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SALT LAKE CITY — Actor LeVar Burton was gifted his family's story Friday at the RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City.
The successful actor — known for his roles on Star Trek, Reading Rainbow, and Roots — was at the conference to talk about his life and career to a crowd of nearly 30,000 people that had traveled for the conference.
But caught off guard in the middle of this talk, RootsTech presented Burton with information he hadn't seen before— information of where his ancestors were born into slavery — information that his mother has always wanted to know.
“(My mother is) 85 and I know that I will be presenting her with information she’s never had,” Burton said.
“Being gifted my story (was) really powerful,” he added.
RootsTech is the "world’s largest family history gathering without question," according to it's organizers. It's sponsored by FamilySearch International, the genealogy service operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Department.
The RootsTech family conference began Wednesday and ends Saturday.
Contributing: Freeman Stevenson
