Did we miss any harrowing “Finding Your Roots” revelations? Let us know below, and be sure to also check out our video of the Top 10 Shocking Reveals on Finding Your Roots - th-cam.com/video/wFpovaxtCRw/w-d-xo.html
They missed the most emotional one. In the first season, Congressman and Civil Rights leader John Lewis found that a great grandfather registered to vote as soon as voting opened for the former slaves. Lewis was one of the forces behind the Voting Rights Act in the 60's and for him to find that an ancestor exercised his right 100 years before it once again became a guaranteed right for blacks moved him to tears.
This series has only recently begun airing where I live, and not with early seasons, so I had no idea such a wonderful discovery had blesssed such a maginificent human - thank you *so* much for sharing it ❤❤❤
LeVar Burton hit hard in a great way. I'm white, my husband is black, we have four mixed sons. When they were growing up we couldn't afford cable so PBS was the only station that was ever on our television and Reading Rainbow was one of their favorite shows. They're all kind of nerdy and into science fiction and got to go to Comic-Con when they were grown. My oldest was 26 my youngest was 20. Mr Burton was at the Comic-Con and my kids waited 3 hours to see him and when they got to the table for autographs they all started crying and serenaded him with the theme song from Reading Rainbow. Mr Burton learned the impact that his ancestors have on him but when he met my sons he learned the impact that he had on my family. To us Mr Burton is a core memory of our family! ❤❤❤
Wow! Wow! This is beautiful! I'm very happy for ur sons who got to meet Levar Burton! That is amazing! Levar Burton truly made the difference. ❤ Bless u & ur wonderful family! 🎉🎉🎉
I agree. Kids learned so much more from PBS than any of those other entities you named plus they only taught kids educational stuff and didn't move in to what was a parents realm ...religion, politics, race and gender etc.... that right there makes PBS a million times better than Disney and all the others. I have 14 grandkids. It's not a ton but I refuse to take them to Disney Land/World because of that.
The Lisa Kudro episode was very sad too. Her family's ancestry was traced to a village in Poland. A. n eighbor/friends son( I think he was actually a cousin) ran to his house to warn them the SS were there. He remembered it distinctly. The whole village was rounded up & killed. In one day. Beyond horrific. Lisa found out that the boy that warned them was still alive and living in Poland where he grew up. She was able to meet him & his brother.
In lieu of David Duchovny I would have chosen Mandy Patinkin finding out he had family that died in the Holocaust. His emotions spilling out at the revelation haunts me. And although not sad-emotional, more happy-emotional, I would have chosen John Lithgow finding out Henry Louis Gates Jr. was his cousin. It’s a beautiful outpouring of joy from John.
What got me was Tia and Tamera Mowery's discovery of their 10x great grandfather on their father's side (white) was the minister who presided of the first Thanksgiving Another one that gets to me is Christina Applegate and her dad discovering that, despite her young death and abandonment of her son, Christina's grandmother bought a burial plot (!) for her son - whom she barely knew, and who barely knew her
Christina Applegates was on Who Do You Think You Are though not Finding Your Roots. That was some story though. Always tear up at the end with her grandmothers new gravestone with “Mom, I found you”
I found a document when searching out my family tree. It was a will written by John Bacon, my 6x great grandfather. He left 9 unnamed slaves to his son, but he left a 9yr old slave boy, Sam, to his wife. It was like finding a hundred pound weight I was to carry from that point on. I do not think of my 6x great grandfather often, but not a week goes by I don't think of Sam. Did he grow up and have a family? Why was he the only one named? Was he treated well? Did he get to see his mother and father again? The questions are unending. One of the most important shows in the history of TV. Thank you for this video and thanks to PBS for having the show!
I mean Sam was enslaved so even if you were treated better than most enslaved folks he still wasn't treated well because another human being owned him. If another human being owns you you cannot be treated well even if you're not actively treated poorly. The mere fact that he was left to the wife of your six times great-grandfather says enough to answer that question I should think because your six times great-grandfather had the opportunity to free him and didn't so no...Sam wasnt "treated well" it is actually an oxymoron to say that any enslaved person was treated well when their basic Freedom they didn't have. If they were fed from the same table as the people who owned them, if they were never beaten or spoken to crossly (which is highly unlikely) they still were not treated well. They were enslaved. We need to stop using language that implies that any enslaved person was treated well because even if they had everything in the world they didn't have their freedom and anyone who would keep another human being from having basic freedom is by definition not treating them well.
I can relate to this. Having traced several lines of my family tree to North Carolina, I read the wills that included slaves left as property to others. It’s a sickening feeling to know that your own ancestors participated in such inhumanity.
