In the upcoming 12th season of the two-time Emmy® nominated series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr., 20 new celebrity guests will sit down with Gates to learn about their genealogical history and the journeys of their ancestors, dating back hundreds of years, when the series returns January 6, 7 pm, on Nine PBS.
Through 10 new episodes, Gates and his team employ genealogical detective work and cutting-edge DNA analysis to trace the family trees of guests, revealing stories that shed light on America’s fundamental diversity and compelling similarities.
As the pages turn in each guest’s book of life, emotional revelations give way to complex questions about identity. Through Gates’ discerning touch, his guests learn what every family history shares—love, courage, and sacrifice—and how our histories transcend borders, merging to form a national root system fortified by both differences and commonality.
Along the way, viewers are transported from coastal Africa to rural Texas; from Muslim communities in northern India to the ancestral lands of the Cherokee Nation; from villages in the Philippines to George Washington’s camp at Valley Forge—all in search of the stories that will bring our guests’ ancestors to life.
“I am thrilled to announce another season of Finding Your Roots, filled with inspiring stories from our wonderful guests that further show us that at the level of the genome, we are all 99% the same despite the forces that try to divide us,” says host, writer, and executive producer, professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.
Tuesdays, beginning January 6, at 7 pm on Nine PBS and livestream.
Stream after broadcast on the PBS app.
Watch past episodes with Nine PBS Passport, a member benefit that provides you with extended access to an on-demand library of quality public television programming. Learn more about Nine PBS Passport.
Local support provided by St. Louis County Library's Emerson History & Genealogy Center at the Clark Family Branch.
Contributed by Lynanne Feilen, communications manager
