GATES: I'M HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.

WELCOME TO "FINDING YOUR ROOTS".

IN THIS EPISODE, WE'LL EXPLORE THE FAMILY TREES OF HIP-HOP LEGEND QUEEN LATIFAH AND AWARD-WINNING ACTOR JEFFREY WRIGHT.

EACH WILL TAKE A JOURNEY THAT FEW AFRICAN AMERICANS CAN EVER TAKE.

A JOURNEY PAST THE BOUNDARIES ERECTED BY SLAVERY.

TO MEET ANCESTORS WHOSE LIVES WERE NOT AT ALL WHAT THEY'D IMAGINED.

WRIGHT: THERE ARE SHADOWS OVER A LOT OF THE HISTORY, UM, AND MY FAMILY AND UH, CERTAINLY THIS IS ONE OF THEM.

GATES: YEAH.

WRIGHT: THIS IS A, UM, A NEW GHOST TO ME.

GATES: SO YOU HAVE A RECENT WHITE ANCESTOR.

LATIFAH: I DO.

GATES: AND YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT.

LATIFAH: I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WE WERE TO BE HONEST WITH YOU.

GATES: MMM.

LATIFAH: I KNEW WE WERE AWFUL LIGHT.

SO I WAS LIKE, THERE'S SOMETHING UP IN THERE.

GATES: TO UNCOVER THEIR ROOTS, WE'VE USED EVERY TOOL AVAILABLE.

GENEALOGISTS HELPED STITCH TOGETHER THE PAST FROM THE PAPER TRAIL THEIR ANCESTORS LEFT BEHIND... LATIFAH: THIS IS MIND BLOWING.

GATES: WHILE DNA EXPERTS UTILIZED THE LATEST ADVANCES IN GENETIC ANALYSIS TO REVEAL SECRETS HUNDREDS OF YEARS OLD.

WRIGHT: THAT'S AMAZING.

THAT'S REALLY AMAZING.

GATES: AND WE'VE COMPILED IT ALL INTO A BOOK OF LIFE.

LATIFAH: I'M STARTING TO GET SCARED TO TURN THESE PAGES.

GATES: A RECORD OF ALL OF OUR DISCOVERIES.

GATES: YOU DIDN'T HEAR ABOUT ANY OF THIS GROWING UP?

WRIGHT: NO.

NO.

WOW.

GATES: YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE MOMENT THAT YOUR FAMILY BECAME FREE.

LATIFAH: NO WAY.

NO WAY.

OH, MY GOD.

I'M TINGLING RIGHT NOW.

GATES: LATIFAH AND JEFFREY ARE ABOUT TO DISCOVER THAT THEIR FAMILY TREES ARE FILLED WITH UNEXPECTED STORIES.

STORIES THAT WILL ALTER THEIR NOTIONS OF SLAVERY AND FREEDOM AND REDEFINE THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THE BLACK EXPERIENCE.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYS).

♪ ♪ ♪ LATIFAH: HERE WE GO.

U-N-I-TY.

YOU GOTTA LET 'EM KNOW.

♪ ♪ U-N-I-TY THAT'S THE UNITY.

C'MON, HERE WE GO.

♪ ♪ U-N-I-TY.

YOU GOTTA LET 'EM KNOW.

♪♪ GATES: QUEEN LATIFAH IS A FORCE OF NATURE... AN ENORMOUSLY TALENTED AND EXUBERANT ARTIST WHO SEEMS TO EXCEL AT EVERYTHING SHE DOES.

SHE'S A SINGER.

A SONGWRITER... AN ACTOR AND A PRODUCER.

SHE'S WON INTERNATIONAL FAME IN A CAREER THAT'S SPANNED MORE THAN THREE DECADES.

BUT, OF COURSE, SHE WASN'T ALWAYS "QUEEN LATIFAH".

SHE WAS BORN "DANA OWENS" IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

THE DAUGHTER OF A POLICE OFFICER AND A SCHOOLTEACHER.

AND FOR ALL SHE'S ACCOMPLISHED, SHE REMAINS VERY MUCH A PRODUCT OF HER CHILDHOOD HOME... LATIFAH: THERE WAS ALWAYS SOME SORT OF KIND OF CREATIVE THING HAPPENING AROUND THE HOUSE.

GATES: MHMM.

LATIFAH: MY FATHER LOVED TO SING, YOU KNOW, AND I ALWAYS REMEMBER MY FATHER SINGING 'DADDY'S HOME' WHEN HE'D COME HOME.

HE'D BE LIKE, ♪ "DADDY'S HOME."

♪♪ GATES: I LOVE THAT SONG.

♪ LATIFAH: OH, OH, OH.

♪♪ YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

SO IT WAS ALWAYS SOME, YOU KNOW, MUSIC PLAYING ALL KINDS OF MUSIC.

♪ GATES: HE'S NOT 1,000 MILES AWAY.

♪♪ LATIFAH: YOU SEE WHAT I'M SAYING?

YOU KNOW, HE STILL SINGS THAT TO ME TO THIS DAY.

GATES: LATIFAH'S PARENTS MAY HAVE CREATED A LOVING HOUSEHOLD, BUT SADLY, THEIR MARRIAGE COLLAPSED WHEN LATIFAH WAS NINE... LEAVING HER MOTHER TO RAISE THE CHILDREN ON HER OWN.

AN ARRANGEMENT THAT LATIFAH AND HER BROTHER INITIALLY STRUGGLED TO ACCEPT.

LATIFAH: IT WAS SO FUNNY BECAUSE ONE TIME MY MOTHER HAD A DATE, YOU KNOW, SHE WAS IN THE LIVING ROOM.

THEY WERE JUST SITTING ON THE COUCH BUT THERE WAS A HOLE IN THE WALL AND WE JUST, I DON'T EVEN THINK SHE KNEW THAT HOLE WAS THERE BUT WE JUST KEPT MAKING MORE OF A HOLE.

YOU KNOW, JUST GOING THROUGH WHATEVER SHEETROCK AND CONCRETE WAS THERE UNTIL WE COULD LIKE SEE INTO THE LIVING ROOM, AND WE SPIED ON THEM AS THEY HAD THEIR DATE.

AND IT WAS JUST, AS AN ADULT, WHAT A VERY NICE DATE IT WAS.

YOU KNOW, THEY JUST SAT ON THE COUCH AND TALKED AND CONVERSED AND THEN EVENTUALLY... (GASPS) THEY KISSED.

GATES: OH, MY GOD.

LATIFAH: WE WERE IN THERE LIKE... (GASPING AND YELLING).

MY BROTHER AND I ARE LIKE BAWLING LIKE THAT'S NOT DADDY.

AND YOU KNOW, HE LEAVES.

IT WAS A GOODNIGHT KISS AND THEN SHE COMES IN AND SEES US AND WE'RE LIKE (GASPING).

SHE'S LIKE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

YOU KISSED THAT GUY.

YOU KNOW, WE CAN'T EVEN TALK.

(LAUGHS).

AND SHE'S LIKE HOW DID YOU KNOW?

