On Thursday, April 24, 2025, 75 members of the Lehigh Valley community came together to for a screening of FINDING YOUR ROOTS' Season 11 episode, "Latin Roots," followed by seven Latino community members who shared their own remarkable stories. What followed was a thoughtful discussion on family, personal and shared history, cultural celebration of the Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Mexican roots that run deep through our area. The evening then peaked with delicious food from the PR Beneficial Society, shared and enjoyed together. 

Community Speakers:

Iris Cintron, Bethlehem Area School District (retired)
Doris Correll, Moravian University (retired)
Nancy Matos Gonzalez, Magisterial District Judge (retired)
Julio Guridy, Allentown Housing Authority
Christian Maldonado, Senior, Freedom High School
Roy Ortiz, Lynfield Community Center
Myrna Rivera, Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley Board of Directors
Moderator: Genesis Ortega, Allentown City Director of Communications

Finding Your Roots info:

Production Credit: FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., Season 11 is a production of McGee Media, Inkwell Media, and Kunhardt Films, in association with WETA Washington, D.C.. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the writer, host, and executive producer. Dyllan McGee and Peter Kunhardt are executive producers. Sabin Streeter is the senior producer. Natalia Warchol is the series producer. Deborah Clancy Porfido is the supervising producer. Kevin Burke is the producer. Robert L. Yacyshyn and Leslie Brown are line producers. Sam Hartley is the coordinating producer.  Sabin Streeter and Krista Whetstone are directors.

Funding Credit: Corporate support for Season 11 of FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. is provided by Gilead Sciences, Inc., Ancestry® and Johnson & Johnson. Major support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Support is also provided by Ford Foundation; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Candace King Weir; by the Inkwell Society together with many of its members; and by public television viewers.

Find resources for beginning your family genealogy research and conversations.

Click here to download the resource sheet.

The web series “Finding Your Roots: The Seedlings” follows 13 young people at a new genetics and genealogy camp as they use science to answer the question “Who am I?” Inspired by the popular PBS series “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” and shot on the campus of Penn State University, campers explore their own family history and DNA ancestry.

Click here to watch the web series.