Henry Louis Gates Jr. has inspired hundreds of celebrities and public figures throughout the years to explore their ancestry and make insightful revelations about their past.

However, Gates’ interest in ancestry didn’t start after he became a renowned scholar, professor, filmmaker, journalist and cultural critic. Instead, it began when he was a young child in West Virginia interviewing his parents about their family tree.

That interest grew throughout the years, eventually serving as the foundation for his hugely successful PBS show “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.,” where he explores the ancestry of influential people from diverse backgrounds.

Gates discussed the origins of his show, his own interest in genealogy and family history research, and other topics during during “Past Connections That Bind Us All: A Conversation with Henry Louis Gates Jr.,” a Q&A event by Arizona PBS and ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication on Saturday, April 30 at ASU Gammage. The event was graciously sponsored by Arizona Gammage, SRP and ASU Library.

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