Finding Your Roots

2012 – 2026
Returning Series
Documentary
~1h / ep
12 seasons
6.2/10

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.

All seasons

Latest: Season 12 · 2026

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E1. American Dreams
Jan 6, 2026
America Ferrera and Darren Criss uncover their immigrant roots.
E2. Great Migrations
Jan 13, 2026
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. introduces rapper Wiz Khalifa and actor Sanaa Lathan to ancestors who left the American South, boldly breaking racial barriers.
E3. Caribbean Roots
Jan 20, 2026
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the Caribbean roots of actors Liza Colón-Zayas and Delroy Lindo—meeting ancestors who took enormous risks.
E4. The Road We Took
Jan 27, 2026
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. introduces actor Lizzie Caplan and comedian Hasan Minhaj to ancestors whose brave decisions forever reshaped their families.
E5. Love & Basketball
Feb 3, 2026
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. maps the family trees of basketball stars Brittney Griner and Chris Paul—uncovering ancestors who had extraordinary talents.
E6. Westward Bound
Feb 10, 2026
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. maps the roots of talk show host Sara Haines and playwright Tracy Letts from the American west to surprising places back east.