SHE SAW THAT HOLE AND SHE WAS LIKE YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DOING THAT AND THEN SHE OF COURSE LOVED US UP AND JUST EXPLAINED THINGS AND JUST KIND OF HELPED SOOTHE US AND CALM US DOWN, YOU KNOW BUT.

GATES: OH, WHAT A SPECIAL PERSON.

LATIFAH: IT WAS A REALITY THAT WE HAD TO, WE HAD TO DEAL WITH.

YOU KNOW, WE HAD TO FACE.

I MEAN MY POPS SURE ENOUGH WAS ALREADY ON HIS WAY.

GATES: LATIFAH WOULD SOON BE ON HER OWN WAY AS WELL.

BY THE TIME SHE WAS FIFTEEN, SHE AND HER FRIENDS WERE TAKING LATE-NIGHT JOURNEYS FROM NEWARK INTO NEARBY MANHATTAN, WHERE LATIFAH WOULD DISCOVER HER PASSION... GATES: I READ THAT YOU USED TO SNEAK OUT OF YOUR MOM'S APARTMENT TO LISTEN TO RAP IN TIMES SQUARE.

LATIFAH: LIES.

LIES.

I'LL NEVER ADMIT TO IT.

UM, BUT YEAH, I DEFINITELY SNUCK OUT OF THE HOUSE.

AND UM THIS WAS THE NEW YORK WHERE YOU DIDN'T NEED ID.

THIS IS NOT TODAY'S DISNEYLAND NEW YORK.

THIS WAS THE REAL NEW YORK.

TIMES SQUARE IS THE PLACE TO BE.

THE LIGHTS ARE THERE, SEEDY CLUBS, YOU COULD GET MUGGED.

YOU KNOW, THERE'S HOOKERS ALL OVER THE PLACE BUT THIS IS WHERE YOU WANT TO BE BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE LIFE IS HAPPENING AND COOL THINGS AND EVERYTHING NEW AND FRESH IS AROUND THERE.

SO THIS CLUB WAS RIGHT, YOU KNOW, A BLOCK OR TWO UP FROM TIMES SQUARE AND WE WOULD GO THERE.

AND THIS WAS LIKE THE PLACE WHERE HIP-HOP LIVED SO I GOT TO SEE SALT-N-PEPPA, THE BEASTIE BOYS, RUN DMC, EVERYBODY WHO WAS ANYBODY IN HIP-HOP AT THAT TIME WAS PERFORMING THERE SO, AND I'M 15 AND I'M LIKE THIS IS AMAZING.

I WANT TO DO THIS.

I THINK I WANT TO DO THIS.

♪ SOME OF MY FRIENDS ARE IN RELATIONSHIPS, ♪ ♪ SOME OF THEM GOOD ONES, SOME OF THEM BAD ONES.

♪ ♪ SOME OF THE BAD TOOK A TURN FOR THE BETTER, ♪ ♪ SOME OF THE GOOD ONE'S ENDED UP SAD ONES.

♪♪ GATES: WITHIN A FEW YEARS, LATIFAH'S OWN MUSIC WOULD BE BLASTING IN TIMES SQUARE.

AND IRONICALLY, HER MOTHER WOULD HELP GET IT THERE.

INDEED, LATIFAH'S MOTHER BECAME THE GUIDING FORCE IN HER CAREER.

INTRODUCING HER TO PEOPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD WHO WOULD BECOME HER PRODUCERS AND ABOVE ALL, ENCOURAGING HER TO BELIEVE IN HERSELF...

THE RESULTS WERE ASTOUNDING.

LATIFAH RELEASED HER FIRST ALBUM WHEN SHE WAS JUST NINETEEN.

ESTABLISHING HERSELF AS A TOP-SELLING RAP ARTIST WITH A MESSAGE OF FEMALE EMPOWERMENT THAT WAS GROUNDBREAKING... LATIFAH: THIS IS THE RAP GAME.

YOU HAD TO COME WITH IT.

YOU COULDN'T COME SOFT.

YOU COULDN'T COME LIKE, YOU KNOW, AND THINK SOMEBODY IS GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU.

LIKE, YOU HAD TO LIKE, MAKE A STATEMENT.

GATES: THROW DOWN.

LATIFAH: AND I GREW, YOU KNOW, I'M, I'M WITH A WHOLE CREW OF GUYS, YOU KNOW, SO I HAD TO MAKE IT THROUGH THEM BEFORE I COULD MAKE IT TO THE PUBLIC.

YOU KNOW?

GATES: NEW YORK MAGAZINE CALLED YOU "RAP'S FIRST FEMINIST."

QUOTE UNQUOTE.

WHY WERE YOU RAP'S FIRST FEMINIST?

LATIFAH: I HAVE NO IDEA.

I HAD NO IDEA AT THE TIME THAT I WAS EVEN A FEMINIST... GATES: MM-HUM.

LATIFAH: TO BE HONEST WITH YOU, I EQUATED FEMINISM WITH UH, MARCHES, A LOT OF WHITE WOMEN WITH KIND OF SHORT HAIRCUTS YELLING.

I WAS AS BRAINWASHED AS PEOPLE WERE ABOUT THE BLACK EXPERIENCE.

GATES: MM-HUM.

LATIFAH: AND SO WHEN THEY CALLED ME A FEMINIST I WAS LIKE WHAT DOES THAT MEAN EXACTLY?

GATES: MM-HUM.

LATIFAH: I LATER STARTED TO UNDERSTAND BECAUSE I WAS.

I WAS EXACTLY THAT.

YOU KNOW, I WAS SOMEONE WHO FELT THAT, YOU KNOW, WOMEN SHOULD BE TREATED EQUALLY, THAT WE SHOULD BE RESPECTED.

I WAS TAUGHT ALL OF THESE THINGS GROWING UP... MY MOTHER RAISED ME NOT TO EVER HAVE TO DEPEND ON A MAN FOR ANYTHING YOU KNOW, AND THAT WAS WHEN MY PARENTS WERE TOGETHER.

GATES: RIGHT.

LATIFAH: SO SHE WASN'T HAVING IT.

SHE TAUGHT ME HOW TO BE A WOMAN, HOW TO BE A LADY, HOW TO BE A QUEEN.

GATES: MY SECOND GUEST IS RENOWNED ACTOR JEFFREY WRIGHT.

JEFFREY BROKE OUT IN 1993 IN THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF "ANGELS IN AMERICA"... AND HE'S BEEN ASCENDING EVER SINCE... WINNING DOZENS OF AWARDS IN A CAREER THAT HAS TAKEN HIM FROM BROADWAY TO HOLLYWOOD.

CELEBRATED FOR HIS DEEP INTELLIGENCE AND HIS VERSATILITY, JEFFREY HAS GIVEN UNFORGETTABLE PERFORMANCES IN A DIZZYING ARRAY OF ROLES... FROM A DIABOLICALLY CUNNING GANGSTER IN JAZZ AGE HARLEM, TO A TROUBLED PAINTER IN THE EAST VILLAGE OF THE 1980S... TO AN ICY SOFTWARE ENGINEER IN A NIGHTMARE FUTURE.

HE'S FIT HIMSELF INTO ALMOST EVERY WORLD IMAGINABLE.

