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The Best Episodes of Finding Your Roots

Every episode of Finding Your Roots ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Finding Your Roots!

The Best Episodes of Finding Your Roots

Noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees....
  1. Background image for Fathers and Sons
    8.4/10(50 votes)

    #1 - Fathers and Sons

    S10:E3

    Actors LeVar Burton and Wes Studi, two men who grew up without their fathers, explore their family histories.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for Family Reunions
    8.3/10(41 votes)

    #2 - Family Reunions

    S3:E7

    Uncover family mysteries about two legends of hip hop, Sean Combs and LL Cool J, through the use of DNA technology, which reveals information that shakes their very foundations.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for John Lewis and Cory Booker
    8.2/10(59 votes)

    #3 - John Lewis and Cory Booker

    S1:E2

    In this episode, we feature two African American politicians from different generations and opposite backgrounds. John Lewis grew up in a sharecropping family in rural Georgia, while Cory Booker was raised in an affluent, all-white New Jersey suburb. Although both men have devoted their lives to the betterment of African-American people, neither of them knows much about their own ancestors. In this episode, we introduce Booker to his white great-grandfather, a man he never knew, and move Lewis to tears over the extraordinary ambitions and accomplishments of his slave ancestors..

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice and Ruth Simmons
    8.2/10(45 votes)

    #4 - Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice and Ruth Simmons

    S1:E7

    Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice and Brown University President Ruth Simmons have each climbed to the pinnacle of their profession, yet each started life as a second class citizen in the Jim Crow south. In this episode we will use DNA to investigate family mysteries: where do they come from in Africa, and who are the white men in their family trees?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Grandparents and Other Strangers
    8.2/10(65 votes)

    #5 - Grandparents and Other Strangers

    S5:E1

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps actor Andy Samberg and author George R. R. Martin answer some family mysteries when DNA detective work uncovers new branches of their family trees. The DNA analysis upends family history and reveals new relatives.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Reporting on the Reporters
    8.2/10(45 votes)

    #6 - Reporting on the Reporters

    S5:E3

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. shows journalists Christiane Amanpour, Ann Curry and Lisa Ling that the stories within their own family trees are every bit as compelling as the news stories they have been covering for the world.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Finding Your Roots

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  8. Background image for Freedom Tales
    8.2/10(44 votes)

    #7 - Freedom Tales

    S5:E5

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. delves deep into the roots of two African-American guests, actor S. Epatha Merkerson and athlete and television personality Michael Strahan. Both discover unexpected stories that challenge assumptions about black history.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for All in the Family
    8.2/10(40 votes)

    #8 - All in the Family

    S5:E10

    The family stories of actor Ty Burrell, and radio host Joe Madison. Also a look at how a summer camp for children is using genetic genealogy to help young people better understand their burgeoning identities.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Tragedy + Time = Comedy
    8.1/10(41 votes)

    #9 - Tragedy + Time = Comedy

    S3:E4

    Uncover a history of tragedies and triumphs in the families of three of America’s funniest men–Jimmy Kimmel, Norman Lear and Bill Hader—as they learn how comedy truly has its place in all aspects of life.

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  11. Background image for Write My Name in the Book of Life
    8.1/10(39 votes)

    #10 - Write My Name in the Book of Life

    S7:E5

    Guests: Pharrell Williams and Kasi Lemmons. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps musician Pharrell Williams and filmmaker Kasi Lemmons uncover extraordinarily rare first-person accounts of their enslaved ancestors.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for The New World
    8.1/10(43 votes)

    #11 - The New World

    S7:E7

    Guests: John Lithgow and Maria Hinojosa. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces ancestors of actor John Lithgow and journalist Maria Hinojosa who thrived in North America long before the birth of the United States.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Barbara Walters and Geoffrey Canada
    8.0/10(45 votes)

    #12 - Barbara Walters and Geoffrey Canada

    S1:E3

    What's in a name? Well, a lot, at least when it comes to piecing together your family history. For former slaves, choosing a last name was one of their first acts of freedom. For Jewish immigrants, it was a way to fit in their new country. Whatever the reason for a name change, it can make the process of learning about one's ancestors difficult, if not impossible. In this episode, we unearth missing links in the family histories of media legend Barbara Walters and educational superstar Geoffrey Canada. Walters did not know her father's real last name. Canada did not know the name of his grandfather. Both of them had been unable to access their history... until now.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for In Search Of Freedom
    8.0/10(46 votes)

    #13 - In Search Of Freedom

    S3:E3

    Learn how the ancestors of Maya Rudolph, Shonda Rhimes and Keenen Ivory Wayans struggled for freedom, and how each of these cultural trailblazers gain a new understanding of how they fit into this proud trajectory.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for War Stories
    8.0/10(41 votes)

    #14 - War Stories

    S3:E6

    Patricia Arquette, Senator John McCain, and Julianne Moore explore their genealogical heritage with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Maps of Stars
    8.0/10(37 votes)

    #15 - Maps of Stars

    S3:E10

    Learn how Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow, who last shared the screen together in 1969, also share a history of tragic deaths in their families that played major roles in shaping future generations.

