Henry Louis Gates Jr. Helps Barbara Walters Uncover Her Past On TV Show 'Finding Your Roots' (VIDEO)

Renowned Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. has helped a number of celebrities discover integral aspects of their family origins, now he's taking on tracking down the family history of media legend Barbara Walters.

In an episode on his PBS series "Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.," Gates uncovers the ancestry of both Walters and social activist and educator Geoffrey Canada. Prior to their appearance on the show, both Walters and Canada had been unable to access information about their families because of name changes in the past.

"Finding Your Roots" is the fourth installment of Gates' franchise, the first three drew a combined 25 million viewers, The Washington Post reports.

Walters and Canada are among a star-studded group of individuals looking to dig into their genealogy, including Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice and Corey Booker.

Find out what the two discover Sunday night at 9 p.m. on PBS.

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Comments

[LiveLoveLaughOutLoud]

11:06 AM on 04/09/2012

This clip doesn't show anything--she's doing all the talking! Maybe I missed something...

[erl92]

10:16 AM on 04/03/2012

I think Professor Gates does an excellent job with his show. It's obvious this is a passion of his and more Americans are becoming interested in their family history. He has some interesting celebrities on the shows. If he really wanted to go off into a more complicated subject he might try figuring out the ancestry of melungeons or lumbee's or some of the other groups that are mixed from the early days of this country. For most families that have had ancestors in this country for at least a couple of centuries and lived in the eastern U.S. probably have native in their mix and for the most part that admixture has been overlooked.

[huffpotag]

05:38 PM on 04/02/2012

Why does he only focus on celebrities? It severely dumbs down what could otherwise be a very interesting show.

[Aristarchy]

09:05 AM on 04/02/2012

Was glued to the program the whole time.
Anything the Proffessor does on DNA grabs my attention.

[briwll9]

08:55 PM on 04/01/2012

I wish Pres Obama would of called the Sanford PD stupid for misshandleing the Travon Martin case, the same way he called the PD stupid when they misshanled his friend Henry "Skip the Truth" Gates arest.

[huffpotag]

05:48 PM on 04/02/2012

The police actually wanted to charge Zimmerman. It was the DA who prevented it.

[Deborah H]

08:49 PM on 04/02/2012

REALLY, THEN YOU DON'T RECALL THE HELL HE WENT THRU, NO HE'S DOING THE RIGHT THING THE PUBLIC OUTCRY IS BRINGING THE TRUTH OUT!

[LandusX]

02:57 PM on 04/01/2012

Good job Professor Henry Louis Gates!

[hjo4]

12:17 PM on 04/01/2012

Why only celebrities I ask, why doesn't Professor Gates go into inner cities and test the genes of those residents who are more than likely to have American White ancestors due to Slavery .That would surely begin a national dialogue on race. It would bring home some hard realities that some Americans ignore and do not wish to hear. Celebrities can afford to "Find Their Roots", it's the everyday American who needs to Find Their Roots,here in America.

[LandusX]

02:54 PM on 04/01/2012

"White ancestors due to slavery"? so some inner city residents might have white ancestors due to this one reason? I personal disagree. To have another ones gene. Some kind of sex act has to take place, and if you were a slave I don't think it was willingly.

[hjo4]

03:17 PM on 04/01/2012

if you were a slave I don't think it was willingly.

Where did I suggest the raping of Slaves was consensual. Black African Slaves (my ancestors) were PROPERTY, they had no voice or choice in the anything that was inflicted upon them.

[mchcallow]

07:55 PM on 04/01/2012

I think that the whole point of the post was that slave owners often raped their slaves...

[ZenSufi]

02:56 PM on 04/01/2012

I don't think America is "post-racial" enough for that yet.

[hjo4]

04:16 PM on 04/01/2012

It certainly would help get us there , nothing helps more than a reality check.