BUT JEFFREY'S JOURNEY BEGAN IN A PLACE IN WHICH HE INITIALLY DIDN'T FIT IN AT ALL.

SAINT ALBANS, AN ELITE PRIVATE SCHOOL IN WASHINGTON, DC... WHERE HE EARNED A SCHOLARSHIP AND FOUND HIMSELF VERY AWARE THAT HE WAS DIFFERENT... GATES: I HEARD YOU HAD A NICKNAME AS A CHILD.

WRIGHT: I HAD, I DID?

GATES: SOME OF THE BLACK KIDS, ONCE YOU GOT INTO PRIVATE SCHOOL AND BECAUSE YOU HAD LIGHTER SKIN.

WRIGHT: YEAH.

GATES: SOME OF THE KIDS CALLED... WRIGHT: OH, IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD?

GATES: YES.

WRIGHT: OH.

GATES: YEAH.

IS THAT TRUE?

WRIGHT: THAT IS TRUE.

THOSE WERE FIGHTING WORDS.

GATES: CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT THEY CALLED YOU?

WRIGHT: I, I RELUCTANTLY MIGHT, BUT THOSE WERE, THOSE WERE WORDS THAT I, UH, HAD TO FIGHT ABOUT ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD BECAUSE I GREW UP ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN FROM THIS PLACE.

THIS WAS IN NORTHWEST DC IN, YOU KNOW, IN THE MOST, UH, IN THE TONIEST OF SECTIONS OF DC.

IN A TOWN THAT WAS 80% BLACK THIS WAS THE, UH, WHITEST SECTION OF TOWN.

I GREW UP IN SOUTHEAST DC WHICH WAS THE CHOCOLATEST SECTION OF TOWN, VERY MIXED IN TERMS OF CLASS, OUR STREET WAS, WAS PRETTY MUCH MIDDLE CLASS, YOU KNOW, GOVERNMENT ALIGNED FOLKS FOR THE MOST PART, BUT AROUND THE CORNER, UH, WAS A DIFFERENT STORY, AND UH, I USED TO GO AROUND, AROUND THE CORNER TO PLAY BASKETBALL AND FOOTBALL, AND YES, THIS NICKNAME WOULD COME UP, AND UH, AND YEAH, I WOULD HAVE TO FIGHT.

GATES: WHITE BOY JEFF.

WRIGHT: YEAH.

YOU SAID IT.

GATES: YEAH.

WRIGHT: LET'S, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO STEP OUTSIDE.

GATES: DON'T HIT ME!

(LAUGHS).

GATES: JEFFREY MAY HAVE STRUGGLED TO MOVE BETWEEN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD AND HIS SCHOOL, BUT HE EXCELLED AT SAINT ALBANS.

HE WENT ONTO AMHERST COLLEGE, WHERE HE MAJORED IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SEEMED TO BE FOLLOWING THE PATH LAID OUT FOR HIM BY HIS MOTHER, A GOVERNMENT LAWYER, WHO RAISED HIM ON HER OWN.

BUT IN COLLEGE, JEFFREY BROKE FROM THAT PATH... GATES: LATE IN YOUR JUNIOR YEAR YOU JOINED A THEATER GROUP.

WHERE IN THE WORLD DID THAT COME FROM?

WRIGHT: UH, YEAH.

SOME SEED PLANTED IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD, UM, MANY YEARS BEFORE WITH MY MOM IN D.C.

GOING TO THE THEATER.

GATES: HMM.

WRIGHT: YEAH, BUT I HAD NEVER ACTED ON IT, UM, BECAUSE IT, I THINK THERE WAS A SENSE THAT IT WAS SOMEHOW ILLEGITIMATE IN SOME WAYS.

GATES: MM-HMM.

MM-HMM.

WRIGHT: AND ALSO I THINK I WAS UM, SOMEWHAT, UM, FEARFUL OF IT FOR SOME REASON, AND YEAH, IT WAS IN JUNIOR YEAR OF COLLEGE THAT, UM, THE SWITCH FLIPPED.

GATES: YOU THINK ANY PART OF YOUR MOTHER WISHES YOU'D BECOME A LAWYER?

WRIGHT: YES, STILL TO THIS DAY.

YES.

GATES: THOUGHT SO.

WRIGHT: YES.

THAT'S THE NATURE OF, YES, MY MOTHER.

GATES: JEFFREY'S MOTHER EVENTUALLY RECOVERED FROM HER DISAPPOINTMENT.

SHE REALLY DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE.

JEFFREY TOLD ME THAT IT TOOK HIM A SINGLE CLASS ON CHEKOV TO REALIZE THAT ACTING WAS HIS TRUE CALLING.

BUT DECIDING TO PURSUE HIS DREAMS WAS ONE THING, CONVINCING THE WORLD THAT HE COULD DO IT WAS QUITE ANOTHER.

HE STILL RECALLS ONE PROFESSOR, AN OLDER WHITE ACTOR, WHO SIMPLY COULDN'T IMAGINE JEFFREY JOINING HIS PROFESSION... WRIGHT: HE HAD BEEN AN ACTOR IN THE THEATER.

I THINK HE HAD UNDERSTUDIED BURL IVES IN "CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF."

GATES: WOW.

WRIGHT: AND SO I THINK HE WAS, HE DIDN'T QUITE UNDERSTAND, UH.

GATES: WHO OR WHAT YOU WERE?

WRIGHT: AT ALL.

(LAUGHS).

UM... GATES: WELL, JEFFREY, WE'RE GOING TO DO OTHELLO LATER IN THIS SEMESTER.

WRIGHT: YEAH HE, I REMEMBER HE HAD A CONVERSATION WITH ME AND I SAID, YOU KNOW, I THINK I WANT TO BE, I WANT TO PURSUE THIS, AND HE GOES, WELL, YOU KNOW, I THINK YOU, YOU KNOW, YOU'D PROBABLY MAKE A, A, YOU KNOW, A FINE COMEDIAN ONE DAY, LIKE A, YOU KNOW, AN EDDIE MURPHY OR SOMETHING LIKE THIS.

BUT AS FAR AS A SERIOUS ACTOR, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.

GATES: OH, NO.

I MEAN, HERE YOU ARE FEELING AT HOME IN CHEKOV.

WRIGHT: YEAH.

GATES: RIGHT?

AND HE LOOKS AT YOU AND SEES EDDIE MURPHY.

WRIGHT: YEAH.

GATES: THAT'S AMAZING.

WRIGHT: YEAH.

WELL, THAT'S AMERICA AND OTHER PLACES AS WELL.

GATES: BUT IT DIDN'T STOP YOU?

WRIGHT: NO.

NO.

NOT AT ALL.

GATES: MEETING MY GUESTS, IT WAS CLEAR THAT WHILE BOTH HAD BEEN FUNDAMENTALLY SHAPED BY THEIR AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE, JEFFREY AND LATIFAH ALSO SHARED SOMETHING THAT WASN'T SO OBVIOUS... EACH DESCENDED FROM ANCESTORS WHOSE STORIES DEFIED COMMON STEREOTYPES ABOUT THE BLACK EXPERIENCE.

