Explore Finding Your Roots: Season 9

Published on September 27, 2024 by PBS

Season 9 of Finding Your Roots first premiered January 3, 2023.

Watch on-demand episodes from Season 9 as renowned scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. guides influential guests into their roots, uncovering deep secrets, hidden identities and lost ancestors.

Meet The Season 9 Guests

Angela Y. Davis

Billy Crudup

Brian Cox

Carol Burnett

Claire Danes

Cyndi Lauper

Danny Trejo

David Duchovny

Edward Norton

Jamie Chung

Jeff Daniels

Jeh Charles Johnson

Jim Acosta

Joe Manganiello

Julia Roberts

Niecy Nash

Richard Kind

Tamera Mowry Housley

Tony Gonzalez

Van Jones

Viola Davis

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Finding Your Roots: Season 9 Episodes

Hidden Kin

Episode 1

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the remarkable roots of actors Edward Norton and Julia Roberts—using DNA analysis and genealogical detective work to travel generations into the past, tracing lineages that run from Northern Europe to the American South. Along the way, Norton and Roberts reimagine their family stories and discover their hidden connections to our nation’s history—and each other.

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Salem's Lot

Episode 2

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. takes actors Claire Danes and Jeff Daniels on a journey into their roots, uncovering primal scenes from our nation’s past, featuring World War One battles, Civil War prison camps, and America’s most infamous witch hunt.

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Secret Lives

Episode 3

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps comedians Carol Burnett and Niecy Nash decode scandals hidden within their roots, exposing secrets that their ancestors concealed and celebrating the virtue of accepting one’s relatives—whoever they may be.

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Far From Home

Episode 4

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. maps the family trees of pop icon Cyndi Lauper and actors Jamie Chung and Danny Trejo, exploring records in Italy, Korea, and Mexico to uncover ancestors whose stories were lost when their families immigrated to America.

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Rising From the Ashes

Episode 5

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces the roots of actors Brian Cox and Viola Davis, uncovering records from workhouses in Scotland and slave plantations in South Carolina that reveal individuals who battled to build a better life for their families.

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Family: Lost and Found

Episode 6

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uses DNA detective work to solve family mysteries for actor Joe Manganiello and football star Tony Gonzalez—uncovering close relatives whose names they’ve never heard and compelling each man to rethink his own identity.

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Chosen

Episode 7

Henry Louis Gates helps actors David Duchovny and Richard Kind trace their roots from Jewish communities in Eastern Europe to the United States—telling stories of triumph and tragedy that laid the groundwork for his guest’s success.

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And Still I Rise

Episode 8

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. reveals the unexpected family trees of activist Angela Y. Davis and statesman Jeh Johnson, using DNA and long-lost records to redefine notions of the black experience—and challenge preconceptions of America’s past.

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Anchormen

Episode 9

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. introduces trail-blazing journalists Jim Acosta and Van Jones to the ancestors who blazed a trail for them, meeting runaway slaves and immigrant settlers who took enormous chances so that their descendants might thrive.

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Out of the Past

Episode 10

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uncovers the lost roots of actors Billy Crudup and Tamera Mowry-Housley, traveling back generations to recount significant events in history—from the American Revolution to the journey of the Mayflower—in a deeply personal way.

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