The BEST episodes of Finding Your Roots

#1 - Mexican Roots

Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/1/2022

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the deep Mexican roots of talk show host Mario Lopez and comedian Melissa Villaseñor, uncovering ancestors stretching back to the 1500s. Weaving together stories of migratory farmers, Spanish Conquistadors and Native Americans, Gates conjures up personal histories of diverse, sometimes conflicting, elements.

#2 - Things We Don't Discuss

Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/25/2022

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. works with Pamela Adlon and Kathryn Hahn, two guests whose family trees were obscured by scandals, to discover the truth about their ancestors.

#3 - Out of the Past

Season 9 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/4/2023

#4 - Activists Roots

Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/11/2022

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. welcomes Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Anita Hill, two guests who made profound sacrifices for social justice, and helps them discover the ancestors who made sacrifices for them.

#5 - Born Champions

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/2014

Billie Jean King, Derek Jeter and Rebecca Lobo learn about their family histories. King discovers that her grandmother was an orphan; Derek Jeter investigates his ancestors' lives as slaves; and Lobo finds out that an ancestor was forced to flee Spain because of his democratic ideals.

#6 - War Stories

Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/10/2020

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the roots of actor Julianne Moore, comedian Bill Hader, and painter Kehinde Wiley, revealing how their ancestors’ military service left an indelible mark both on their families and on their country.

#7 - Grandparents and Other Strangers

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/8/2019

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps actor/comedian Andy Samberg and author George R. R. Martin answer some family mysteries.

#8 - Slave Trade

Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/11/2020

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. journeys with film director Ava DuVernay, actor S. Epatha Merkerson, and musician Questlove to the unexpected places where their ancestors were scattered by slavery, upending their notions of African American history—and their own family trees.

#9 - Coming to America

Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/12/2021

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, news anchor Norah O’Donnell and fashion designer Zac Posen explore their immigrant roots, retracing the journeys of their ancestors who arrived in the United States with little more than a dream--and revealing why that dream is still so inspiring today.

#10 - Children of Exile

Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/4/2022

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. retraces the ancestral journeys of David Chang and Raúl Esparza, whose families fled their homelands, leading them to find lost parts of themselves along the way.

#11 - Forgotten Journeys

Season 8 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/15/2022

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps John Leguizamo and Lena Waithe retrace the paths of their ancestors, uncovering crucial pieces of their own identities that were lost on the journey to America.

#12 - Immigrant Nation

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/31/2017

In this episode, three guests explore the tremendous challenges faced by their immigrant forebears. On her mother’s family tree, Scarlett Johansson ponders “what if” as she learns that while her Jewish great-grandfather became a grocer in NYC, his brother in Poland was lost to the Warsaw ghetto, along with his family. Turning to her father’s Danish roots, Johansson — a newly-minted Danish citizen herself — learns that her paternal great-grandfather was in fact a Swedish immigrant who came to Denmark as a manual laborer, leaving behind roots in Sweden that go back to 15th century nobility. Paul Rudd follows his roots from Eastern Europe and Russia to England, where his grandfather changed his name from “Rudnitsky”and signed up to fight in World War II; along the way, Rudd learns that anti-Semitic movements in England became motivators for both sides of the family to leave for America. John Turturro sees the details of his mother’s early years in an orphanage as her Italian immigrant father struggled to make ends meet in Brooklyn, only to encounter massive prejudice in the wake of an inter-racial marriage. Turturro also learns about the harsh experiences of his father and grandparents —in both America and Italy — and reflects on what he gained from their sacrifices. In the end, each guest gains a greater understanding of how their immigrant ancestors laid the groundwork for their success.

#13 - Far From Home

Season 9 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/24/2023

Henry Louis Gates explores the family trees of pop icon Cyndi Lauper and actors Jamie Chung and Danny Trejo, introducing them to ancestors whose stories were forgotten when their families immigrated to the United States. Drawing on long-lost records from Italy, Korea, Mexico, and Switzerland, Gates helps his guests to re-imagine their families and connect to their vanished histories.

