Henry Louis Gates Jr.

World Records often involve peril and great feats of courage, and in a way A.J. Jacobs’ plan to stage a Global Family Reunion in New York City this June is...

Using anonymous aggregated data 23andMe look sat the mix of African, European and Native American ancestry in the United States to gather an illuminating genetic portrait of the U.S. that both confirms some of what we know about America’s social history but also other things that are surprising and new.

With participation by 23andMe and the three other major companies involved in DNA testing for ancestry, as well as talks from some of the most respected names in the field,...

It’s an irony that as the world’s population has grown exponentially in the last 500 years – from about half a billion to now seven billion – we are actually closer and more connected. Previous theories of connectivity focused on social connections, the so-called six degrees of separation. But DNA now shows that people are linked through a much shorter chain.

As a PBS cameraman recorded the scene, 23andMe scientist Mike Macpherson drew lines connecting photographs of about two dozen celebrities to one another while  Henry Louis Gates Jr. riffed on...

Finding Your Roots Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a 10-part series in which the Harvard scholar will delve into the genealogy and genetics of famous Americans....

Every family has its stories. We just don’t know them all. That’s where genealogy comes in. Through census and military records, notes in family bibles, or conversations with older relatives...

Faces of America is a four-part series in which Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uses genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans in an...

Faces of America is a four-part series in which Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uses genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans in an...

Because their ancestors often were slaves during the 18th and 19th centuries, and therefore usually lacked birth or death certificates, it is very difficult for African American genealogists to trace...