From AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES (2006) through the first season of FINDING YOUR ROOTS (2012), Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. has been helping people identify relatives hidden for generations. Professor Gates employs a team of genealogists and the world’s leading geneticists to uncover the origins of a diverse group of 30 guests. Each of the 10 episodes will feature three guests bound together by an intimate, sometimes hidden, link, as Gates treks through layers of ancestral history, uncovers secrets and surprises, and shares life-altering discoveries.

Ancient Roots
This episode traces the family histories of three Americans who descend from ancestors who were part of the wave of Greek immigrants in the early decades of the 20th century. But along the way, the stories of their Greek ancestors were lost. Tina Fey’s fifth great-grandfather survived a terrible massacre and became a hero in the Greek War of Independence. David Sedaris’ ancestors were also touched by the Greek War of Independence. Their home village was raided by the Ottoman military and David’s great-grand-aunt was taken captive – never to see her family again. George Stephanopoulos’ family was willing to sacrifice themselves in the struggle against the Nazi occupation of Greece during World War I.