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Finding Your Roots
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After a national casting call that received over nine thousand submissions, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. meets 3 everyday Americans. Each has a family mystery that they have spent years trying to solve—only to reach dead ends. Using genetic genealogy and old-fashioned detective work, Gates unravels these mysteries, allowing each of his guests to understand themselves—and their families--as never before.
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53:11
Examine the ancestral origins of athletes Derek Jeter, Billie Jean King and Rebecca Lobo.

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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.