Taking a walk through the refined home of Beaufort natives Jody and Anita Henson is like being transported through time. Although the house, which overlooks the Beaufort River, has a modern feel, classic-looking paintings of family ancestors, books on the rich history of Beaufort County and Civil War-era photographs and relics -- including an antique sword -- adorn the stately living room.

Angelou to be featured in PBS series on family histories

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 professor, described Angelou as "thunderstruck" by some of the revelations.

For example, an 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 thunderstruck, I think, when we told her about it," Gates said.

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