Finding Your Roots with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

The acclaimed series returns with Professor Gates exploring the mysteries, surprises and revelations hidden in the family trees of popular figures. Season 6 premieres October 13; Season 7 premieres on January 19, 2021.

Today’s panel featured:

Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., series host and executive producer

Kasi Lemmons, actor and director

Zac Posen, fashion designer

And Tony Shalhoub, actor

Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. closed out the session by saying:

“I think it’s important for us to remember that in the face of those trying to use our apparent physical differences to divide us— that at the level of the genome we are 99.9 percent the same, and those are the coded political messages of FINDING YOUR ROOTS. Why is it so popular? I think because we remind people every week that we are all the same, that we are brothers and sisters and that we were all victims.”

“When people came here on those boats that Tony [Shalhoub]was talking about and that Zac[Posen] mentioned, they weren’t in first class, they were in the bottom of the boat and getting seasick with no windows, horrible sanitation facilities. You know, they were all metaphorically in the same boat. And our great country came out of that turmoil and chaos, and we all have to remember that.”