Henry Louis Gates uncovers the long-hidden roots of Broadway stars Nathan Lane and Leslie Odom, Jr., introducing them to relatives whose names and birthplaces they’ve never heard before. With only a handful of clues to guide him, Gates leads his guests back to unexpected places in Ireland, Barbados, and Africa, uncovering the stories of ancestors who laid the groundwork for their success.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. journeys with film director Ava DuVernay, actor S. Epatha Merkerson, and musician Questlove to the unexpected places where their ancestors were scattered by slavery, upending their notions of African American history—and their own family trees.

Discover how the ancestors of business mogul Richard Branson and architects Maya Lin and Frank Gehry took audacious risks to create opportunities, and how their luck, ingenuity and chutzpah was passed on to these three visionaries.

Host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. shares the family histories of director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, iconoclastic performance artist Marina Abramovic and painter Kehinde Wiley. These visionary artists find their identities challenged—and affirmed.

As is the case for an estimated 20,000 defectors who have built or are trying to build new lives in the South, Songgook is attempting to secure his entire family's freedom by arranging their defection. This phenomenon has been coined the "chain of escapes." His plan is a dangerous one; make a night time trek to the Tumen River, a border zone between China and North Korea and illegally smuggle his family out of China by boat into the international...

Summers in North Texas were hot and the winds only fanned the heated air as they blew across the gently flowing prairie. The jangle of the harnesses could be heard that summer day, as the horses pulling the wagon slowly made their way across the rolling land and through tall grasses. Small animals, rabbits and squirrels, scurried away from the unusual sounds made by the travelers, while startled field larks and quail flew away in a flurry of wings....