Wiz Khalifa got hit with some heavy family history when PBS cameras rolled for Finding Your Roots.
The Pittsburgh rapper sat down with host Henry Louis Gates Jr. and learned that his fifth great-grandfather, Howard Williamson, lived as an enslaved person in Alabama back in 1870. Gates dropped the news during the January 13 episode, explaining how Williamson lived right next door to the white family that owned him.
“I think I’m programmed to feel a little bit p#####,” Wiz said about Thomas J. Williamson, the man who enslaved his ancestor. “But just him owning my family just sounds crazy. That sounds wild. I feel some type of way about that.”
Gates showed Wiz documents that really drove the point home. Thomas J. Williamson kept what historians call a “slave schedule” – basically a list of human beings treated like property. The records listed enslaved people by their skin color, gender and age instead of using their actual names.
“It’s crazy to see him as a nameless person on a grid,” the “Khaotic” artist said. “And to know how valuable that property is because it’s a life and it’s not actually property, it’s a person. No name, just a color and an age and what sex you are.”
The 38-year-old rapper called the whole experience a “reality check.”
But Howard Williamson’s story didn’t end with slavery. After gaining freedom, he worked as a tenant farmer and made some moves that impressed his famous descendant. Williamson registered to vote during Reconstruction, even though Black voters faced serious threats and violence after the Civil War.
That took real courage back then. The “Black and Yellow” hitmaker got emotional as he talked about feeling connected to ancestors he never knew existed.
“Even I feel all of them around me. I just don’t know who they are. So now I’m able to say their name. So that just makes it even better,” he explained.
Gates also revealed another piece of Wiz’s family puzzle during the episode. The rapper’s grandfather, Willie Wimbush Jr., made the journey from the South to Pittsburgh around 1955 as part of the Great Migration.
Millions of Black families moved north between 1910 and 1970, seeking better opportunities and escaping Jim Crow laws. Wimbush settled his family in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, the city’s historically Black neighborhood.
That decision shaped Wiz’s entire life path, since he grew up in the Steel City and built his career there.
“It’s really good to learn it,” Wiz said about discovering his grandfather’s migration story. “Just to know, just to feel Papa Bush’s ambition through his story. That’s what I could feel.”
The episode, titled “Great Migrations,” also featured actress Sanaa Lathan exploring her own family history.
Finding Your Roots has been running for 12 seasons, helping celebrities trace their ancestry using DNA testing and historical records. This season’s guest list includes heavy hitters like Lizzo, Spike Lee, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, and basketball star Chris Paul.
The show airs Tuesdays at 8 P.M. on PBS and streams on PBS.org and the PBS app.
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