Wiz Khalifa\u2019s roots in Pittsburgh started in the South.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old rapper\u2014born Cameron Jibril Thomaz\u2014will appear on an upcoming episode of PBS\u2019 \u201cFinding Your Roots,<\/a>\u201d hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr.<\/a>, where he learns how his family first settled in Western Pennsylvania during the Great Migration, according to a preview clip teasing the episode<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the clip, Gates explains that when Khalifa\u2019s family\u2014particularly his grandfather, Willie Wimbush Jr.\u2014arrived in Pennsylvania from the South, they settled in Pittsburgh\u2019s Hill District, the city\u2019s historically Black neighborhood. Their story is part of the Great Migration, the mass movement of Black families from the South to other parts of the country from the early to mid-1900s as they fled the brutality of Jim Crow and sought greater opportunity. Many relocated to the Midwest and Northeast, including Khalifa\u2019s family.<\/p>\n As Gates walks him through the history, the \u201cBlack and Yellow\u201d rapper couldn\u2019t hide his pride.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really good to learn it,\u201d he said. \u201cJust to know\u2026 just to feel Papa Bush\u2019s ambition through his story. That\u2019s what I could feel.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Khalifa\u2019s episode, titled \u201cGreat Migrations,\u201d will also spotlight actress Sanaa Lathan<\/a>, whose deep dive includes a revelation about her great-great-grandfather and a moment of legal history that moves her to tears.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was like, y\u2019all ain\u2019t stopping me!\u201d she cheers.<\/p>\n Season 12 of \u201cFinding Your Roots\u201d\u2014which sees Gates guide celebrities and notable figures through their ancestry using genetic testing and historical records\u2014has already kicked off, with more high-profile guests still to come, including Lizzo, Rhiannon Giddens, Danielle Deadwyler, Spike Lee, Delroy Lindo, and more.<\/p>\n Wiz Khalifa\u2019s episode premieres Tuesday, Jan. 13, at 8 p.m. ET on PBS, PBS.org<\/a>, the PBS App, and the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t