The View star Sunny Hostin 'in shock' as Finding Your Roots reveals family owned slaves

Sunny Hostin is used to shaking the Hot Topics table on The View, but a recent revelation about her family history on PBS' Finding Your Roots series seemingly rocked the legal expert's understanding of her ancestry.

On Tuesday's episode of the Henry Louis Gates, Jr.-hosted series, an investigation into the 55-year-old's genealogy shocked Hostin as she discovered that she had a large amount of Spanish ancestry in her blood, and that her fourth great-grandfather was a merchant "who was likely involved in the slave trade” in 1800s Spain, and “owned at least one human being," Gates, Jr. said on the program.

"Wow, I’m a little bit in shock. I just always thought of myself as Puerto Rican, half Puerto Rican, I didn’t think my family was originally from Spain and slaveholders,” a stunned Hostin told Gates, Jr., before finding a positive in the fact that her spouse, Manny, also comes from a Spanish bloodline. “I think it’s actually pretty interesting that my husband and I have shared roots, so I do appreciate that, and I think it’s great for our children to know this information. I guess it’s a fact of life that this is how some people made their living, on the backs of others."

As Hostin processed the news later in the episode, she observed that her "mother’s family does look white," referencing the new information about their Spanish lineage. When Gates, Jr. jokingly asked Hostin what she had against having Spanish roots, she replied, "Just the colonization of other people. I’m surprised that they were enslavers, actually. That’s disappointing."

Hostin went on to say that her "mother certainly identifies as Puerto Rican and non-white," and that she "hates this for her" mom as a result.

"She’s going to see how deeply white she is," Gates, Jr. responded.

Elsewhere, Hostin became emotional on the episode when it was revealed that, on her father's side, which descended from Africa, her third great-grandfather, Dean Harris, was born into slavery in 1835 — and, sometime after his emancipation, registered to vote in 1867.

Hostin cried as she reflected on the impact of his decision, when it was further noted that he voted in nine elections through his later lifetime, even despite "intimidation and domestic terrorism" in his home region, Hostin said.

Finding Your Roots airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on PBS.

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