STORIES THAT HAD BEEN LOST OR FORGOTTEN.

IT WAS TIME TO BRING THEM BACK.

I STARTED WITH LATIFAH AND HER PATERNAL GRANDFATHER, AMOS OWENS, JR., WHO RAN A HARDWARE STORE NEAR HER HOMETOWN OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY AND WAS A CENTRAL FIGURE IN HER CHILDHOOD, A SOURCE OF PRIDE, INSPIRATION, AND ENTERTAINMENT.

GATES: WHAT IS YOUR STRONGEST MEMORY OF YOUR GRANDFATHER?

LATIFAH: HIS VOICE.

HE'D BE LIKE, "HEY, MAN, WELL ...

DAMN.

WHAT YOU DOIN' OVER THERE?

WELL, WHY YOU WANT TO PUT THAT?"

HE WAS SO COMMON SENSE.

HE WAS FUNNY.

BECAUSE HE WOULD TELL YOU WHEN YOU WAS DOING SOMETHING WRONG.

"COME ON, BOY.

THAT DON'T MAKE DAMN SENSE."

YOU KNOW, I REMEMBER THAT AND I KNOW HE WAS A HELLAFIED GAMBLER.

HE WAS ALWAYS IN THE GAMBLING SPOT.

YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN AND, TO THE POINT WHERE, YOU KNOW, HIS SONS WERE LIKE, POP, YOU CAN'T GO THERE ANYMORE.

YOU KNOW, YOU'RE IN YOUR 80S.

YOU CAN'T JUST BE UP IN HERE.

YOU KNOW?

GATES: HE'S LIKE WHY NOT?

LATIFAH: THERE'S SOME THUGS AND HOODS IN HERE, BUT HE WASN'T, HE WASN'T HAVING IT.

UM, AND I REALLY JUST REMEMBER HIM, I REMEMBER HIM JUST BEING, YOU KNOW, RUNNING THAT BUSINESS AND I LEARNED A LOT FROM HIM...

I LEARNED THAT WE COULD TAKE CARE OF HOUSES, WE COULD FIX THINGS, WE COULD DO THINGS.

AND I LEARNED THAT WE COULD TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES.

GATES: AS IT TURNS OUT, LATIFAH'S GRANDFATHER WASN'T THE FIRST INDEPENDENT SPIRIT IN HER FATHER'S FAMILY TREE.

OUR RESEARCH WOULD UNCOVER MANY MORE.

IN THE 1920 CENSUS FOR NEWARK, WE FOUND HIS GRANDPARENTS, LATIFAH'S GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS, HENRY AND EDNA COATES AND IMMEDIATELY NOTICED SOMETHING QUITE UNUSUAL ABOUT THEM.

WOULD YOU PLEASE READ THE HIGHLIGHTED LINES?

LATIFAH: "B, W, MU."

GATES: DO YOU KNOW WHAT THOSE LETTERS STAND FOR?

LATIFAH: I DON'T.

GATES: WELL?

LATIFAH: "BLACK, WHITE, MULATTO?"

GATES: YES.

YES.

VERY GOOD.

YOU GET AN A. LATIFAH: WOW.

GATES: THIS CENSUS RECORDS YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER HENRY AS BLACK, HIS WIFE EDNA AS WHITE, AND THEIR CHILDREN, INCLUDING YOUR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER IRENE, AS "MULATTO."

LATIFAH: WOW.

GATES: DOES THAT SURPRISE YOU?

LATIFAH: THAT IS PRETTY SURPRISING.

GATES: MM-HUM.

LATIFAH: THAT'S PRETTY PROGRESSIVE.

GATES: HENRY AND EDNA WEREN'T JUST "PROGRESSIVE", THEY WERE FAR AHEAD OF THEIR TIME...

WHEN THEY WED, SOMETIME AROUND 1906, INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE WAS ILLEGAL THROUGHOUT MOST OF AMERICA AND IT WOULD REMAIN ILLEGAL IN MANY STATES UNTIL THE LATE 1960S, WHEN ANTI-MISCEGENATION LAWS WERE FINALLY BANNED BY THE SUPREME COURT.

PERHAPS IT WASN'T BY COINCIDENCE THAT NEW JERSEY, WHERE THE COUPLE SETTLED, IS ONE OF THE FEW STATES NEVER TO HAVE HAD SUCH A LAW ON ITS BOOKS.

LATIFAH: WOW.

I CAN ONLY IMAGINE.

GATES: DID YOU EVER HEAR ABOUT THEM?

ABOUT EDNA AND HENRY.

LATIFAH: NO, NOT REALLY.

GATES: HMM.

LATIFAH: I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WE WERE, TO BE HONEST WITH YOU.

I JUST DIDN'T KNOW.

I KNEW WE WERE AWFUL LIGHT.

SO, I WAS LIKE THERE'S SOMETHING UP IN THERE.

UM, I JUST DIDN'T KNOW.

I NEVER REALLY KNEW WHAT.

YOU KNOW.

WOW.

HENRY COATES.

GATES: HENRY COATES AND EDNA.

SO YOU HAVE A RECENT WHITE ANCESTOR.

LATIFAH: I DO.

GATES: YEAH.

LATIFAH: I KNOW THEY WENT THROUGH A LOT.

THERE'S NO WAY THEY DIDN'T.

GATES: NO WAY.

1906.

LATIFAH: I MEAN JUST BECAUSE THE LAW WASN'T THERE DOESN'T MEAN THE PEOPLE DIDN'T HAVE THAT ATTITUDE, YOU KNOW, THAT PEOPLE WEREN'T RACIST AND UM JUDGMENTAL AND YOU KNOW, YOU THINK YOU'RE GOOD.

YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER.

YOU KNOW, PEOPLE HAVE, PEOPLE CAN BE VERY CRUEL.

GATES: OH YEAH.

LATIFAH: I'M VERY PROUD OF THEM FOR JUST LOVING EACH OTHER AND GOING FOR IT REGARDLESS.

GATES: WE WANTED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS COUPLE.

UNFORTUNATELY, OUR RESEARCHERS HIT A SERIES OF DEAD ENDS.

EDNA'S SURNAME, HALLION, IS TYPICALLY SCOTTISH OR IRISH, BUT WE COULDN'T TRACE HER BACK ANY FURTHER THAN NEW YORK IN THE EARLY 1880S.

WE DISCOVERED THAT HENRY CAME FROM VIRGINIA, WHERE HIS ANCESTORS WERE LIKELY ENSLAVED.

BUT BECAUSE ENSLAVED PEOPLE WEREN'T LISTED BY NAME IN CENSUS RECORDS.

HENRY'S ROOTS VANISH FROM THE PAPER TRAIL BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR, AS DO THE ROOTS OF ALMOST ALL AFRICAN AMERICANS.

THIS POSES AN IMMENSE CHALLENGE TO GENEALOGISTS AND IS A BYPRODUCT OF THE VERY DESIGN OF THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY.

WHICH SOUGHT TO SYSTEMATICALLY OBLITERATE THE HUMANITY OF BLACK PEOPLE, BY STRIPPING THEM OF THEIR NAMES AND THEIR FAMILY TIES.

