Clint Black’s Surprising Heritage

In one of our biggest surprises, Clint Black discovers his diverse roots from his fourth or fifth grandfather.

#FindingYourRoots airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on PBS. In the February 23rd episode, Henry Louis Gates Jr. explores Rosanne Cash and Clint Black’s family secrets.

[Aumacsnigrand]

This is so cool! I too am 2% Subsaharan and West African. A cousin from Wales contacted me and sent the paper trail. My 5th great grandmother was born in West Africa in 1740. She was brought to Jamaica originally as a slave to work the sugar cane fields. She had a child by my 5th great grandfather who then freed her. If we only looked back at our ancestry to realize we are only one race.

[lovejones]

I had a blonde blue eyed co worker had had a full black great grandparent she mentioned she only tells people who ask her because she doesn’t appear black but has come to be proud of it

[Lilyrose]

I didn’t know 1% from a race means that at some point you had an ancestor who was fully from that race, and not from that far. People make fun of white people who claim their 1% of a culture but after learning this I think that it matters. It doesn’t mean that you should walk around acting like you understand what it means to be that race but you can certainly celebrate your ancestors by learning more about their culture and being tolerant.

[Micloren]

For the most part it’s a halving process for each generation (20-30 years). So 50% = parents, 25% grandparents, 12.5% great grandparents, 6.25% two greats, 3.13% three greats, 1.6% four greats, <1% five greats.

That equates to roughly 140 - 210 years before your birth. In Clint’s case that’s roughly anywhere from 1752 to 1822.

[soulreavergirl]

Wonderful! American ancestry is truly diverse.

[TravelHall]

No wonder I loved him as a kid and Waylon

[sandraberube]

Like a wow wow ooo wow cowboy! Great speech hey! 👏👏👏🎶🎵👏👏👏♥️💜👍

[Sublime_]

I grew up listening to him bc my grandmother was a huge fan. Really great music.

[bluebutterflywellness]

FR...He's dying 1000 deaths inside. 🤯
"Is that a lot??" 😳 🤣🤣🤣

[danadeniseogle-gbot]

I'm south African on my dad's side

[zanthus]

I've always said that if you can trace your family history in the US to at least your 3rd great-grandparents, there is a strong chance that you are not 100% of who you think you are.

[nathanieltovar]

One percent is alot genetically and scientifically. We are all African descendants, but that shows significant heritage.

[Gratefulman]

We are all a (Dukes mixture) as the old saying goes. And I will emphatically state that I personally have zero tolerance of ethnic prejudice. We all walk this rock and we all should walk hand in hand while live on this land. 🌏

[sr]

I wish we could find out who his Black Ancestor is.

[MM-ogqz]

Are we all just gonna ignore how that probably happened? :/ work out the timeline that his black ancestor was alive...

[lightyagami]

I might be related through his father's family. My 3x great grandmother is a Black.

[labratamber]

I wish besides celebrities Dr. Gates would do a random person.

[leeolsson]

We all originated from Africa. Once upon a time.

[dakaraijohnson]

So what this finding really means is that one of his ancestors was black and also one of them decided to pass 4 white and did it successfully. So successfully that nobody knew or they did not pass on that history purposefully.

[jaypaladin-havesmartswilll]

One blacks know and especially Southern blacks, is when a "white person" has some "black" in their ancestry. I always felt that Clint Black had some black ancestry. I also feel that deep down he felt he had a black ancestor, too.