Finding Your Roots

Rising From the Ashes

Season 9 Episode 5 | 52m 11s | WETA Passport

Henry Louis Gates traces the roots of actors Brian Cox and Viola Davis—two people who overcame traumatic childhoods, revealing that they aren’t the first in their families to face enormous odds. From workhouses in Scotland to slave plantations in South Carolina, long-lost records reveal the stories of ancestors who laid the groundwork for Brian and Viola’s success by fighting so hard to survive.

Aired: 01/31/23 | Expires: 01/30/27 | Rating: TV-PG

FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., Season Eight is a production of McGee Media, Inkwell Media, Kunhardt Films and WETA Washington, D.C. Corporate support for FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., Season Eight is provided by Ancestry and Johnson & Johnson. Support is also provided by Ford Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and by The Inkwell Society and its members Candace King Weir; Lloyd Carney Foundation; Jim and Susan Swartz; Sheryl Sandberg and Tom Bernthal; Anne Wojcicki; Hayward and Kathy Draper; and Nicole Commissiong and Darnell Armstrong. Major support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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Extras From This Episode

• Brian Cox's Grandfather Was Exposed to Poison Gas in WWI

  Clip: S9 Ep5 | 4m 25s

• The Hidden Truth in Viola Davis' Family Tree

  Clip: S9 Ep5 | 10m 16s

• Rising From the Ashes Preview

  Preview: S9 Ep5 | 32s

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