Hazel Gurland-Pooler
Director
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2012)
Season 9
Noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees. Professor Gates utilizes a team of genealogists to reconstruct the paper trail left behind by our ancestors and the world’s leading geneticists to decode our DNA and help us travel thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of our earliest forebears.
Released March 24, 2012
Episode 59 min
12+
Genres: Biography, Documentary, History
Keywords: tmdb.dna, tmdb.celebrity, tmdb.ancestry, mdblist.has-trailer, tmdb.genealogy, imdb.world-history, imdb.genetic-testing + 35 more, imdb.dna, imdb.nature-versus-nurture, imdb.slavery, imdb.holocaust, imdb.family-history, imdb.american-history, imdb.genealogy, imdb.jewish-american, imdb.family-tree, imdb.antisemitism, imdb.world-war-two, imdb.pogrom, imdb.antebellum-south, imdb.slave, imdb.census, imdb.immigrant, imdb.african-american, imdb.asian-american, imdb.american-civil-war, imdb.latino-american, imdb.family-secret, imdb.american, imdb.19th-century, imdb.melting-pot, imdb.great-britain, imdb.family-mystery, imdb.american-revolutionary-war, imdb.american-revolution, imdb.soldier, imdb.slave-owner, imdb.18th-century, imdb.professor, imdb.social-documentary, awards.emmy-award-nominated, imdb.history-documentary
Watch Providers: The Roku Channel, PBS, Hoopla, Pluto TV, Plex + 6 more, Plex Channel, PBS Documentaries Amazon Channel, PBS Living Amazon Channel, KQED, Thirteen, WETA+
Production Companies: Kunhardt McGee Productions, Ark Media, Inkwell Films
Network: PBS
Country: United States
Languages:
English
8.0
S9E1 - Hidden Kin
Henry Louis Gates explores the remarkable roots of actors Edward Norton and Julia Roberts—using DNA analysis and genealogical detective work to travel generations into the past, tracing lineages that run from Northern Europe to the American South. Along the way, Norton and Roberts reimagine their family stories and discover their hidden connections to our nation’s history—and each other.
Jan. 3, 2023, midnight
S9E2 - Salem's Lot
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. takes actors Claire Danes and Jeff Daniels on a journey into their roots, uncovering primal scenes from our nation’s past, featuring World War One battles, Civil War prison camps, and America’s most infamous witch hunt.
Jan. 10, 2023, midnight
S9E3 - Secret Lives
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps comedians Carol Burnett and Niecy Nash decode scandals hidden within their roots, exposing secrets that their ancestors concealed and celebrating the virtue of accepting one’s relatives—whoever they may be.
Jan. 17, 2023, midnight
S9E4 - Far From Home
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. maps the family trees of pop icon Cyndi Lauper and actors Jamie Chung and Danny Trejo, exploring records in Italy, Korea, and Mexico to uncover ancestors whose stories were lost when their families immigrated to America.
Jan. 24, 2023, midnight
S9E5 - Rising From the Ashes
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces the roots of actors Brian Cox and Viola Davis, uncovering records from workhouses in Scotland and slave plantations in South Carolina that reveal individuals who battled to build a better life for their families.
Jan. 31, 2023, midnight
S9E6 - Family: Lost and Found
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uses DNA detective work to solve family mysteries for actor Joe Manganiello and football star Tony Gonzalez—uncovering close relatives whose names they’ve never heard and compelling each man to rethink his own identity.
Feb. 7, 2023, midnight
S9E7 - Chosen
Henry Louis Gates helps actors David Duchovny and Richard Kind trace their roots from Jewish communities in Eastern Europe to the United States—telling stories of triumph and tragedy that laid the groundwork for his guest’s success.
Feb. 14, 2023, midnight
S9E8 - And Still I Rise
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. reveals the unexpected family trees of activist Angela Y. Davis and statesman Jeh Johnson, using DNA and long-lost records to redefine notions of the black experience—and challenge preconceptions of America’s past.
Feb. 21, 2023, midnight
S9E9 - Anchormen
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. introduces trail-blazing journalists Jim Acosta and Van Jones to the ancestors who blazed a trail for them, meeting runaway slaves and immigrant settlers who took enormous chances so that their descendants might thrive.
March 28, 2023, midnight
S9E10 - Out of the Past
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uncovers the lost roots of actors Billy Crudup and Tamera Mowry-Housley, traveling back generations to recount significant events in history—from the American Revolution to the journey of the Mayflower—in a deeply personal way.
April 4, 2023, midnight
Network: PBS
Episode Runtime: 59 min.
Season Runtime: 7080 min.
Released: March 24, 2012
Last Air Date: April 8, 2025, midnight
Next Air Date: Jan. 6, 2026, midnight
Status: Returning Series
Certification: TV-PG
Common sense age: 12+
Rate this show
Add {Movie} to static lists