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Arts & Culture

Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr: Harry Connick Jr. And Branford Marsalis (Series Premiere)

Singer/actor Harry Connick Jr.
Courtesy of Palma Kolansky
Singer/actor Harry Connick Jr.

Airs Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 8 p.m. on KPBS TV

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Online databases make it easier than ever to trace your own family history, and DNA testing allows for the type of deep research conducted for FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. These resources can help you get started.

The basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from is at the core of the new 10-part PBS series FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., the 12th series from Professor Gates, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.

Filmed on location across the United States, the series premieres nationally Sundays, March 25 through May 20, 2012 at 8 p.m.

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The series features Kevin Bacon, Cory Booker, Angela Buchdal, Geoffrey Canada, Margaret Cho, Harry Connick Jr., Robert Downey Jr., Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Samuel L. Jackson, John Legend, John Lewis, Branford Marsalis, Yasir Qadhi, Condoleezza Rice, Michelle Rodriguez, Kyra Sedgwick, Wanda Sykes, Ruth Simmons, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters and Rick Warren.

"Harry Connick Jr. And Branford Marsalis" - Their European immigrant ancestors blazed unconventional trails in America, from capturing British ships for the American Revolution to crossing racial barriers in slave-era Louisiana. Generations later, as children growing up in New Orleans, Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis found a deep and abiding friendship through their common love of jazz and of the city itself.

In this hour, trace the turbulent and contradictory history of the city of New Orleans through the family stories of these two fascinating men.

The second episode featuring Cory Booker And John Lewis will air at 9 p.m. on March 25, following the premiere episode. The third episode airs on Sunday, April 1 at 8 p.m., featuring Barbara Walters and Geoffrey Canada.

FINDING YOUR ROOTS is on Facebook.

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Watch Extended Preview on PBS. See more from Finding Your Roots.

The basic drive to discover who we are is at the core of the new PBS series FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.
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Watch Musical Royalty on PBS. See more from Finding Your Roots.

In this episode from the series FINDING YOUR ROOTS, Branford Marsalis discusses his relative, a pioneering jazz bassist who played with jazz greats like Duke Ellington.
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Watch The Rattlesnake on PBS. See more from Finding Your Roots.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. tells Harry Connick, Jr. about his fifth great grandfather, an infamous privateer.