Henry Louis Gates Jr. Becomes Guest On PBS's "Finding Your Roots"

[Twin Tiers Living 573]

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The series started in 2006 under the title “African American Lives,” conceived by Gates in the middle of the night in his bathroom. He invited prominent Black celebrities and traced their family trees into slavery. When the paper trail ran out, they would use DNA to see which ethnic group they were from in Africa.

Challenged by a viewer to open the show to non-Black celebrities, Gates agreed and the series was renamed “Faces of America,” which had to be changed again after the name was taken. Along the way, Gates had a crash course in DNA.

“For a guy with a PhD in English literature, I think I can do pretty well on the AP genetics exam,” he says, before proving it with a thorough explanation of autosomal DNA.

Over the years, the show has delivered fascinating results, like when Natalie Morales discovered she’s related to one of the legendary pirates of the Caribbean and when former “Saturday Night Live” star Andy Samberg found his biological grandmother and grandfather. It revealed that RuPaul and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker are cousins, as are Meryl Streep and Eva Longoria.

Guests have included former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, designer Diane von Furstenberg and “Game of Thrones” author George R. R. Martin.

“I always tell my guests that you’re not responsible for the crazy things your ancestors did. I don’t care what they did. Guilt is not inheritable,” Gates says. “You have to understand how the people functioned in the past without judging them.”

 

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