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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!

Binge this in 3d 15h•Peaking at 8.2/10

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. Professor Gates utilizes a team of genealogists to reconstruct

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Finding Your Roots Season 5 Episode 5 - Freedom Tales
    8.2/10(46 votes)

    #1 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Finding Your Roots Season 6 Episode 15 - Breaking Silences
    8.2/10(40 votes)

    #2 - Breaking Silences

    S6:E15

    Guests: Gayle King, Jordan Peele, Issa Rae. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the family secrets of journalist Gayle King, film director Jordan Peele, and comedian Issa Rae, introducing them to ancestors who raise profound questions about the shape and meaning of their family trees.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Finding Your Roots Season 7 Episode 7 - The New World
    8.2/10(44 votes)

    #3 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Finding Your Roots Season 8 Episode 1 - Hidden in the Genes
    8.2/10(45 votes)

    #4 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Finding Your Roots Season 11 Episode 10 - Finding My Roots
    8.2/10(38 votes)

    #5 - Finding My Roots

    S11:E10

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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Finding Your Roots Season 3 Episode 3 - In Search Of Freedom
    8.1/10(46 votes)

    #6 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Finding Your Roots

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  7. Finding Your Roots Season 3 Episode 4 - Tragedy + Time = Comedy
    8.1/10(41 votes)

    #7 - 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.

    Director:Hazel Gurland-Pooler
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Finding Your Roots Season 4 Episode 2 - Unfamiliar Kin
    8.1/10(57 votes)

    #8 - Unfamiliar Kin

    S4:E2

    Guests: Carly Simon, Christopher Walken, and more. In this episode, three guests each learn about a grandparent whose real identity and background had been a mystery to them. Along the way, two of them also discover that their close relatives were on the wrong side of history.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Finding Your Roots Season 4 Episode 8 - Relatives We Never Knew We Had
    8.1/10(46 votes)

    #9 - Relatives We Never Knew We Had

    S4:E8

    Guests: Gaby Hoffmann and Téa Leoni. Two guests whose lives have been shaped by family mysteries are introduced to biological ancestors they never knew they had thanks to genetic detective work.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Finding Your Roots Season 4 Episode 9 - Southern Roots
    8.1/10(44 votes)

    #10 - Southern Roots

    S4:E9

    Guests: Questlove, Dr. Phil and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. Three guests of disparate backgrounds dig into their Southern roots, where slavery and its aftermath shaped families both black and white.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Finding Your Roots Season 5 Episode 3 - Reporting on the Reporters
    8.1/10(46 votes)

    #11 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Finding Your Roots Season 5 Episode 9 - The Eye of the Beholder
    8.1/10(30 votes)

    #12 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Finding Your Roots Season 6 Episode 3 - Homecomings
    8.1/10(47 votes)

    #13 - Homecomings

    S6:E3

    Sterling K. Brown, Jon Batiste and Sasheer Zamata learn about the unexpected places their ancestors called home.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Finding Your Roots Season 7 Episode 5 - Write My Name in the Book of Life
    8.1/10(41 votes)

    #14 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Finding Your Roots Season 9 Episode 5 - Rising From the Ashes
    8.1/10(47 votes)

    #15 - Rising From the Ashes

    S9:E5

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces the roots of actors Brian Cox and Viola Davis, uncovering records from workhouses in Scotland and slave plantations in South Carolina that reveal individuals who battled to build a better life for their families.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Finding Your Roots Season 9 Episode 6 - Family: Lost and Found
    8.1/10(52 votes)

    #16 - Family: Lost and Found

    S9:E6

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uses DNA detective work to solve family mysteries for actor Joe Manganiello and football star Tony Gonzalez—uncovering close relatives whose names they’ve never heard and compelling each man to rethink his own identity.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Finding Your Roots Season 9 Episode 7 - Chosen
    8.1/10(55 votes)

    #17 - Chosen

    S9:E7

    Henry Louis Gates helps actors David Duchovny and Richard Kind trace their roots from Jewish communities in Eastern Europe to the United States—telling stories of triumph and tragedy that laid the groundwork for his guest’s success.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Finding Your Roots Season 9 Episode 10 - Out of the Past
    8.1/10(38 votes)

    #18 - Out of the Past

    S9:E10

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uncovers the lost roots of actors Billy Crudup and Tamera Mowry-Housley, traveling back generations to recount significant events in history—from the American Revolution to the journey of the Mayflower—in a deeply personal way.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Finding Your Roots Season 10 Episode 3 - Fathers and Sons
    8.1/10(56 votes)

    #19 - Fathers and Sons

    S10:E3

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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Finding Your Roots Season 10 Episode 5 - Hold the Laughter
    8.1/10(50 votes)

    #20 - Hold the Laughter

    S10:E5

    Actor Bob Odenkirk and comic Iliza Shlesinger explore their family histories and learn about relatives who took great risks to overcome hardships.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Finding Your Roots Season 10 Episode 7 - The Brick Wall Falls
    8.1/10(36 votes)

    #21 - The Brick Wall Falls

    S10:E7

    HenryLouis Gates, Jr. helps musician Dionne Warwick and actor Danielle Brooks break down barriers imposed by the slave system to learn the names of their ancestors who endured unimaginable ordeals but emerged to forge families that thrived.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Finding Your Roots Season 1 Episode 1 - Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr.
    8.0/10(61 votes)

    #22 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Finding Your Roots Season 1 Episode 2 - John Lewis and Cory Booker
    8.0/10(64 votes)

    #23 - 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..

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Finding Your Roots Season 1 Episode 3 - Barbara Walters and Geoffrey Canada
    8.0/10(49 votes)

    #24 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Finding Your Roots Season 1 Episode 4 - Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon
    8.0/10(59 votes)

    #25 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"Freedom Tales" is the best rated episode of "Finding Your Roots". It scored 8.2/10 based on 46 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 2/5/2019. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Breaking Silences".