How a Black fossil digger became a superstar in the very white world of paleontology

Lazarus Kgasi entered the orbit of paleontology on a whim. After high school, he needed to support his family. He worked a couple of odd jobs before he was hired as a fossil digger. It would forever change his life.

In South Africa, paleontology has been dominated by white people. Lazarus Kgasi is changing that dynamic — and coloring in the picture of the world our distant ancestors once inhabited.

(Image credit: Tommy Trenchard for NPR)