@@kimberleybruesch3876 We should not use the morals of today to judge those from the past, but slavery, although common, takes a lack of basic human feeling for any generation to embrace it. But, the slavery in the colonies/states was especially cruel. In the Bible it make provisions to release the slave after a time and just because your parents were slaves did not mean you would automatically be one. Although they claimed to believe in the Bible, and even used it excuse slavery, they completely ignored the guide lines the Bible gave towards slavery. For every account of slaves being treated humanly, there are 20 accounts of inhuman treatment at the hands of slave owners. They even put it into law that inhuman treatment was protected. There is not one account of a white man being punished for mistreating slaves. It is a 'Macbeth' stain on our collective hands through history as a nation all the way down to today.
@justanamerican9024 Even if they hadn't ignored the "guidelines," (which btw we need to look at the Bible as a reflection of history and not as sthg to endorse in evry measure, there were handmaids/sex slaves, genocides, plenty of things listed in the Bible that should not be respected) it would still be inhumane to feel entitled to free servitude from another, esp a child, while not permitting them freedom of mvt, and to feel essentially entitled to the sacrifice of another's life bc you are defined as a superior race or class in an amoral caste system, and to separate children from their parents. I feel you're naturalizing what they did with the "times" and the bible, but you don't have to identify or empathize with your ancestors (that separation is sthg a lot of these guests have a hard time with tho). And there were white people and others who chose to free their slaves, or move away from the Antebellum South, or join abolitionist religious branches, or otherwise not participate in slavery, even tho that did not benefit them other than morally. I do appreciate you admitting you have enslavers in your lineage. And you're right, there is definitely a backstory to him naming the boy in his will. One can only hope he wasn't as relentlessly abused as many enslaved were.
@@justanamerican9024 beautifully said. And I am glad, as a Jewish person, that you are pointing out the complete corruption and hypocrisy of these self-righteous slaveowners in hiding behind a false veil of religiousity. They weren't following any Bible I know of.
Also: Wanda Sykes learning of a centuries long line of free black women ancestors. And Andy Samberg finding his mother's unknown ancestry (she'd been adopted) and ties to living relatives in the Bay Area.
Burton is the reason I LOVE to read, and because of reading rainbow and all I gained from that my daughter now LOVES to read too…. So thank you for that Mr. Burton for reaching me the way you did. ❤
Dr. Gates has done so much. I cried hearing Mr. Burton's & Mr. Morgan's family stories…but Pharrell's-that's the one that had me feeling thankful for historians who made sure we could trace our family history.
Dr Gates is a national treasure! He gave Tracy Morgan a free man who stayed with his family. He gave LeVar Burton additional educators. He has been instrumental in expanding families for years. As for Ben Affleck…he doesn’t want to acknowledge the truth because he wants to hide behind a lie. Love you, Dr Gates ❤💕❤️
I don't agree with your point. Having ancestors who were involved in slavery is nothing to admire. Affleck wasn't even born when his ancestors were involved in slavery.
Mandy Patankin thought his ancestors escaped Europe before the Holocaust. He was devastated and heartbroken to find out how wrong he was. His anguish after fiding out how many relatives were murdered should have been number one. It was very hard to watch.
LL Cool J, a long time boxing enthusiast, learned that unbeknownst to his mother, she had been adopted and LL's birth grandfather had been a boxer and his great uncle was the first Black U.S. light heavyweight champion who looked very much like LL. LL dug further and found out that he was also related to Tom Molineaux, a famous bare knuckle boxer during slavery times who won his freedom beating everyone, including some top white fighters in the US and England.
Ms. King's ancestor understanding of how important is was to vote and that he had this chance to help shape the country for his children and his children's children is such an important story that voters today need to hear. The same is true if your ancestors came here and found discrimination, like the Irish, which happened to so many immigrants. Some folks think the word, "immigrants" is a dirty word, especially these days, but unless you're Native American you need to shout it to the roof tops that we are a nation of immigrants all struggling for a better life. Voting was a right denied to so many over the years so it's our damn duty to stand up and be counted. We also need to stand up for each other and act like the American family we should be. A family that cares about those struggling to have a better life too. One of my ancestors lived in the Mass. Bay Colony, which I was stunned to find out, and I will always vote knowing how important it is to our democracy. Rant over... for now, lol.
As an American, I enjoy seeing the American drama expanding out to continents other than Europe. It makes me proud to be part of an experiment in governance that defines itself, not by a religion or nationality but by the fundamental idea of equality under the law. I don't think we further our national interests by building walls against the rest of the world, but by building bridges to it.
Burton - we grew up with reading rainbow - I was born late 70's - he had such an impact on our generation for so many reasons. He was never missing - it was always there :)
Questlove. Not just finding out his family were on one of if not the last slave ships, but then getting to see a picture of that relative. Who had his exact same eyes - as if someone had dressed Q in Olde Time Clothes and made up a fake picture, soaked in tea to look old...🤯🤯
Can I just say that knowing your great great great grandparents where born into slavery is insane. I live in the UK and slavery was abolished a lot sooner than it was in America but I genuinely never realised how close that is until you hear it like that. So when people try to say that generational trauma isn't real (which I fully believe in) is stupid. It's so close that even if you don't believe generational trauma you have to understand that the pain and harm that was caused isn't far away.