A FACT THAT CAN BE PAINFUL TO CONTEMPLATE.

LATIFAH: I MEAN THE DEVIOUSNESS OF THIS WHOLE SLAVERY THING IS JUST, JUST HEINOUS.

YOU KNOW, HOW, HOW SAVAGE.

HOW...

IT'S HEINOUS.

GATES: NOW, YOU KNOW YOU'RE A HARDHEADED, TOUGH PERSONALITY.

HOW WOULD YOU HAVE REACTED TO LIVING UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES?

LATIFAH: I CAN'T SAY.

I CAN'T SAY FOR SURE.

HOW COULD I POSSIBLY SAY?

YOU KNOW?

JUST THE STRESS LEVEL OF THAT.

GATES: YEAH.

LATIFAH: I MEAN, YOU KNOW, IN MY MIND I THINK I WOULD HAVE HAD A GUN AND I WOULD HAVE POPPED SOMEBODY, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, BUT THAT'S ME.

GATES: AND YOU WOULD HAVE GONE TO JAIL.

LATIFAH: THAT'S A MODERN ME.

I WOULD HAVE HAD; THEY WOULDN'T HAVE NEVER FOUND HIM.

WE'D HAVE HAD TO GET CREATIVE THERE, YOU KNOW?

BUT YOU THINK OF ALL THAT NOW AND IT'S A BUNCH OF B.S.

BECAUSE WE DIDN'T LIVE AT THAT TIME.

THEY LIVED UNDER A WHOLE DIFFERENT LIFE.

GATES: FOR A MOMENT, I FEARED THAT SLAVERY HAD THWARTED OUR RESEARCH.

THAT WE COULD NOT TAKE LATIFAH'S FATHER'S ROOTS BACK ANY FURTHER.

BUT WHILE FOLLOWING HER DIRECT PATERNAL LINE, WE NOTICED SOMETHING IN THE 1860 CENSUS FOR VIRGINIA, THE LAST CENSUS TAKEN DURING THE SLAVE ERA... LATIFAH: "FRANK OWENS, AGE: 40, SEX: MALE... LOVEY OWENS, AGE: 30 FEMALE... GATES: NOW, YOU JUST MET YOUR THIRD GREAT-GRANDPARENTS.

YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GREAT- GRANDPARENTS.

AND LATIFAH, IN 1860, THEY WERE LISTED BY NAME IN THE CENSUS.

SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

LATIFAH: THAT MEANS THEY WEREN'T SLAVES.

GATES: THAT MEANS YOU DESCEND FROM FREE NEGROES.

YOU DESCEND FROM FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR.

LATIFAH: WOW...

THANK YOU, LORD.

I DON'T KNOW.

I FEEL, I FEEL THIS PHYSICALLY HERE.

I FEEL IT HERE.

GATES: MM-HUM.

GATES: LATIFAH'S THIRD GREAT-GRANDPARENTS, FRANK AND LOVEY OWENS, LIVED IN PRINCESS ANNE COUNTY, VIRGINIA.

AND THEY WERE THE BEGINNING OF A MUCH LARGER STORY.

RECORDS FROM THE COUNTY REVEALED THAT FRANK'S MOTHER, LUCY OWENS, WAS ALSO FREE... LUCY IS LATIFAH'S FOURTH GREAT-GRANDMOTHER!

AND IN THE LIBRARY OF VIRGINIA, WE FOUND A LIST OF FREE BLACK PEOPLE FROM THE YEAR 1836, WHICH CONTAINED A STRIKING DETAIL ABOUT HER MOTHER.

GATES: COULD YOU PLEASE TURN THE PAGE?

LATIFAH: I'M STARTING TO GET SCARED TO TURN THESE PAGES.

THIS IS RIVETING.

GATES: THERE IS A NAME IN THE LINE ABOVE LUCY'S.

WOULD YOU PLEASE READ THAT FOR ME?

LATIFAH: JUGGY OWENS?

GATES: MMM-HMM.

LATIFAH: OWENS, I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S JUGGY OR... GATES: JUGGY.

LATIFAH: JUGGY.

"OWENS JUGGY, AGE: 70, OCCUPATION: MIDWIFE."

GATES: JUGGY IS AN ARCHAIC FORM DIMINUTIVE OF JOANNA.

IT WAS A NICKNAME FOR JOANNA.

WE BELIEVE THAT YOU JUST MET YOUR FIFTH GREAT-GRANDMOTHER.

LATIFAH: GET, COME ON, MAN.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

GATES: AND SHE WAS A MIDWIFE.

SHE DELIVERED BABIES.

LATIFAH: WOW.

SHE SURE DID.

OH, THIS IS SO DEEP.

GATES: AND YOU HAD NO IDEA?

LATIFAH: I HAD NO CLUE.

I HAD NO CLUE.

I MEAN I DON'T KNOW IF ANYONE IN MY FAMILY IS AWARE OF THIS.

GATES: MMM-HMM.

LATIFAH: WHEN I TELL MY FAMILY MEMBERS THIS, THIS IS GOING TO BE LIKE MIND-BLOWING, SERIOUSLY.

GATES: THIS RECORD TELLS US THAT AT LEAST THREE GENERATIONS OF LATIFAH'S FAMILY WERE FREE IN THE MID-1830S AT A TIME WHEN THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE ENSLAVED.

IT'S DIFFICULT, TODAY, FOR US EVEN TO BEGIN TO COMPREHEND THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS FACT.

THOUGH THEY HARDLY ENJOYED EQUAL RIGHTS, FREE BLACK PEOPLE COULD MARRY, EARN A LIVING FROM SKILLED TRADES, AND OWN PROPERTY.

THESE ADVANTAGES OFTEN FOLLOWED THEM AND THEIR DESCENDANTS LONG AFTER SLAVERY ENDED.

FREEDOM ALSO MEANT THAT THEY LEFT A PAPER TRAIL BEHIND, A HISTORY THAT CAN BE RECONSTRUCTED.

THUS, WE COULD SHOW LATIFAH MULTIPLE DOCUMENTS REGARDING HER ANCESTOR JUGGY AND REMARKABLY CONCLUDE THAT JUGGY HAD BEEN BORN AROUND 1766.

GATES: THAT'S BEFORE THE UNITED STATES IS THE UNITED STATES.

LATIFAH: YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TOLD ME THAT BECAUSE NOW I'M ABOUT TO TALK SOME MAJOR ISH OUT THERE.

I'VE BEEN HERE SINCE BEFORE THE UNITED STATES WAS THE; YOU JUST GAVE ME SOME SMACK TALKING PAPERS.

I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT.

GATES: THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD IS 1775 AND YOUR FIFTH GREAT-GRANDMOTHER WAS BORN IN 1766, ACCORDING TO THAT DOCUMENT.

LATIFAH: WOW.

GATES: DOES THIS MAKE YOU FEEL MORE AMERICAN?

LATIFAH: IT'S SO FUNNY BECAUSE I'VE, I HAD THIS CONVERSATION.

I AND THIS CLIMATE WE ARE IN... PEOPLE ARE LIKE MAN, I'M MOVING TO CANADA.

