Preview: Season 11 | 3m 13s | Video has closed captioning.
Renowned scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. returns for a new season of FINDING YOUR ROOTS. Using genealogical detective work and cutting-edge DNA analysis, Gates guides twenty compelling guests deep into their family trees, revealing surprising stories that transcend borders, illuminating an American root system fortified by its diversity.
Aired: 09/19/24
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GATES: Let's go, baby!
(gasping) STONE: Oh, no!
ANDRÉS: We're brothers!
(music) TEIGEN: I'm so nervous.
DOVE: Ooh!
RALPH: Are you kidding me?
(music) LYNSKEY: Wow.
How did you even find this?
SHERMAN: I have so many questions in my brain.
GATES: Your third great- grandfather was murdered.
SEYFRIED: What?
SHEPARD: I know, it's nuts!
TEIGEN: That's mind-blowing.
SALONGA: Whoa, that's a mystery.
BLADES: Holy macaroni.
FISHBURNE: It's better than any movie script or television play that I've ever read.
(music) IMPERIOLI: It's almost like, you know, the ghost... GATES: Yeah.
IMPERIOLI: Of, of, of, of the family.
It's pretty, it, it's, it's very moving.
ANDRÉS: All these people that we've been going through, they all have a big, very big piece of who I am.
STONE: I don't know why I'm feeling so emotional about people I never met.
GATES: They're your family!
BEHAR: They schlep, and they're walking miles and miles and miles.
This is what people do to get out of poverty.
GATES: He went from fighting against the native populations to marrying into the Lakota.
SHERMAN: Yeah.
GATES: What do you make of that?
SHERMAN: I think that's amazing.
GATES: Yeah.
SHERMAN: I love that history.
BUNCH: Oh, my goodness.
GATES: Yeah.
BUNCH: Talk about breaking a barrier.
GATES: You have a confederate on your White ancestor who fought to keep you in slavery.
FISHBURNE: Oh.
BELL: Wrong side of history, friend.
SHEPARD: Yeah, I think this is someone who wanted a little redemption.
GATES: Yeah.
SHEPARD: I can relate.
TAN: You have unleashed the best storytelling ever!
(music) GATES: You ready to meet your DNA cousin?
MESSING: Yes!
GATES: Please turn the page.
MESSING: What?
What?
FISHBURNE: Come on.
GATES: That's right.
FISHBURNE: Really?
GATES: Yep.
SALONGA: Who, I want to know who it is!
GATES: Questlove.
LYNSKEY: Really?
GATES: Yes.
MESSING: Bernie Sanders?
RALPH: I had no idea.
None.
SEYFRIED: Shut up!
STONE: Well, if you want to see someone whose mind is completely blown...
Here it is!
(music) MOORE: Here's your book of life.
GATES: Oh, my goodness!
This is, um...
It's deeply emotional.
(music) BLADES: You know, I've seen the show before and I've seen people in this position, and I tell you...
It's really astonishing.
FISHBURNE: It's breathtaking, it's breathtaking.
I mean, I've waited 60-some-odd years for this.
MORALES: It's an incredible story and it's great that it's my story.
TEIGEN: Whoa!
GATES: Isn't that cool?
TEIGEN: That's incredible!
(laughter) GATES: These are all your ancestors... LYNSKEY: Oh, oh, oh my goodness.
GATES: That we found on your family tree.
ANDRÉS: This is crazy.
SHEPARD: This is wild!
BUNCH: Well, this is who I am.
DOVE: I just feel enormously full.
SEYFRIED: It makes me feel whole.
It makes me feel me.
(book closing)
Finding Your Roots.
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Episode Guide
A new season of Finding Your Roots is streaming now! Tune in to PBS on Tuesdays at 8/7 for all-new episodes as renowned scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. guides influential guests into their roots, uncovering deep secrets, hidden identities and lost ancestors.
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