Henry Louis Gates Jr. goes from host to guest on PBS' 'Finding Your Roots'
Entertainment
“Finding Your Roots” is PBS’s most-watched program on linear TV
NEW YORK (AP) — For 11 seasons, Henry Louis Gates Jr. has sat across from his guests on the popular PBS series “Finding Your Roots” and led them through secrets in their family tree. On Tuesday, it’s his turn.
The Harvard scholar learns a long-buried puzzle about his great-great grandmother, Jane Gates, information which scrambles his ancestry and opens up a new branch that goes back to Ireland.
“I was moved to tears,” Gates tells The Associated Press ahead of the airing. “I used to pass her grave at the Gates’ plot in Rose Hill Cemetery and I would say, ‘Grandma, I’m going to out you. I’m going to tell the world your secret.’”
“Finding Your Roots” is PBS’s most-watched program on linear TV and the most-streamed non-drama program. Season 10 reached nearly 18 million people across linear and digital platforms and also received its first Emmy nomination.
“The two subliminal messages of ’Finding Your Roots,’ which are needed more urgently today than ever, is that what has made America great is that we’re a nation of immigrants,” says Gates.
“And secondly, at the level of the genome, despite our apparent physical differences, we’re 99.99% the same.”