Claire Danes' breakthrough role was Romeo &Juliet??? Every girl that was a teenager in the early 90's just gasped in outrage. How dare you erase Angela Chase like that! 😂
On A&E's production of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' it was Blair Underwood who found out his father's side comes from Virginia where the first FREED Black settlement was established in Petersburg region at the start of 1800 before the Virginia law changed and demanded all free blacks had to leave the territory after the Gabriel Prosser Rebellion.
I support PBS and have for many years! I love Finding Your Roots because it connects us to our history but also lets us know that we are just one part of a bigger picture ❤. We need the bigger picture to keep us sane and humane. Without understanding the bigger picture we are prey to deception and delusions. We need less delusional people and more grounded healthy people. ❤
Claire Danes hardly broke out with her role in Romeo and Juliet. She had already starred in her own tv show before that movie. Y'all must be children to not know or remember that.
Many people are like me. They recall past lives. Often families stay together. So, we can be the same person as great grandma. I never talked about my past life memories with anyone. Until they started coming to me with their stories. One girlfriend saw very clearly when we were both native American kids living in the southwest US. My own kid when he was about 12 told me that I was a nun in a past life and I was his teacher. he described the habit that I wore, and how I looked. He also remembered a number of his own past lives that had no obvious connection to me. I know many people who remember being victims in the holocaust. A great account of ppl who remember is in the book “return from the ashes”, Written by a rabbi - Nonfiction, of course. I chant the sacred word HU everyday, that is why I have many memories of the past, beyond the veil.
Dustin Hoffman's reaction to news about his family was extremely emotional. I don't understand why I can't buy the CD with his segment on it and why on TH-cam only a very few minutes of the episode are shown,
Claire Danes having her namesake grandmother writing her thesis on Shakespeare!?!?!!! Thats spooky. Rare enough that a woman of her generation goes to university and completes her thesis but to be so into the arts and be a thespian too? Two generations later her grand daughter is an actress herself and secures one of the most sought after roles in all of cinema history. And it Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. Im exactly the same age as Claire and every young person at the time had to see that movie. Those of us with girlfriends anyway. That is just so coincidental. Albeit kinda weird that she didnt know any of this??
Why would Tracy make me cry when he said I feel free when I’m on stage and I knew it came from you come on man I’m a grown women I shouldn’t have cried and smiled 😊
I found out I'm related to Lena Horne! I'd love to explore that I have many famous relatives like Jerry Lee Lewis William the great I need to do a ancestors search
The actor Sterling K. Brown said it best. It is so frustrating to not know your lineage! Most people can indeed trace back their history to different countries. For most people with African ancestry, we don’t know where we come from. Even, if our parents were born like mine in Haïti, I don’t know if their families were born on the island or if they were shipped. And if they were shipped, from where? I don’t know. No guarantee this information was properly considered. It’s like an erasure of part of myself and my family's history. Isn’t that we want all, to relate, to belong and understand who we are as individuals?! Even my family name. I am not sure if it’s originally from one country or another. I could use sites such as Ancestry if I was sure that they wouldn't allow third parties to access their DNA database!
Our ancestors influence us even when we don't know them. I believe this. It can be based on many things. I can explain it totally. Maybe its genetic predisposition at least partly.
I think about my Paternal Ancestors, who fled the Irish Republic to Britain. I have tears because of my discovery. Irish Ancestors that settled in Havering/ Dagenham(Essex)
The late great radio host and civil rights advocate Joe Madison learned that his great grandfather was a white man who fought for the Confederacy. He also learned that the man he thought was his biological father was not in fact his bio-dad and that Joe was not an only child but had biological half brothers.
Slavery is something many colors have had to endure. I wish people would understand that and stop focusing on just one. "There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his." ✌️🙏
Birth certificate shown for LL COOL J's mom is same very simple - no parent's name, birth weight etc listed really just empty. I have same certificate. Issued a year after I was born in 1947 and has a certificate # that corresponds to the number on our original birth certificates when ee were born. At that time, that blank looking certificate I have is always questioned. New York State issued those for adoptees when they eere adopted and name was changed. In 2019 New York State allowed adoptees access to their original birth certificate and both certificates have same number. Original certificate has names of birth parents, weight, time of birth etc. First time I had seen another adopted corrected certificate like mine. Thanks for showing that.
Tamera Mowry was the most profound..they should do a movie about her history..to have an ancestor who was the man to not only be on the Mayflower an did the first prayer on the first Thanksgiving and also have African ancestors who were slaves .. WOW
One you missed that I remember was about a Armenian descended gentleman. Although I can't remember his name his story was among the most harrowing. His grandmother was a survivor of the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire and she was abused by a German soldier there to protect her.
Beautiful stories, but Claire Danes' story was hardly harrowing. A woman doing her Master degree around 1939 is a clear sign of privilege. Not to say her story wasn't moving, but I am sure there have been more "harrowing" reveals.
Malachi 4:6 "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." THIS IS WHAT IT'S ABOUT.
