Henry Louis Gates Jr. Is in 'Shock' Over Finding Your Roots' Emmy Nod: 'I Thought I Was Hallucinating' (Exclusive)

When Henry Louis Gates, Jr. woke up this morning, he was in for a surprise.

His docuseries Finding Your Roots was nominated for its first-ever Emmy Award on July 17 for outstanding hosted nonfiction series or special.

“I was waking up, dealing with jet lag. I looked at my text, and I thought I was hallucinating,” Gates tells PEOPLE, calling from Las Vegas, where he’s set to receive the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP at its annual convention.

While the popular PBS docuseries’ nomination is a huge surprise for its host, he understands why it’s now being recognized: the show speaks to a "need that our country has right now," he says.

“We have a twin message every week, a subliminal message: the first is that, despite all of our apparent differences — differences in race, gender, sexual preferences, color, ethnicity, point of origin — at the genome, we’re 99.9% the same,” the Harvard professor and historian explains.

“The second is that the greatness of our country was produced by the fact that we are a nation of immigrants, willing and unwilling,” he continues. “It includes everybody in that message. … And that’s why people respond to our series with such enthusiasm.”

Over the course of 10 seasons, Finding Your Roots has welcomed guests and uncovered their family trees, often with surprising results.

Edward Norton learned that he and Julia Roberts are genetic cousins, Kerry Washington discovered she was conceived through a sperm donor, and Viola Davis found out that she’s related to Anita Hill. During its most recent season, Lena Dunham was bowled over by the realization she had a familial connection to Larry David — “This is the hottest information I could have ever gotten," she said during the episode — and Gates revealed to Bob Odenkirk that he has ties to King Charles and Nathan Lane.

The show has evolved over the years, drawing a wide range of celebrities. Some revelations have been welcome surprises, like when Andy Samberg learned the identity of his grandmother in season 5, which had been previously unknown to his mother, who was adopted as an infant.

When LL Cool J learned on the show in 2016 that his mother was adopted, it “blew” the rapper’s mind. “LL had a whole new family, and it humbles me to be able to connect people to their ancestors, to their genealogical and genetic roots,” Gates recalls.

Regardless of how things shake out for Finding Your Roots come Sept. 15, when the 76^th Emmy Awards air, Gates is excited to explore new territory on the show in future seasons, making it even more inclusive of different cultures than it already is.

He would like to do more stories about people who were adopted or whose parents were adopted; Gates would also like to expand coverage of people of Asian and Latin X descent, as well as people from Arabic-speaking countries.

“Finding Your Roots is for everybody,” he emphasizes. “It underscores the diversity of the American people—and that’s what I’m proud of.”

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The 76th Emmy Awards will air live on Sunday, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC. See the full list of nominees on the official Emmy's website.