Most of my life, people have known me as Ellen Morris. However, just like my childhood idol, Wonder Woman, I had another identity. My grandfather's original name was Efstratios Maleskos. Like so many others, he came to this country as a teenager without knowing anyone just to make a better life for himself.
Finding Your Roots examines the histories and family genealogies of a number of well-known personalities. But everyone has a story. Whether it's anecdotes about ancestors from generations past, or stories of recent relatives, each of us has a rich, unique genealogical heritage to share. Tell us your family story.
People with similar geographic ancestry share these small differences in their mtDNA or their y-DNA and they are grouped together in what are called haplogroups— specific clans or branches of the human family tree. Continue reading ...
Each family story is unique, and each of these stories contributes to our greater understanding of humanity. Finding these stories and sharing them with my guests is the most rewarding aspect of making these documentary series. This is particularly true … Continue reading ...
Last summer, in August 2010, I gave a presentation on genealogy and genetics to the board of directors of the Aspen Institute at our annual board meeting. After showing a clip from our previous PBS series, Faces of America, I … Continue reading ...
The basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from is at the core of the new 10-part PBS series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the 12th series from Professor Gates, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Filmed on location across the United States, the series premieres nationally Sundays, March 25 – May 20 at 8 pm ET on PBS (check local listings).
Kevin Bacon 
Kyra Sedgwick
Angela Buchdahl
Rick Warren
Yasir Qadhi
Samuel L. Jackson
Condoleezza Rice
Ruth Simmons
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Robert Downey, Jr.
Sanjay Gupta
Margaret Cho
Martha Stewart
John Legend
Wanda Sykes
Michelle Rodriguez
Adrian Grenier
Linda Chavez
Branford Marsalis
Harry Connick, Jr.
John Lewis
Cory A. Booker
Barbara Walters
Geoffrey Canada
Finding Your Roots examines the histories and family genealogies of a number of well-known personalities. But everyone has a story. Whether it's anecdotes about ancestors from generations past, or stories of recent relatives, each of us has a rich, unique genealogical heritage to share. Tell us your family story.