@@nikkin.9206 Yes they could. I have a whole ancestral line that was never enslaved because they came from Africa by other means than enslavement (came to colonial America in the 1700s). You also have Caribbeans who migrated in the 20th century…during Jim Crow. The same rules would have applied with them, as well.
I worked at my local junior college many years ago,we had to attend in -services yearly to be updated on new issues ,diversity etc. ,at one such in-service we had a woman speak to us about the importance of diversity as far as ethnicity went,she told us something that shocked me ,she saiid it was very difficult for people of color (I hope I’m not offending anyone by that title)to trace their ancestors,as wheh they were purchased as slaves ,they were given the last name of the “owner”,such a foreign concept to me ,that a person could “own “another person ,man’s inhumanity to man,so disgraceful.
I guess I will need to watch the episode to find out why Claire Danes didn’t know anything about her Grandmother? Maybe she passed away early? Maybe her Father didn’t talk about her?
You know what I would love to see, after the host has found the guess family I would love for them to find the family were they could have a talk about this interesting Discovery especially the African-Americans what the people families who bought and sold the person on the other side of the table family thoughts are
Issa Rae's ancestors also owned enslaved people. I think for her story, one side that owned was family and the other side wasn’t. Both sides granted freedom prior to the Civil War, though. At least Sunny faced her family's history head on…unlike Ben Affleck who tried to BRIBE Dr. Gates from hiding the fact his family lineage included both slave transporting & owning. 😬
Did we miss any harrowing “Finding Your Roots” revelations? Let us know below, and be sure to also check out our video of the Top 10 Shocking Reveals on Finding Your Roots - th-cam.com/video/wFpovaxtCRw/w-d-xo.html
There's a new Ms Mojo?
You missed Epatha Mackerson. There was some bittersweet feeling for her.
They missed the most emotional one. In the first season, Congressman and Civil Rights leader John Lewis found that a great grandfather registered to vote as soon as voting opened for the former slaves. Lewis was one of the forces behind the Voting Rights Act in the 60's and for him to find that an ancestor exercised his right 100 years before it once again became a guaranteed right for blacks moved him to tears.
Yes!
I really miss John Lewis. He was such a force for good in this country.
Agree 💯
This series has only recently begun airing where I live, and not with early seasons, so I had no idea such a wonderful discovery had blesssed such a maginificent human - thank you *so* much for sharing it ❤❤❤
John Lewis’s episode made me start watching this show.
LeVar Burton hit hard in a great way. I'm white, my husband is black, we have four mixed sons. When they were growing up we couldn't afford cable so PBS was the only station that was ever on our television and Reading Rainbow was one of their favorite shows. They're all kind of nerdy and into science fiction and got to go to Comic-Con when they were grown. My oldest was 26 my youngest was 20. Mr Burton was at the Comic-Con and my kids waited 3 hours to see him and when they got to the table for autographs they all started crying and serenaded him with the theme song from Reading Rainbow. Mr Burton learned the impact that his ancestors have on him but when he met my sons he learned the impact that he had on my family. To us Mr Burton is a core memory of our family! ❤❤❤
Your story made me cry... I bet Mr Burton was overwhelmed with that meeting and loved every second... so wonderful!!
Burton is a racist who found out he has white heritage. Literally said if he had been told that he would have hit somebody. Sad.
That’s beautiful. He was a huge part of my childhood as well. :)
Wow! Wow! This is beautiful! I'm very happy for ur sons who got to meet Levar Burton! That is amazing! Levar Burton truly made the difference. ❤ Bless u & ur wonderful family! 🎉🎉🎉
So beautiful. Somebody is chopping onions nearby. *sniff*
And THIS is Why PBS should deserve MUCH MORE Recognition as does ABC/Disney CBS/Paramount Global & NBCUniversal/Universal Studios!
Levar Burton changed the education programming with Reading Rainbow. what a powerful revelation.
Nope woke they are
@granttaylor4762trump on the brain. Good grief
I agree. Kids learned so much more from PBS than any of those other entities you named plus they only taught kids educational stuff and didn't move in to what was a parents realm ...religion, politics, race and gender etc.... that right there makes PBS a million times better than Disney and all the others. I have 14 grandkids. It's not a ton but I refuse to take them to Disney Land/World because of that.
Mandy Patinkin's discovery that many members of his father's family were killed in the Holocaust was also very moving
That one was so hard to watch, because he seemed to have no idea going in.
The Lisa Kudro episode was very sad too. Her family's ancestry was traced to a village in Poland. A. n eighbor/friends son( I think he was actually a cousin) ran to his house to warn them the SS were there. He remembered it distinctly. The whole village was rounded up & killed. In one day. Beyond horrific. Lisa found out that the boy that warned them was still alive and living in Poland where he grew up. She was able to meet him & his brother.
@@jamieharrison1690except that wasn’t on Finding Your Roots; the Lisa Kudrow episode was on Who Do You Think You Are, a program she actually produced.
