Henry Louis Gates Jr.: The 'Blessing' of Knowing Your Roots.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor and the host of the TV show Finding Your Roots, has helped uncover the family trees of numerous celebrity guests over the course of 10 seasons. The show has revealed surprising connections between guests, such as Edward Norton and Julia Roberts being genetic cousins, Kerry Washington being conceived through a sperm donor, and Viola Davis being related to Anita Hill. Gates's own interest in tracing his roots began at a young age, and he eventually created the show to explore the ancestry of Black Americans. The popularity of Finding Your Roots has led to requests from viewers to have their own genealogies explored, and Gates plans to reveal the identity of his own White great-great-grandfather at a family reunion. [Extracted from the article]