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Most African Americans struggle to trace their ancestors beyond Emancipation; slavery erased names and family ties with brutal efficiency. But what about the descendants of the handful of free black people who evaded bondage during that terrible time? Musician John Legend and comedian Wanda Sykes discover the extraordinary stories of the free black ancestors they never knew about, while Professor Gates himself and his 98-year-old friend Margarett Cooper delve into the mysteries shrouding the free people of color in their family trees.
Episodes
1Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr. 2John Lewis and Cory Booker 3Barbara Walters and Geoffrey Canada 4Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon 5Rick Warren, Angela Buchdahl and Yasir Qadhi 6Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal 7Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice and Ruth Simmons 8Martha Stewart, Margaret Cho and Sanjay Gupta 9John Legend and Wanda Sykes 10Adrian Grenier, Michelle Rodriguez and Linda Chavez