“Inherited this mantle of educator…” that’s beautiful, LeVar. Continue your ancestors legacy of helping others.
Mandy Patinkin's discovery of the relatives he lost in the Holocaust is gut-wrenching - because he never knew about them.
Claire Danes discovering her grandmother was also passionate about acting and theatre was so heartwarming. Performing is definitely in her blood.
Definitely in her genealogy.
Nice to see a happy story
In lieu of David Duchovny I would have chosen Mandy Patinkin finding out he had family that died in the Holocaust. His emotions spilling out at the revelation haunts me.
And although not sad-emotional, more happy-emotional, I would have chosen John Lithgow finding out Henry Louis Gates Jr. was his cousin. It’s a beautiful outpouring of joy from John.
I so agree with you.
What got me was Tia and Tamera Mowery's discovery of their 10x great grandfather on their father's side (white) was the minister who presided of the first Thanksgiving
Another one that gets to me is Christina Applegate and her dad discovering that, despite her young death and abandonment of her son, Christina's grandmother bought a burial plot (!) for her son - whom she barely knew, and who barely knew her
Christina Applegates was on Who Do You Think You Are though not Finding Your Roots. That was some story though. Always tear up at the end with her grandmothers new gravestone with “Mom, I found you”
The "Thanksgiving" massacre or the "Thanksgiving" that was the celebration of that massacre?
"I feel free. Now I know it came from you!" Tracy Morgan brought me to tears!
Nothing for me will ever beat Tracy Morgan's reactions. That is pride and family connection.
I found a document when searching out my family tree. It was a will written by John Bacon, my 6x great grandfather. He left 9 unnamed slaves to his son, but he left a 9yr old slave boy, Sam, to his wife. It was like finding a hundred pound weight I was to carry from that point on. I do not think of my 6x great grandfather often, but not a week goes by I don't think of Sam. Did he grow up and have a family? Why was he the only one named? Was he treated well? Did he get to see his mother and father again? The questions are unending. One of the most important shows in the history of TV. Thank you for this video and thanks to PBS for having the show!
I mean Sam was enslaved so even if you were treated better than most enslaved folks he still wasn't treated well because another human being owned him. If another human being owns you you cannot be treated well even if you're not actively treated poorly. The mere fact that he was left to the wife of your six times great-grandfather says enough to answer that question I should think because your six times great-grandfather had the opportunity to free him and didn't so no...Sam wasnt "treated well" it is actually an oxymoron to say that any enslaved person was treated well when their basic Freedom they didn't have. If they were fed from the same table as the people who owned them, if they were never beaten or spoken to crossly (which is highly unlikely) they still were not treated well. They were enslaved. We need to stop using language that implies that any enslaved person was treated well because even if they had everything in the world they didn't have their freedom and anyone who would keep another human being from having basic freedom is by definition not treating them well.
I can relate to this. Having traced several lines of my family tree to North Carolina, I read the wills that included slaves left as property to others. It’s a sickening feeling to know that your own ancestors participated in such inhumanity.
@@kimberleybruesch3876 We should not use the morals of today to judge those from the past, but slavery, although common, takes a lack of basic human feeling for any generation to embrace it. But, the slavery in the colonies/states was especially cruel. In the Bible it make provisions to release the slave after a time and just because your parents were slaves did not mean you would automatically be one. Although they claimed to believe in the Bible, and even used it excuse slavery, they completely ignored the guide lines the Bible gave towards slavery. For every account of slaves being treated humanly, there are 20 accounts of inhuman treatment at the hands of slave owners. They even put it into law that inhuman treatment was protected. There is not one account of a white man being punished for mistreating slaves. It is a 'Macbeth' stain on our collective hands through history as a nation all the way down to today.
@justanamerican9024 Even if they hadn't ignored the "guidelines," (which btw we need to look at the Bible as a reflection of history and not as sthg to endorse in evry measure, there were handmaids/sex slaves, genocides, plenty of things listed in the Bible that should not be respected) it would still be inhumane to feel entitled to free servitude from another, esp a child, while not permitting them freedom of mvt, and to feel essentially entitled to the sacrifice of another's life bc you are defined as a superior race or class in an amoral caste system, and to separate children from their parents. I feel you're naturalizing what they did with the "times" and the bible, but you don't have to identify or empathize with your ancestors (that separation is sthg a lot of these guests have a hard time with tho). And there were white people and others who chose to free their slaves, or move away from the Antebellum South, or join abolitionist religious branches, or otherwise not participate in slavery, even tho that did not benefit them other than morally. I do appreciate you admitting you have enslavers in your lineage. And you're right, there is definitely a backstory to him naming the boy in his will. One can only hope he wasn't as relentlessly abused as many enslaved were.
@@justanamerican9024 beautifully said. And I am glad, as a Jewish person, that you are pointing out the complete corruption and hypocrisy of these self-righteous slaveowners in hiding behind a false veil of religiousity. They weren't following any Bible I know of.