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  17. Background image for The Eye of the Beholder
    8.0/10(29 votes)

    #16 - The Eye of the Beholder

    S5:E9

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. shares the family histories of director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, iconoclastic performance artist Marina Abramović and painter Kehinde Wiley. These visionary artists find their identities challenged—and affirmed.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Hidden in the Genes
    8.0/10(45 votes)

    #17 - Hidden in the Genes

    S8:E1

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps Rebecca Hall and Lee Daniels solve family mysteries through DNA detective work, illuminating both history and their own identities.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for Children of Exile
    8.0/10(62 votes)

    #18 - Children of Exile

    S8:E2

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. welcomes Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Anita Hill, two guests who made profound sacrifices for social justice, and helps them discover the ancestors who made sacrifices for them.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Hidden Kin
    8.0/10(2 votes)

    #19 - Hidden Kin

    S9:E1

    Henry Louis Gates 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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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Finding My Roots
    8.0/10(27 votes)

    #20 - Finding My Roots

    S11:E10

    A solution to a mystery that has haunted the Gates family for generations is revealed.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr.
    7.9/10(60 votes)

    #21 - Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr.

    S1:E1

    Their European immigrant ancestors blazed unconventional trails in America, from capturing British ships for the American Revolution to crossing racial barriers in slave-era Louisiana. Generations later, as children growing up in New Orleans, Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis found a deep and abiding friendship through their common love of jazz and of the city itself. In this hour, we trace the turbulent and contradictory history of the city of New Orleans through the family stories of these two fascinating men.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon
    7.9/10(57 votes)

    #22 - Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon

    S1:E4

    What do Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick have in common? They are both famous actors and both descend from prominent American families that have been in this country since its inception. But they share something else, too: both had ancestors who were early opponents of slavery. Bacon's Quaker ancestors repudiated slavery long before the rest of the country, in 1780. And Sedgwick's ancestor Theodore Sedgwick argued the freedom case of Elizabeth Freeman, also known as "Mumbet," in 1781 -- which helped bring an end to slavery in Massachusetts. We reveal this fact - and many others - to Sedgwick and Bacon in this episode, and learn quite a bit about slavery in the North in the process.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal
    7.9/10(53 votes)

    #23 - Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal

    S1:E6

    Many American descend from a dense soups of European ethnicities; we could call them mutts, with ancestral roots across every country in Europe. Actors Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal are textbook examples of Americans with a rich tapestry of European immigrant stories making up their family trees. We delve in to their deep American roots in early colonial communities, and we meet their Eastern European Jewish ancestors, who share almost identical migration stories From the Mayflower to Ellis Island, we journey through centuries of immigration that shaped and built our melting pot nation.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for Martha Stewart, Margaret Cho and Sanjay Gupta
    7.9/10(42 votes)

    #24 - Martha Stewart, Margaret Cho and Sanjay Gupta

    S1:E8

    The three guests in this episode are all children of first- or second-generation immigrants and share the peculiar burdens of that heritage. In an episode that crisscrosses the planet, from India to Korea to Poland, catch a glimpse of three distinct yet oddly overlapping experiences of families leaving their homes and becoming American.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for John Legend and Wanda Sykes
    7.9/10(46 votes)

    #25 - John Legend and Wanda Sykes

    S1:E9

    Most African Americans struggle to trace their ancestors beyond Emancipation; slavery erased names and family ties with brutal efficiency. But what about the descendants of the handful of free black people who evaded bondage during that terrible time? Musician John Legend and comedian Wanda Sykes discover the extraordinary stories of the free black ancestors they never knew about, while Professor Gates himself and his 98-year-old friend Margarett Cooper delve into the mysteries shrouding the free people of color in their family trees.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"Fathers and Sons" is the best rated episode of "Finding Your Roots". It scored 8.4/10 based on 50 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/16/2024. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Family Reunions".