National syndicated radio show host Tom Joyner is one step closer to clearing the name of two of his uncles who were executed for killing a Civil War veteran.

From the Associated Press:

Joyner learned the fate of farmers Thomas and Meeks Griffin during filming of the PBS documentary “African American Lives 2,” which first aired in February 2008 and was based on research by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The program traces the lineage of 12 people, including Joyner. The host of “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” said he was stunned to learn of his South Carolina roots and two great-uncles he didn’t know existed.

“The records will show they did not do what they were executed for, and maybe now they can rest in peace,” Joyner said from his Dallas studio.

He said a pardon would bring long-overdue justice, adding “I started trying to put myself in my great-uncles’ position and tried to imagine what they must’ve been going through.”

See a video of Joyner’s comments by clicking here.

 For the first time – thanks to a new free Internet site – African-Americans can explore their African roots the way Whites have long been able to chart their migration from Europe. It took four decades for the hundreds of scholars to create the site, Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database,” which allows those who are curious about their heritage to trace the routes that slave ships took after filling their hulls with tens of millions of kidnapped Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries and transporting them to the so-called New World. Get the details here.