Ford Motor Company is collaborating with PBS to bring the second season of “Finding Your Roots with scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. this fall learn more about the heritage and ancestries of 30 of today’s leading entertainers, athletes, chefs and media personalities, including hip hop legend Nas and actor Courtney B. Vance.
During the duration of the 10-part series, the man also known as Skip Gates, a longtime Harvard professor, continues his quest to “get into the DNA of American culture.” By weaving a group of celebrity stories together, each episode takes viewers on a journey through layers of ancestral history, uncovering familial secrets.”
Ford, who have been involved in a plethora of philanthropic endeavors in the community, which include partnerships with multiple iconic urban events such as the annual Essence Music Festival, the Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage, the Steve Harvey Neighborhood Awards and many others, is happy to join on this critically-acclaimed series.
“We are so excited to help play a role in bringing the second season of this program to life,” said Shawn Thompson, Ford manager, multicultural marketing. “The role that Professor Gates is undertaking to show how all Americans are connected is something that we as a company can stand by and are pleased to support.”
Each hour-long episode will highlight three celebrity guests bound together by an intimate, sometimes hidden link. With the help of a team of genealogists, Gates travels thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of today’s game changers.
In addition, each episode will also feature a thirty-second spot that looks back at the history of Henry Ford and his visionary, family-owned company. For Gates, one of Ford’s lasting contributions was his willingness to pay a fair wage to black workers in his factories, which led Southern sharecroppers to Detroit as part of the early 20th century’s Great Migration.
The series kicks off on Tuesday, September 24 at 8:00PM EST as Gates discovers the secrets of Stephen King, Nasir “Nas” Jones, Gloria Reuben and Courtney B. Vance
To find out when your favorite celebrity will be a guest on the show, visit https://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/.
Be sure to share your favorite celebrity stories, along with your own roots on Twitter using the hashtags #MyFordRoots and #FindingYourRoots.
