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Finding Your Roots

PRIMETIME EMMY® nominee
The basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from is at the core of the new series with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Continuing the quest begun in his previous projects, Gates finds new ways to "get into the DNA of American culture."
IMDb 8.7201210 episodesX-Ray13+
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Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - Harry Connick, Jr. / Branford Marsalis
    March 24, 2012
    53min
    TV-PG
    Their European immigrant ancestors blazed unconventional trails in America, from capturing British ships for the American Revolution to crossing racial barriers in slave-era Louisiana.
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  2. S1 E2 - Cory Booker / John Lewis
    March 24, 2012
    53min
    13+
    This program features two African-American politicians from different generations and opposite backgrounds.
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  3. S1 E3 - Barbara Walkers / Geoffrey Canada
    March 31, 2012
    53min
    TV-PG
    What’s in a name? Well, a lot, at least when it comes to piecing together family history.
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  4. S1 E4 - Kevin Bacon / Kyra Sedgwick
    April 7, 2012
    53min
    7+
    Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick are both famous actors and both descend from prominent American families that have been in this country since its inception. They both have ancestors who were early opponents of slavery.
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  5. S1 E5 - Angela Buchdahl / Rick Warren / Yasir Qadhi
    April 14, 2012
    53min
    ALL
    Pastor Rick Warren, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl and Sheik Yasir Qadhi — clerics of three different faiths — all have complex family histories that profoundly shaped their religious beliefs.
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  6. S1 E6 - Maggie Gyllenhaal / Robert Downey, Jr.
    April 21, 2012
    53min
    ALL
    Many Americans descend from a variety of European ethnicities, with ancestral roots across every country in Europe.
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  7. S1 E7 - Samuel L. Jackson / Condoleezza Rice / Ruth Simmons
    April 28, 2012
    53min
    7+
    Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice and Brown University president, Ruth Simmons, have each climbed to the pinnacle of their profession, yet each started life as a second-class citizen in the Jim Crow south.
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  8. S1 E8 - Sanjay Gupta / Margaret Cho / Martha Stewart
    May 5, 2012
    53min
    13+
    The three guests in this episode are all children of first- or second-generation immigrants and share the peculiar burdens of that heritage.
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  9. S1 E9 - John Legend / Wanda Sykes / Margarett Cooper
    May 12, 2012
    53min
    13+
    Most African Americans struggle to trace their ancestors beyond Emancipation; slavery erased names and family ties with brutal efficiency. What about the descendants of the few free black people who evaded bondage during that terrible time?
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  10. S1 E10 - Michelle Rodriguez / Adrian Grenier / Linda Chavez
    May 19, 2012
    53min
    13+
    Michelle Rodriguez, Adrian Grenier and Linda Chavez all share Spanish colonial roots, yet each views their own identity very differently.
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