I'M GOING HERE AND I'M LIKE I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE.

THIS IS MY COUNTRY.

MY FAMILY HELPED BUILD THIS NATION.

I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE.

WE ARE GOING TO STAY HERE AND WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT AND DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO TO MAKE IT RIGHT.

GATES: OF COURSE.

LATIFAH: BUT NOW THAT HAS A WHOLE DIFFERENT MEANING TO ME.

I ALREADY BELIEVED IT BUT NOW I SEE IT REALLY IS MY COUNTRY.

GATES: THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND.

BOTH: THIS LAND IS MY LAND.

LATIFAH: YOU KNOW, MY FAMILY HAS BEEN HERE FOR ALMOST 300 YEARS.

GATES: MUCH LIKE LATIFAH, JEFFREY WRIGHT WAS ABOUT TO LEARN THAT HIS AMERICAN ROOTS RAN FAR DEEPER THAN HE KNEW.

THE STORY BEGAN ON THE CHESAPEAKE BAY, IN YORK COUNTY, VIRGINIA WHERE JEFFREY SPENT SUMMERS WITH HIS MOTHER'S PARENTS, WILLIAM AND MARY WHITING, WHO WERE VERY SIGNIFICANT FIGURES IN HIS CHILDHOOD... WRIGHT: THEY WERE PILLARS.

MY GRANDMOTHER IS THE MOST, UM, LOVING MEMORY I KNOW... GATES: HMM.

WRIGHT: AND MY GRANDFATHER WAS A, HE WAS ALMOST MYTHIC IN LIFE.

HE WAS, FOR ME, AS TALL AS THE CEILING.

AND HE, HE JUST HAD A STRENGTH TO HIM, UM, THAT RESONATED THROUGHOUT THE FAMILY AND THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY THAT HE, THAT HE LIVED WITHIN.

GATES: WILLIAM WOULD PROVE TO BE THE FULCRUM OF OUR STORY AND A TRULY COMPELLING CHARACTER...

HE LOST HIS FATHER AS A TEENAGER AND ACCORDING TO JEFFREY, NEVER WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL.

RATHER HE SUPPORTED HIS FAMILY BY WORKING AN ARRAY OF JOBS, AMONG THEM, HARVESTING OYSTERS ON THE CHESAPEAKE BAY...

EVEN TODAY, JEFFREY STANDS IN AWE OF HIS GRANDFATHER'S WORK ETHIC.

WRIGHT: HE WAS UP AT 4:30 IN THE MORNING.

WHEN I WAS A KID EVEN YOU KNOW STILL, HE WAS STILL WORKING WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG.

HE WAS UP AND OUT OF THE DOOR AND HE HAD, HE HAD, YOU KNOW, TONGED HIS OYSTERS OR PULLED THE CRAB POTS AND HAD SOLD, YOU KNOW, THAT BY THE TIME, YOU KNOW, I WOKE UP.

(LAUGHTER).

HE WAS BACK HOME AND THEN HE WAS OFF IN THE FIELDS, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE HE FARMED AS WELL.

GATES: WELL, YOU SAID THAT YOUR GRANDFATHER WORKED HIS ASS OFF, THAT'S A DIRECT QUOTE, FOR 88 YEARS.

WRIGHT: YES.

GATES: BUT THAT YOU NEVER GOT THE SENSE FROM THE MAINSTREAM PERSPECTIVE THAT HIS WAS THE ALL-AMERICAN STORY.

WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT?

WRIGHT: WELL, YOU KNOW, GROWING UP THE PERCEPTION THAT WE HAVE AND THE MESSAGING THAT WE RECEIVE IN, YOU KNOW, IN, IN, IN AMERICAN CULTURE IS NOT OF THIS MAN AS THE ALL-AMERICAN.

GATES: RIGHT.

YEAH.

WRIGHT: UM, BUT HE CERTAINLY WAS THAT.

UM... GATES: WELL, IF YOU READ BLACK HISTORY BOOKS.

WRIGHT: YEAH.

GATES: YOUR GRANDFATHER IS NOT IN THERE.

WRIGHT: YEAH.

GATES: I MEAN, PEOPLE DON'T THINK OF THE BLACK EXPERIENCE AS ENTAILING AN OYSTERMAN.

WRIGHT: RIGHT.

GATES: YOU KNOW?

WRIGHT: RIGHT.

RIGHT, BUT THEY WERE, THEY WERE, THEY WERE THERE.

GATES: OF COURSE.

WE WERE EVERY, WHEREVER THERE WAS A THERE WE WERE THERE.

WRIGHT: OF COURSE.

OF COURSE.

GATES: JEFFREY RECALLS THAT HIS GRANDFATHER WAS A PROMINENT, BELOVED MEMBER OF HIS COMMUNITY AND THAT HE SOLD HIS PRODUCE AND HIS OYSTERS TO MANY OF HIS NEIGHBORS.

AS WE DUG MORE DEEPLY INTO WILLIAM'S STORY, WE DISCOVERED THAT HE SOLD SOMETHING ELSE AS WELL.

SOMETHING THAT BROUGHT HIM INTO CONFLICT WITH THE LAW... GATES: THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED ON AUGUST 21, 1959.

WOULD YOU PLEASE READ THE TRANSCRIBED SECTION?

WRIGHT: THIS IS WHAT YEAR?

I'M SORRY.

GATES: '59.

WRIGHT: '59 WILLIAM HENRY WHITING SENIOR, OF CAREY CHAPEL ROAD, WAS CHARGED WITH POSSESSION OF UNTAXED WHISKY FOLLOWING A RAID ON HIS HOME.

SPECIAL YORK COUNTY POLICE OFFICER HENRY D. RILEY SAID A SEARCH OF THE VICINITY UNCOVERED FIVE CASES OF MOONSHINE WHISKY HIDDEN BENEATH A PILE OF FRESHLY CUT BUSHES.

'WE FOUND A PATH BEHIND THE HOUSE NEAR A HOG PEN AND FOLLOWED IT FOR A FEW PACES,' HE SAID, "I FOUND 26 GALLONS," THAT'S A LOT, OF UNTAXED WHISKY.

RILEY SAID WHITING WAS THEN PLACED UNDER ARREST."

UM, THAT, UH, SOUNDS LIKE IT WAS MY GRANDFATHER.

GATES: DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS STORY?

WRIGHT: I DID NOT.

I DID NOT.

GATES: YOUR GRANDFATHER WAS A MOONSHINER.

WRIGHT: YES, I KNOW THAT.

GATES: YOUR MOTHER WAS IN HER EARLY TWENTIES AT THE TIME THAT HER FATHER WAS ARRESTED.

WRIGHT: WOW.

GATES: DOES THAT SURPRISE YOU TO READ THAT?

WRIGHT: UM... (LAUGHS).

GATES: NOBODY EVER TALKED ABOUT THIS, HUH?

WRIGHT: NO.

