LeVar Burton made the shocking discovering that he has white ancestors in his family tree on the latest episode of PBS’ Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates.
The 66-year-old Reading Rainbow host had questions about his family tree, since he largely grew up without a father and was raised by a single mother in Sacramento, after being born in West Germany.
Host Henry Louis Gates and his team of researchers discovered that the actor had a great-great grandfather named James Henry Dixon, a white man.
Dixon was married with kids of his own, but he had an extramarital affair with a Black woman who was a former slave, and they had a child, Mary, Burton’s great-grandmother.
Early on in Tuesday’s episode, Burton admitted that it was, ‘very difficult’ to get stories about her heritage from her mother, which lead to the discovery that he has a white great-great grandfather.
LeVar Burton made the shocking discovering that he has white ancestors in his family tree on the latest episode of PBS’ Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates
The 66-year-old Reading Rainbow host had questions about his family tree, since he largely grew up without a father and was raised by a single mother in Sacramento, after being born in West Germany
Host Henry Louis Gates and his team of researchers discovered that the actor had a great-great grandfather named James Henry Dixon, a white man
‘Impossible. She never wanted to share any of her history,’ Burton admitted, as Gates said in the episode that the mystery starts with his great-grandmother, Mary Sills.
It was revealed that Mary may not even have known her own father, since the man listed as Mary’s father – Louis Sills – was not actually her father, according to the DNA analysis they ran.
Burton’s DNA did have several matches to a man named James Henry Dixon, and as they dug through public records, they learned his mother’s heritage was so secretive because his great-grandmother Mary was half-white.
Burton is seen in the episode reading through Burton and his family, all listed as white, as Burton could only respond with, ‘Wow.’
Gates explained that Mary’s father was married and living with children, as Burton realized, ‘She was the other family on the side.’
When Gates asked if he was expecting that, if he had any idea he had a white relative, Burton exclaimed, ‘No! No I had no idea. So granny was half-white. Wow.’
Gates went back and examined Dixon’s life, revealing he grew up in North Carolina, and he signed up to fight for the North Carolina Confederate Junior Reserves as a teenager.
‘Oh my God. Oh my God. I did not see this coming,’ Burton said, as Gates added that the Junior Reserves were primarily used for guard duty, so they don’t think he actually saw any combat on the front lines.
‘Impossible. She never wanted to share any of her history,’ Burton admitted, as Gates said in the episode that the mystery starts with his great-grandmother, Mary Sills
It was revealed that Mary may not even have known her own father, since the man listed as Mary’s father – Louis Sills – was not actually her father, according to the DNA analysis they ran
Burton’s DNA did have several matches to a man named James Henry Dixon, and as they dug through public records, they learned his mother’s heritage was so secretive because his great-grandmother Mary was half-white
‘Oh my God. Oh my God. I did not see this coming,’ Burton said, as Gates added that the Junior Reserves were primarily used for guard duty, so they don’t think he actually saw any combat on the front lines
Still, as Gates explained, Dixon, as a child, fought to defend slavery, but as an adult, he had a child with a former slave, which Burton was trying to process.
‘I often wonder about white men of the period, and how they justified their relations with Black women, especially those in an unbalanced power dynamic,’ Burton said.
Burton wondered if Dixon was, ‘conflicted’ about defending slavery, at worst, and, ‘repentent at best, and then there’s the possibility that he didn’t think about it at all.’
Gates then showed Burton a photo of his great-great-grandfather, James Henry Dixon, with Burton saying, ‘I would have fought you five minutes ago if you told me I had a white great-great grandfather.’
‘What?! Kunta got white ancestry. What?! Come on now, Skip!’ Burton said, as Gates added Dixon had nine children and over 40 grandchildren before he died in 1906, meaning Burton has, ‘an extensive network of white cousins whose roots stretch back centuries.’
‘This is insanely surprising. There is some conflict roiling inside of me right now, but… oddly enough, I feel a pathway opening up,’ Burton said.
‘I believe that, as Americans, we need to have this conversation about who we are and how we got here,’ Burton admitted.
‘I see that we are so polarized politically, emotionally, and racially. We are not talking to each other. So, I’ve been looking for an entry point to talk to white America. Here it is,’ Burton admitted.
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