys" - Lena Waithe and John Leguizamo
8. February 22, 2022 "Songs of the Past" - Leslie Odom Jr. and Nathan Lane
9. April 12, 2022 "Watchmen" - Regina King and Damon Lindelof
10. April 19, 2022 "Where Did We Come From?" - Amy Carlson, André Leon Talley and Erin Burnett

Season Nine (2023)

1. January 3, 2023 "Hidden Kin" - Edward Norton and Julia Roberts
2. January 10, 2023 "Salem's Lot" - Claire Danes and Jeff Daniels
3. January 17, 2023 "Secret Lives" - Carol Burnett and Niecy Nash
4. January 24, 2023 "Far From Home" - Jamie Chung, Cyndi Lauper and Danny Trejo
5. January 31, 2023 "Rising from the Ashes" - Brian Cox and Viola Davis
6. February 7, 2023 "Lost and Found" - Tony Gonzalez and Joe Manganiello
7. February 14, 2023 "Chosen" - David Duchovny and Richard Kind
8. February 21, 2023 "And Still I Rise" - Angela Davis and Jeh Johnson
9. February 28, 2023 "Anchormen" - Jim Acosta and Van Jones
10. March 7, 2023 "Out of the Past" - Billy Crudup and Tamera Mowry-Housley

Preceding Programs

Prior to Finding Your Roots there were a few mini-series which were also hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. on PBS which were predecessors to the setup of Finding Your Roots. Each series featured 4 hour long episodes with the guests having their stories told throughout the entire series.

African American Lives 1

Guests include Quincy Jones, Mae Jemison, Chris Tucker, T.D. Jakes, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Whoopi Goldberg, Dr. Ben Carson, and Oprah Winfrey.

1. February 1, 2006 - "Listening to Our Past" and "The Promise of Freedom"
2. February 8, 2006 - "Searching for Our Names" and "Beyond the Middle Passage"

African American Lives 2007 Special

A special episode consisting entirely of footage from Oprah Winfrey's original interview for African American Lives' first series.

1. January 24, 2007 - "Oprah's Roots: An African American Lives Special"

African American Lives 2

Guests include Morgan Freeman, Tina Turner, Tom Joyner, Chris Rock, Don Cheadle, Peter Gomes, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Maya Angelou, Bliss Broyard, and Linda Johnson Rice.

1. February 6, 2008 - "The Road Home" and "A Way Out of No Way"
2. February 13, 2008 - "We Come From People" and "The Past is Another Country"

Faces of America

Guests include Elizabeth Alexander, Mario Batali, Stephen Colbert, Louise Erdrich, Malcolm Gladwell, Eva Longoria, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Nichols, Queen Noor of Jordan, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Meryl Streep, and Kristi Yamaguchi.

1. February 10, 2010 - "Our American Stories"
2. February 16, 2010 - "Becoming American"
3. February 23, 2010 - "Making America"
4. March 2, 2010 - "Know Thyself"

External links

• Official Site, Wikipedia
• imdb
• iTunes store