I NEVER KNEW THAT, THAT THEY HAD COME TO THE HOUSE IN THAT, IN THAT WAY, BUT I KNEW THAT HE, YOU KNOW, THAT WAS, THAT WAS ONE OF HIS, ONE OF HIS, UH, HIS SKILLS, AND YOU KNOW, AND ONE OF HIS SOURCES OF INCOME.

GATES: YEAH.

WRIGHT: YEAH BUT, YOU KNOW, I DIDN'T KNOW THIS STORY.

GATES: PROHIBITION ENDED IN 1933, MORE THAN 25 YEARS BEFORE WILLIAM'S ARREST.

BUT IT REMAINED A CRIME TO MAKE LIQUOR WITHOUT A LICENSE.

WE FOUND NO EVIDENCE THAT WILLIAM WAS EVER SEVERELY PUNISHED FOR HIS MOONSHINING, BUT WE DID DISCOVER THAT HE HAD MULTIPLE CONVICTIONS AND SERVED SEVERAL SHORT JAIL SENTENCES.

A FACT THAT DIDN'T DIMINISH JEFFREY'S APPRECIATION OF HIS GRANDFATHER.

WRIGHT: YOU KNOW, HE WAS A, HE WAS A CHARACTER.

BUT HE WAS ALSO, HE HAD A DRIVE AND HE WAS A BUSINESSMAN, YOU KNOW, AND HE WAS, UM, YOU KNOW, AN AGRARIAN ENTREPRENEUR.

GATES: THAT'S A GOOD WAY TO PUT IT.

I LIKE THAT.

WRIGHT: SO, SO THIS WAS ONE OF, UH, ONE OF HIS PRODUCTS, AND YOU KNOW, HE, AND HE TOOK PRIDE IN IT TOO.

GATES: YEAH.

HOW DO YOU THINK THAT AFFECTED YOUR MOTHER?

I MEAN, SHE NEVER TALKED ABOUT IT, SHE WENT TO LAW SCHOOL.

WRIGHT: YEAH, UM... GATES: I CAN SEE HER PERSONAL STATEMENT APPLICATION, WHY DO YOU WANT TO GO TO HOWARD LAW SCHOOL?

WELL, MY FATHER HAS BEEN ARRESTED... WRIGHT: GOT TO, GOT TO, YOU KNOW, PROTECT, UH, MY FATHER.

UM, THAT'S WHAT THEY KNEW.

YOU KNOW?

AND THEY ALSO UNDERSTOOD THAT HE WAS A PROVIDER, YOU KNOW, AND A LEADER IN THAT HOUSE AND OUTSIDE THAT HOUSE, AND THEY GREW UP IN THE MIST OF THAT, YOU KNOW?

GATES: RIGHT.

WRIGHT: SO THIS WAS GOING ON.

AND SO IT'S WHAT PUT FOOD ON, UH, ON THE TABLE FOR THEM OUTSIDE OF WHAT HE GREW, IT'S WHAT PUT CLOTHES ON THEIR BACK.

GATES: UH-HMM.

WRIGHT: HE WAS WHAT HE DID AND HE WAS FULL WITH IT.

GATES: AND HAPPY WITH IT.

WRIGHT: HAPPY.

GATES: TURNING TO WILLIAM'S ROOTS, WE SOON LEARNED THAT HIS ANCESTRY WAS JUST AS UNUSUAL AS HE WAS.

MOVING BACK TWO GENERATIONS WE CAME TO A MAN NAMED BEVERLY WHITING...

HE'S JEFFREY'S THIRD GREAT GRANDFATHER AND HE WAS BORN IN VIRGINIA, DECADES BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR.

WE EXPECTED TO FIND NO TRACE OF HIM DURING THE SLAVE ERA, BUT ONCE AGAIN, WE WERE WRONG.

HE AND HIS FAMILY ARE LISTED IN THE 1860 CENSUS.

JUST LIKE LATIFAH'S ANCESTORS WERE... GATES: DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?

WRIGHT: HE WAS A FREEMAN.

HE WAS A FREEMAN.

WOW.

GATES: DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU WERE DESCEND FROM FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR?

WRIGHT: NO.

(LAUGHS).

THIS IS, THESE NAMES, THIS IS THE FIRST I KNOW OF THESE NAMES.

GATES: DID YOU EVER GET THE SENSE WHEN YOU KNEW YOUR GRANDPARENTS THAT THEY WERE SPECIAL OR THAT SOMETHING DIFFERENTIATED THEM FROM OTHER BLACK PEOPLE IN YORK COUNTY?

WRIGHT: YEAH, THERE WAS NEVER A SENSE THAT WE WERE PRIVILEGED.

UM, BUT I THINK IT GOES BACK TO THIS IDEA THAT MY GRANDFATHER DIDN'T FEEL BOUND, NECESSARILY, AND THAT HE, UH, FELT THAT HE COULD BE AMBITIOUS, AND THAT IT WAS SOMETHING INNATE WITHIN HIM, AND I THINK PERHAPS SOMETHING OF THAT HAS TO DO WITH THIS.

GATES: WE WEREN'T ABLE TO TRACE BEVERLY OR HIS WIFE BACK ANY FURTHER, BUT TURNING TO ANOTHER LINE OF JEFFREY'S MOTHER'S ROOTS, WE DISCOVERED THAT THE WHITINGS WERE NOT THE ONLY FREE BLACK PEOPLE ON JEFFREY'S FAMILY TREE.

WRIGHT: "PERSONS CHARGED WITH THE TAX, FREE NEGROES AND MULATTOES, MARSHALL HOPSON."

GATES: THIS IS THE 1834 PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX LIST FOR YORK COUNTY AND YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER MARSHALL WAS REQUIRED TO PAY TAXES AS A FREE PERSON OF COLOR.

WRIGHT: HMM.

GATES: SO MARSHALL, JEFFREY, WAS FREE IN THE 1830S AND LIKELY BORN FREE AROUND 1815.

WRIGHT: HMM.

GATES: IN FACT, YOUR ANCESTORS WERE PART OF A TIGHT-KNIT COMMUNITY OF FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR THAT HAD BEEN IN YORK COUNTY FOR CENTURIES.

WRIGHT: HMM.

WOW.

WE'VE BEEN HERE A LONG TIME.

GATES: IT'S QUITE EXTRAORDINARY.

WRIGHT: THERE, THERE, THERE'S, IT'S PALPABLE.

THERE'S A DEEP SENSE OF BEING CONNECTED TO THAT LAND IN, UM, IN A, IN A REMARKABLE WAY, AND I THINK IT COMES JUST, IT COMES AS WELL FROM, UH, BEING SERVANTS OF THE LAND, IN BEING FARMERS AND BEING OYSTERMEN, WATERMEN, BUT THERE WAS ALSO A SENSE OF KIND OF INDESCRIBABLE HISTORICAL CONNECTION TO THAT PLACE AS THOUGH IT BELONGED TO THEM, WHICH I THINK, I THINK SPEAKING FOR ME RESONATES BECAUSE ALTHOUGH I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE SPECIFICS OF THIS HISTORY I HAD AN INKLING ABOUT IT, AND I'VE ALWAYS FELT THAT, UM, DESPITE WHATEVER RHETORIC MIGHT ARISE TO THE CONTRARY THAT THIS WAS MY PLACE AS MUCH AS ANY, AS MUCH AS ANYONE'S.