#14 - Mayor Cory Booker - Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.)

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/25/2012

In this episode, we feature two African American politicians from different generations and opposite backgrounds. John Lewis grew up in a sharecropping family in rural Georgia, while Cory Booker was raised in an affluent, all-white New Jersey suburb. Although both men have devoted their lives to the betterment of African-American people, neither of them knows much about their own ancestors. In this episode, we introduce Booker to his white great-grandfather, a man he never knew, and move Lewis to tears over the extraordinary ambitions and accomplishments of his slave ancestors..

#15 - The Melting Pot

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/21/2014

Chef Tom Colicchio learns the hardships his family endured in Northern Italy; chef Ming Tsai traces his roots back 2,000 years; chef Aarón Sánchez learns his Mexican roots include Spaniards, Africans and Native Americans.

#16 - DNA Mysteries

Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/20/2020

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uses DNA detective work to solve mysteries in the family trees of actor Téa Leoni, and radio host Joe Madison, introducing each of them to parents and grandparents whose names they’ve never heard before.

#17 - Family Reunions

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/16/2016

Uncover family mysteries about two legends of hip hop, Sean Combs and LL Cool J, through the use of DNA technology that reveals information that shakes their very foundations.

#18 - Barbara Walters - Geoffrey Canada

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/1/2012

What's in a name? Well, a lot, at least when it comes to piecing together your family history. For former slaves, choosing a last name was one of their first acts of freedom. For Jewish immigrants, it was a way to fit in their new country. Whatever the reason for a name change, it can make the process of learning about one's ancestors difficult, if not impossible. In this episode, we unearth missing links in the family histories of media legend Barbara Walters and educational superstar Geoffrey Canada. Walters did not know her father's real last name. Canada did not know the name of his grandfather. Both of them had been unable to access their history... until now.

#19 - Freedom Tales

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/5/2019

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. delves deep into the roots of two African-American guests, actor S. Epatha Merkerson and athlete and television personality Michael Strahan. Both discover unexpected stories that challenge assumptions about black history.

#20 - Decoding Our Past Through DNA

Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/25/2014

In the Season 2 finale, DNA analysis uncovers previously unknown roots in the family trees of Jessica Alba and Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. Alba, for instance, learns that she's descended from the official cartographer of France's King Louis XIV; and Patrick discovers his ancestors include a black homesteader in Colorado. DNA analysis is also used to delve deeper into the family histories of Anderson Cooper, Valerie Jarrett and host Henry Louis Gates Jr. himself.

#21 - Hollywood Royalty

Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/8/2019

Three actors Anjelica Huston, Mia Farrow, and Isabella Rosselini were born into Hollywood royalty discover branches of their family trees that have been hidden from the public eye--and meet a cast of characters every bit as dramatic as the people they themselves have played on camera.

#22 - The Stories We Tell

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/5/2016

The Season 3 premiere features Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, actor Ty Burrell and artist Kara Walker, who learn how the legacy of slavery has helped shape them.

#23 - The Vanguard

Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/24/2017

vTa-Nehisi Coates, Ava DuVernay and Janet Mock, three guests who have helped to redefine Black America in the last decade find their identities challenged as they learn about their family origins.

#24 - Fathers and Sons

Season 10 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/16/2024

Guests: LeVar Burton, Wes Studi. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. meets actors LeVar Burton and Wes Studi two men who grew up without their fathers. With few clues to guide him, Gates introduces them to ancestors they've never known revealing connections to key moments in history.

#25 - Our People, Our Traditions

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/4/2014

Tony Kushner learns how the Holocaust impacted his ancestors; Carole King delves into the origins of her family name; and Alan Dershowitz discovers that an Hassidic synagogue started by his great-grandfather played a secret role in World War II.