Clare Danes finding out about her grandmothers masters thesis on shakespeare gave me chills that must have been so amazing for her to have found out.
Also: Wanda Sykes learning of a centuries long line of free black women ancestors. And Andy Samberg finding his mother's unknown ancestry (she'd been adopted) and ties to living relatives in the Bay Area.
Andy Samberg, Pharrell Williams and Roy Wood, Jr are some of my favorites.
Regina King’s reaction to seeing her ancestor insisting on Voting is Especially Powerful
Burton is the reason I LOVE to read, and because of reading rainbow and all I gained from that my daughter now LOVES to read too…. So thank you for that Mr. Burton for reaching me the way you did. ❤
Dr. Gates has done so much. I cried hearing Mr. Burton's & Mr. Morgan's family stories…but Pharrell's-that's the one that had me feeling thankful for historians who made sure we could trace our family history.
Dr Gates is a national treasure! He gave Tracy Morgan a free man who stayed with his family. He gave LeVar Burton additional educators. He has been instrumental in expanding families for years. As for Ben Affleck…he doesn’t want to acknowledge the truth because he wants to hide behind a lie. Love you, Dr Gates ❤💕❤️
I don't agree with your point. Having ancestors who were involved in slavery is nothing to admire. Affleck wasn't even born when his ancestors were involved in slavery.
That's not true about Ben Affleck. He was embarrassed & ashamed. If you find slave owners in your family you I hope would feel the same.
Mandy Patankin thought his ancestors escaped Europe before the Holocaust. He was devastated and heartbroken to find out how wrong he was. His anguish after fiding out how many relatives were murdered should have been number one. It was very hard to watch.
that video was not included. I hope to find it
Tracy Morgan’s segment 🥹So happy for his ancestors being able to stay together.
LL Cool J, a long time boxing enthusiast, learned that unbeknownst to his mother, she had been adopted and LL's birth grandfather had been a boxer and his great uncle was the first Black U.S. light heavyweight champion who looked very much like LL. LL dug further and found out that he was also related to Tom Molineaux, a famous bare knuckle boxer during slavery times who won his freedom beating everyone, including some top white fighters in the US and England.
😮
> Tv said so
> Wikipedia said so
> TH-cam said so
LMAO
Yes, i agree. Pbs stations get a bum rap. Support them if you can.
It the only decent program on in my area.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. (host) is great; he actively listens, makes remarks, and helps people through emotions. 👏
As an educator, I am forever indebted to LeVar Burton.
One of my most favorite shows. Dr Gates is a national treasure. Kudos to pbr.
oooops PBS, pbr is the old people beer.
Still PBR deserves kudos. Not so much "old peoples" as cult classic.
Tony Shalhoub’s story was horrifying. It was probably the most emotional episode I ever watched
Burton was on PBS during my childhood. I loved Reading Rainbow.
Tracy Morgan's "Good for you, Grandpa" at 11:47 got me sobbing. You can HEAR the pride in his voice
please do a video about Finding Your Roots guests who are related to each other like Larry David and Bernie Sanders
In the works! :)
Ms. King's ancestor understanding of how important is was to vote and that he had this chance to help shape the country for his children and his children's children is such an important story that voters today need to hear. The same is true if your ancestors came here and found discrimination, like the Irish, which happened to so many immigrants. Some folks think the word, "immigrants" is a dirty word, especially these days, but unless you're Native American you need to shout it to the roof tops that we are a nation of immigrants all struggling for a better life. Voting was a right denied to so many over the years so it's our damn duty to stand up and be counted. We also need to stand up for each other and act like the American family we should be. A family that cares about those struggling to have a better life too. One of my ancestors lived in the Mass. Bay Colony, which I was stunned to find out, and I will always vote knowing how important it is to our democracy. Rant over... for now, lol.
Thx MsMojo. Always here for all things ‘Finding Your Roots!’ 🙂
Speaking of Tracy Morgan. You should do top 10 that survived horrible accidents. Such as Tracy, Jeremy Renner Gloria Estafan.
LL Cool J! His story was intense & it changed everything for him & his mother. It was amazing but surreal!
As an American, I enjoy seeing the American drama expanding out to continents other than Europe. It makes me proud to be part of an experiment in governance that defines itself, not by a religion or nationality but by the fundamental idea of equality under the law. I don't think we further our national interests by building walls against the rest of the world, but by building bridges to it.
Mandy Patinkin. Best ever episode and I watch this series relugiously.
Burton - we grew up with reading rainbow - I was born late 70's - he had such an impact on our generation for so many reasons. He was never missing - it was always there :)
Questlove found out that his ancestors were on the very last slave ship, The Clotilda. That was powerful.
I love Tracy Morgan’s story. They stayed together!
You also enjoyed Sunny Hostin's story. Kind of weird…
Questlove. Not just finding out his family were on one of if not the last slave ships, but then getting to see a picture of that relative. Who had his exact same eyes - as if someone had dressed Q in Olde Time Clothes and made up a fake picture, soaked in tea to look old...🤯🤯
Wow! I missed that one. That's deep!
