Henry Louis Gates Digs Into Samuel L. Jackson's Genealogy On 'Finding Your Roots'

Watch That Was What It Was on PBS. See more from Finding Your Roots.

Every week, The Huffington Post Black Voices tells you what Henry Louis Gates has planned on his show "Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr." The renowned Harvard professor has helped a number of celebrities make fascinating discoveries into their family genealogy. This week, he's taking on the ancestry of actor Samuel L. Jackson, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Brown University President Ruth Simmons.

Although each of them have reached the peak of professional success, they each started life as a second class citizen in the Jim Crow South. During the episode, Gates uses DNA to investigate their family mysteries including what part of Africa they come from and who the white men are in their family trees.

Find out what the three discover Sunday night at 9 p.m. on PBS and read more about Jackson's story in the New York Times Magazine.