Lizzo Family Ordeal Never Seen Before | Finding Your Roots

Watch more: https://to.pbs.org/4pH4zhG | #FindingYourRoots Lizzo discovers that her enslaved ancestors were granted freedom by the will of their deceased owner, with provision to send them to Liberia, by way of The American Colonization Society. In all the time Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has done research for Finding Your Roots, it's the very first instance of a guest on the show having a relation to this movement. Unfortunately, the story does not end with her ancestors obtaining that freedom. Melissa Viviane Jefferson, known professionally as Lizzo, is a four-time GRAMMY® Award-winning, Emmy Award-winning superstar singer, songwriter, rapper, and actress who has left an indelible and incomparable mark on popular culture. She has garnered numerous accolades, notched two Hot 100 #1 smashes, earned dozens of gold, platinum, and multi-platinum certifications, packed arenas worldwide, and shined in blockbuster films. This program is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station: https://www.pbs.org/donate Subscribe to the PBS channel for more clips: https://www.youtube.com/PBS/ Enjoy full episodes of your favorite PBS shows anytime, anywhere with the free PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2QbtzhR FOLLOW PBS: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PBS/ X: https://twitter.com/PBS/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PBS/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbs Threads: https://www.threads.net/@pbs FOLLOW HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/henrylouisgatesjr Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HenryLouisGatesJr/ X: https://twitter.com/HenryLouisGates Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/henrylouisgates/ #findingyourroots #ancestry #genealogy #familyhistory #lizzo Finding Your Roots For more than a decade, renowned Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has helped to expand America’s sense of itself, stimulating a national conversation about identity with humor, wisdom, and compassion. Professor Gates has explored the ancestry of dozens of influential people from diverse backgrounds, taking millions of viewers deep into the past to reveal the connections that bind us all.