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Finding Your Roots
Rising From the Ashes
Season 9
Episode 5
Henry Louis Gates traces the roots of actors Brian Cox and Viola Davis—two people who overcame traumatic childhoods, revealing that they aren’t the first in their families to face enormous odds. From workhouses in Scotland to slave plantations in South Carolina, long-lost records reveal the stories of ancestors who laid the groundwork for Brian and Viola’s success by fighting so hard to survive.
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53:11
Uncover the paternal ancestry of Stephen King, Gloria Reuben and Courtney B. Vance.
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52:41
The ancestral pasts of Adrian Grenier, Michelle Rodriguez, and Linda Chavez.
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52:40
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. reveals the ancestral pasts of John Legend and Wanda Sykes.
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52:40
The ancestral pasts of Martha Stewart, Margaret Cho, and Sanjay Gupta.
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52:40
The ancestral pasts of Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice, and Ruth Simmons.
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52:40
A look at the ancestral pasts of actors Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
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52:40
The family histories of Pastor Rick Warren, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, and Sheikh Yasir Qadhi.
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52:40
The ancestral pasts of married Hollywood actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick.
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52:40
The ancestral pasts of journalist Barbara Walters and educator Geoffrey Canada.
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52:40
The family histories of New Orleans musicians Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr.
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52:40
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. examines the pasts of politicians, John Lewis and Cory Booker.