That was a great episode
Finding Your Roots is a wonderful show.
I appreciate seeing this on Juneteenth.
Juneteenth ROFLMFAO
Can I just say that knowing your great great great grandparents where born into slavery is insane. I live in the UK and slavery was abolished a lot sooner than it was in America but I genuinely never realised how close that is until you hear it like that. So when people try to say that generational trauma isn't real (which I fully believe in) is stupid. It's so close that even if you don't believe generational trauma you have to understand that the pain and harm that was caused isn't far away.
Thank you. I love finding your roots
Claire Danes' breakthrough role was Romeo &Juliet??? Every girl that was a teenager in the early 90's just gasped in outrage. How dare you erase Angela Chase like that! 😂
I love this show!
On A&E's production of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' it was Blair Underwood who found out his father's side comes from Virginia where the first FREED Black settlement was established in Petersburg region at the start of 1800 before the Virginia law changed and demanded all free blacks had to leave the territory after the Gabriel Prosser Rebellion.
why am i crying this is amazing
Best one ever was Bernie Sanders and Larry David discovering they were related to each other and grew up a couple blocks from each other. Oy-vey!
And look a like
Happy monday night, Sophia, take care and God bless you. Greetings from Colombia to you as well.
Great show
I have already wondered about my roots and wanted to trace them.🤟🏿
Actor Chris Meloni found out his ancestor Enrico Meloni was left at a hospital as a baby.
Pamela adlon is also a voice actress too best known as the voice of Bobby hill
Also spinelli from Recess is my fav
That voice actor’s just not right.
I support PBS and have for many years! I love Finding Your Roots because it connects us to our history but also lets us know that we are just one part of a bigger picture ❤.
We need the bigger picture to keep us sane and humane. Without understanding the bigger picture we are prey to deception and delusions. We need less delusional people and more grounded healthy people. ❤
sterlings story is pretty interesting
I thought about his role in Black Panther immediately.
Levar Burton and Stephen kings finding out his family left the south because they didn’t believe in slavery was good one
awesome job about Most Emotional Reveals on Finding Your Roots from Top 10
Although not on this series, Christina Applegate's history was so moving😢
Heart wrenching
Claire Danes hardly broke out with her role in Romeo and Juliet. She had already starred in her own tv show before that movie. Y'all must be children to not know or remember that.
Im 44 and was living Ireland when Romeo & Juliet came out. Never heard of her before R & J but it was huge all over the English speaking world.
They probably meant international.
Finding Your Roots is, in my opinion, one of the more interesting programs on PBS.
when you say I'm not gonna cry 😢. you always do
Thanks for including such soothing music instead of crappy tiktok type music.
Many people are like me. They recall past lives. Often families stay together. So, we can be the same person as great grandma. I never talked about my past life memories with anyone. Until they started coming to me with their stories. One girlfriend saw very clearly when we were both native American kids living in the southwest US. My own kid when he was about 12 told me that I was a nun in a past life and I was his teacher. he described the habit that I wore, and how I looked. He also remembered a number of his own past lives that had no obvious connection to me. I know many people who remember being victims in the holocaust. A great account of ppl who remember is in the book “return from the ashes”, Written by a rabbi - Nonfiction, of course. I chant the sacred word HU everyday, that is why I have many memories of the past, beyond the veil.
Dustin Hoffman's reaction to news about his family was extremely emotional. I don't understand why I can't buy the CD with his segment on it and why on TH-cam only a very few minutes of the episode are shown,
Claire Danes having her namesake grandmother writing her thesis on Shakespeare!?!?!!!
Thats spooky. Rare enough that a woman of her generation goes to university and completes her thesis but to be so into the arts and be a thespian too? Two generations later her grand daughter is an actress herself and secures one of the most sought after roles in all of cinema history.
And it Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet.
Im exactly the same age as Claire and every young person at the time had to see that movie. Those of us with girlfriends anyway.
That is just so coincidental.
Albeit kinda weird that she didnt know any of this??
Claire Danes was amazing as Juliet.
Why would Tracy make me cry when he said I feel free when I’m on stage and I knew it came from you come on man I’m a grown women I shouldn’t have cried and smiled 😊
I found out I'm related to Lena Horne! I'd love to explore that I have many famous relatives like Jerry Lee Lewis William the great I need to do a ancestors search
The actor Sterling K. Brown said it best. It is so frustrating to not know your lineage! Most people can indeed trace back their history to different countries. For most people with African ancestry, we don’t know where we come from. Even, if our parents were born like mine in Haïti, I don’t know if their families were born on the island or if they were shipped. And if they were shipped, from where? I don’t know. No guarantee this information was properly considered. It’s like an erasure of part of myself and my family's history. Isn’t that we want all, to relate, to belong and understand who we are as individuals?! Even my family name. I am not sure if it’s originally from one country or another. I could use sites such as Ancestry if I was sure that they wouldn't allow third parties to access their DNA database!
