Angelou to be featured in PBS series on family histories WINSTON-SALEMN.C. (AP) -- Poet Maya Angelou had already participated in a museum exhibit about the family trees of four famous black people. So it seemed unlikely that anything new would be unearthed when she was featured in the PBS documentary "African-American Lives 2" which traces the family histories of prominent black celebrities using genealogical research and DNA analysis. But host Henry Louis Gates Jr.a Harvard University professordescribed Angelou as "thunderstruck" by some of the revelations. For examplean ancestor that she thought was part German was actually part Irish but was raised in a German community. Another ancestor sued the man who had enslaved her for paternity years after she was freed. "And Maya did not know about this and was thunderstruckI thinkwhen we told her about it" Gates said. "So there are always new stories. There is always more research to do." Angelouwho lives in Winston-Salemsaid she has "much to learn. I also think it's important for each of uswhatever the backgroundto know the people who have been courageous before us so we can elicit from our history some encouragement to be courageous ourselves." "African-American Lives 2" is the follow-up to two previous programs that Gates hosted. The first was "African-American Lives" a 2006 documentary. He followed that in 2007 with "Oprah's Roots" which focused on superstar Oprah Winfrey and her family tree. The success of those programs led to "African-American Lives 2" a four-hour documentary that airs in two parts at 9 p.m. Wednesday and Feb. 13 on UNC-TV Angelou also was one of four celebrities whose family trees were researched for "Finding Our FamiliesFinding Ourselves" a multimedia exhibition at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Others featured in the PBS documentary include actors Don CheadleMorgan Freeman and Chris Rocktheologian Peter Gomesauthor Bliss Broyardradio host Tom Joynersinger Tina Turnerpublisher Linda Johnson Riceand athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Angelou compares the series with "Roots" the 1977 miniseries (in which she was a co-star) that led to renewed interest in genealogy. "It has that same sort of impact" she said. "I think a number of Americans will be tugged into an awakeness to say 'What about my ancestors?' "It behooves us to at least know who paved the way for us. We really need to know something about them so we can say thank you." Information from: Winston-Salem Journal http://www.journalnow.com   http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncduplin/duplin.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncgreene/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncjones/jones.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~nclenoir/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncnewhan/nh.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncpasqu2/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncpender/pender.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncperqu2/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncmil/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~mocivwar/mocwindex.html