For more than a decade, renowned Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has helped to expand America’s sense of itself, stimulating a national conversation about identity with humor, wisdom, and compassion. Professor Gates has explored the ancestry of dozens of influential people from diverse backgrounds, taking millions of viewers deep into the past to reveal the connections that bind us all.

We are pleased to share with you excerpts from this new season, taking a look at the family histories of Justina Machado, Questlove, Ava DuVernay, Jordan Peele and RuPaul among others. Spanning the globe, and compiling family trees, we will meet the guests’ ancestors who were business people and bootleggers, war heroes and criminals, farmers and immigrants, the persecuted and the persevering under the most extraordinary circumstances. We’ll also be joined by Muriel Jackson, head of the Genealogical & Historical Room/Middle Georgia Archives at the Washington Memorial Library. Muriel will share tips and resources for conducting your own genealogical research and will also answer your questions!