Overview
- A January 13 Finding Your Roots episode identified Howard Williamson as the rapper’s fifth great‑grandfather in Alabama in 1870.
- Host Henry Louis Gates Jr. tied Howard to Thomas J. Williamson using a federal “slave schedule” that listed a 14‑year‑old Black male without a name.
- After emancipation, Howard worked as a tenant farmer and registered to vote during Reconstruction despite risks to Black voters.
- Wiz Khalifa called the findings a reality check and said his forebears would be proud of his achievements and values.
- The program also traced his grandfather Willie Wimbush Jr.’s move to Pittsburgh around 1955 as part of the Great Migration.