I’ve been meaning to lear more about my roots.
I am not crying....You are crying. We both are Lol.
"Lost their lives in the Warsaw Ghetto" they didn't lose their lives, they were murdered.
Dang, i'm crying
Oh man, I have a story to tell about a 3 times great grandfather! It was part of a cousin's thesis is Australia! She should definitely write a book!
Living in England, I have no idea who some of these people are, which I think adds to it.
That’s crazy about Pam Adlon. The man who turned out not to be her bio grandfather actually looks like her.
Our ancestors influence us even when we don't know them. I believe this. It can be based on many things. I can explain it totally. Maybe its genetic predisposition at least partly.
In our DNA?
I think about my Paternal Ancestors, who fled the Irish Republic to Britain. I have tears because of my discovery. Irish Ancestors that settled in Havering/ Dagenham(Essex)
my 4th or 5th cousin is Wallis Simpson...who brought down King Edward of England.....hussy...haha 😅
The late great radio host and civil rights advocate Joe Madison learned that his great grandfather was a white man who fought for the Confederacy. He also learned that the man he thought was his biological father was not in fact his bio-dad and that Joe was not an only child but had biological half brothers.
Slavery is something many colors have had to endure. I wish people would understand that and stop focusing on just one.
"There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his." ✌️🙏
Mandy Patinkin had a big reaction too.
I’ve seen them all , please can we have some new ones thank you.
My personal pick is Questlove… but it didnt make the list 😢
All the pain and heartache that has happened and there's no way of going back to make it right.
How is Christopher Meloni not on this list? That episode was gut wrenching.
Birth certificate shown for LL COOL J's mom is same very simple - no parent's name, birth weight etc listed really just empty. I have same certificate. Issued a year after I was born in 1947 and has a certificate # that corresponds to the number on our original birth certificates when ee were born. At that time, that blank looking certificate I have is always questioned. New York State issued those for adoptees when they eere adopted and name was changed. In 2019 New York State allowed adoptees access to their original birth certificate and both certificates have same number. Original certificate has names of birth parents, weight, time of birth etc. First time I had seen another adopted corrected certificate like mine. Thanks for showing that.
Tamera Mowry was the most profound..they should do a movie about her history..to have an ancestor who was the man to not only be on the Mayflower an did the first prayer on the first Thanksgiving and also have African ancestors who were slaves .. WOW
I saw that testimony! His Aunt said that her Choctaw slave masters were the worst.
I’m a direct decedent of Jose Bali a pastor from along time ago it’s cool 😎 2 know
Identity and origin means a lot.
One you missed that I remember was about a Armenian descended gentleman. Although I can't remember his name his story was among the most harrowing. His grandmother was a survivor of the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire and she was abused by a German soldier there to protect her.
Beautiful stories, but Claire Danes' story was hardly harrowing. A woman doing her Master degree around 1939 is a clear sign of privilege. Not to say her story wasn't moving, but I am sure there have been more "harrowing" reveals.
Malachi 4:6 "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." THIS IS WHAT IT'S ABOUT.
Oh, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Her family's hopes and dreams were someday over the rainbow
Africans emigrated to America also not all are decended from slaves
Were speaking if PRE civil rights! Before 1965! They couldn't come to America.
@@nikkin.9206 Yes they could. I have a whole ancestral line that was never enslaved because they came from Africa by other means than enslavement (came to colonial America in the 1700s). You also have Caribbeans who migrated in the 20th century…during Jim Crow. The same rules would have applied with them, as well.
I worked at my local junior college many years ago,we had to attend in -services yearly to be updated on new issues ,diversity etc. ,at one such in-service we had a woman speak to us about the importance of diversity as far as ethnicity went,she told us something that shocked me ,she saiid it was very difficult for people of color (I hope I’m not offending anyone by that title)to trace their ancestors,as wheh they were purchased as slaves ,they were given the last name of the “owner”,such a foreign concept to me ,that a person could “own “another person ,man’s inhumanity to man,so disgraceful.
Slavery still exsists.
I guess I will need to watch the episode to find out why Claire Danes didn’t know anything about her Grandmother? Maybe she passed away early? Maybe her Father didn’t talk about her?
You know what I would love to see, after the host has found the guess family I would love for them to find the family were they could have a talk about this interesting Discovery especially the African-Americans what the people families who bought and sold the person on the other side of the table family thoughts are
wow i want to do this
I enjoyed the one with Sunny (from the view ) who found out that her family owned slaves
HA! Bet that made her mad.
@@Lily_of_the_Forest how gross you'd find that "funny" when most decent ppl would find it horrifying or heartbreaking.
Issa Rae's ancestors also owned enslaved people. I think for her story, one side that owned was family and the other side wasn’t. Both sides granted freedom prior to the Civil War, though. At least Sunny faced her family's history head on…unlike Ben Affleck who tried to BRIBE Dr. Gates from hiding the fact his family lineage included both slave transporting & owning. 😬