Book jacket design for Tomas Cizek's The Ruse
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. returns for its 12th season on PBS. Over the course of ten new episodes, Gates and his team use genealogical detective work and cutting-edge DNA analysis to trace the family trees of twenty compelling guests, telling stories that illuminate America’s fundamental diversity.
As the pages turn in each guest’s book of life, emotional revelations give way to complex questions about identity. Through Gates’ discerning touch, his guests learn what every family history shares—love, courage, and sacrifice—and how our histories transcend borders, merging to form a national root system fortified by difference as well as commonality. Along the way, viewers are transported from coastal Africa to rural Texas; from Muslim communities in northern India tot he ancestral lands of the Cherokee Nation; from villages in the Philippines to George Washington’s camp at Valley Forge—all in search of the stories that will bring our guests’ ancestors to life.
Guests include actors Kate Burton, Lizzy Caplan, Kristin Chenoweth, Liza Colón-Zayas, Darren Criss, Danielle Deadwyler, America Ferrera, Sanaa Lathan, and Delroy Lindo; comedian Hasan Minhaj; basketball stars Brittney Griner and Chris Paul; musicians Flea, Rhiannon Giddens, Lizzo, and WizK halifa; playwright Tracy Letts; talk show host Sara Haines; media mogul Barry Diller; and filmmaker Spike Lee.