Faces of America

Overview

Faces of America is a four-part Public Broadcasting Service Public television television series hosted by Professor Henry Louis Gates. The series originally aired February 10 – March 3, 2010 from 8–9 p.m. ET. In Australia, this program aired on SBS One each Sunday at 7:30pm from 9 -30 January 2011. It uses genealogical research and genetics to find the family history of 12 Americans: Elizabeth Alexander, Mario Batali, Stephen Colbert, Louise Erdrich, Malcolm Gladwell, Eva Longoria, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Nichols, Queen Noor of Jordan, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Meryl Streep, and Kristi Yamaguchi. In the series finale, Gates explored the emerging use of full genome sequencing to understand personal ancestry and health, by learning what might be inferred from his whole genome sequence, and that of his father, through in-depth analysis by a personal genomics company and the Broad Institute. In 2012, PBS aired another miniseries entitled Finding Your Roots also examining questions of genealogy and genetics, and hosted by Gates.