A History Lesson With a Whole Lot of Personality

March 23, 2012 PBS Wisconsin Leave a Comment

Just this week PBS announced the full roster of actors, musicians and civic leaders that will appear on the new Henry Louis Gates Jr. program Finding Your Roots. The 10-part series draws on the basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from by looking deep into the ancestry of these remarkable individuals. Which individuals? Here’s a few of them. Click the image to see profiles of every one who’s brave enough to let Professor Gates dig into their past.
These celebrities make for great storytellers, but chances are you’ve got some unique stories in your own lineage. Find out by tracing your own family tree using resources that the show has compiled.

And, check out this extended preview which reveals (among other things) that Harry Connick Jr. had a “bad ass” fifth great grandfather who was infamous for sailing in the West Indies; that Barbara Walters had a name with a few more syllables in it before it was changed in 1910; and that there’s a good chance Samuel L. Jackson is a direct descendent of King Edward I.

Finding Your Roots premieres on WPT at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 25.

Watch Extended Preview on PBS. See more from Finding Your Roots.

Wisconsin Public Television History Henry Louis Gates Jr PBS Wisconsin Public Television

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