GATES: WE HAD ALREADY TAKEN QUEEN LATIFAH BACK MORE THAN 200 YEARS ON HER FATHER'S FAMILY TREE, INTRODUCING HER TO HER FIFTH GREAT-GRANDMOTHER, A WOMAN NAMED JUGGY OWENS WHO WAS LIVING AS A FREE PERSON OF COLOR IN VIRGINIA AS EARLY AS 1831.

NOW WE WANTED TO FIND OUT IF JUGGY WAS BORN INTO FREEDOM, OR SLAVERY.

THE ANSWER LAY IN THE ESTATE RECORDS OF A MAN NAMED THOMAS KEELING, A WHITE PLANTER WHO DIED SOMETIME AROUND 1770.

LATIFAH: "HIS WIFE IS ENTITLED TO ONE FIFTH OF THE SLAVES...

THE NAMES OF WHOM ARE AS FOLLOWS TO WIT: WILL, LEWIS, CHARLES, SAM, JANE, RUTH, JUG."

GATES: RECOGNIZE ANY NAME THERE?

LATIFAH: THAT'S JUGGY RIGHT THERE.

GATES: THAT IS JUGGY LISTED AS PROPERTY IN THOMAS KEELING'S ESTATE RECORDS.

SO WE KNOW FROM THAT DOCUMENT THAT YOUR FIFTH GREAT-GRANDMOTHER WAS BORN INTO SLAVERY AND BECAME FREE.

LATIFAH: OH, MY GOD.

OH, MY GOODNESS.

GATES: CAN YOU IMAGINE?

DID YOU EVER THINK MUCH ABOUT YOUR ANCESTORS' EXPERIENCES DURING SLAVERY?

LATIFAH: I HAVE.

I HAVE A BIT.

SEEING "ROOTS" WAS TOUGH, YEAH, AND IT'S MADE ME MAKE CERTAIN CHOICES WITH MY ACTING CAREER.

GATES: LIKE WHAT?

LATIFAH: JUST PARTS I DON'T WANT TO PLAY.

YOU KNOW, PARTS I WILL NOT PLAY.

GATES: MM-HUM.

LATIFAH: SO, YEAH.

IT'S REALLY DEEP BECAUSE I JUST, WOW, WHAT THEY MUST HAVE GONE THROUGH.

GATES: YEAH.

LATIFAH: IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY.

GATES: JUGGY'S OWNER, THOMAS KEELING, WAS A TOBACCO FARMER.

HIS FAMILY'S HOME, BUILT AROUND 1735, STILL STANDS TODAY.

LATIFAH'S ANCESTORS ALMOST CERTAINLY WORKED HERE, OR OUT IN KEELING'S FIELDS, PICKING TOBACCO.

AND IT'S LIKELY THAT THEY WOULD HAVE CONTINUED TO DO SO FOR DECADES MORE, HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE DECISION OF ONE WOMAN... GATES: WOULD YOU PLEASE READ THE TRANSCRIBED PORTION?

LATIFAH: "BEING CONSCIENTIOUS OF THE INJUSTICE AND IMPROPRIETY OF HOLDING MY FELLOW CREATURE IN STATE OF SLAVERY I DO HEREBY EMANCIPATE AND SET FREE" NO WAY.

NO WAY.

"ONE NEGRO WOMAN NAMED JUG, WHO IS ABOUT 28 YEARS OLD TO BE IMMEDIATE FREE AFTER THIS DAY OCTOBER 1, 1792.

MARY OLD."

OH, MY GOD.

I'M TINGLING RIGHT NOW.

GATES: YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE MOMENT THAT YOUR FAMILY BECAME FREE.

LATIFAH: NOW HOW DID MARY OLD GET A HOLD.

GATES: SHE WAS A NEIGHBOR OF THE KEELING FAMILY, MARY OLD.

WE DON'T KNOW HOW SHE CAME TO OWN JUGGY... LATIFAH: I MEAN, I COULD BARELY READ IT.

I MEAN WHAT MUST THAT HAVE BEEN LIKE TO GET THIS, TO KNOW THIS, TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE FREE?

GATES: YEAH.

LATIFAH: LIKE, WHAT MUST SHE HAVE BEEN THINKING AT THAT TIME?

GATES: YOU KNOW, ON SEPTEMBER 30, 1792 SHE WAS A SLAVE.

THE NEXT DAY SHE WAS FREE ALL BECAUSE THIS WOMAN SHE DECIDED IT WAS MORALLY WRONG.

SHE GOES, YOU KNOW, THIS STINKS AND I'M GOING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

LATIFAH: YEP.

IT'S IT'S ALL AT ONCE RIDICULOUS AND JUST SO IMPORTANT.

THE FACT THAT A PIECE OF PAPER SHOULD HOLD THAT MUCH WEIGHT ON HUMAN LIFE IS RIDICULOUS BUT IT'S SO IMPORTANT THAT WE CARE, PEOPLE STILL THINK THAT, THAT ONE PERSON CAN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

ONE PERSON MADE A DIFFERENCE.

GATES: OH, BIG TIME.

LATIFAH: TO MY WHOLE ENTIRE FAMILY LINE.

MARY OLD, ONE PERSON, MADE A DIFFERENCE TO MY ENTIRE FAMILY LINE.

THAT'S CRAZY.

GATES: WE HAD ONE MORE SURPRISE FOR LATIFAH.

TURNING BACK TO THE ESTATE RECORDS OF THOMAS KEELING, WE FOUND A WILL NAMING JUGGY'S MOTHER.

A WOMAN NAMED GRACE, WHO WAS LIKELY BORN IN THE 1740S.

GRACE IS LATIFAH'S SIXTH GREAT-GRANDMOTHER, ADDING STILL ANOTHER BRANCH TO HER FATHER'S FAMILY TREE... LATIFAH: OH MY GOSH.

I THINK MY DAD IS GOING TO BE VERY PROUD OF IT.

I THINK IT'S GOING TO MAKE A LOT OF SENSE BECAUSE WE ARE A VERY UNIQUE FAMILY.

WE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY THAN MOST OF THE PEOPLE WE KNOW.

WE MOVE AND SHAKE A DIFFERENT WAY, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

AND A LOT OF PEOPLE FIND US INTERESTING BECAUSE OF THAT.

GATES: UH-HUH, RIGHT.

LATIFAH: BUT I THINK IT'S GOING TO MAKE SENSE TO HIM IN A WAY.

AND UH, HOPEFULLY IT'LL BE INSPIRING AND YOU KNOW, INSPIRING TO MY SIBLINGS AS WELL.

GATES: OH, YEAH.

LATIFAH: YOU KNOW AND HIS GRANDKIDS.

HE'LL HAVE A STORY TO TELL HIS GRANDKIDS ABOUT, ABOUT THEIR HISTORY, THEIR FAMILY HISTORY.

YOU KNOW, THIS IS SOMETHING HE'S GOING TO WANT TO LEARN VERBATIM PROBABLY BECAUSE HE'S GOING TO WANT TO SHARE THIS.

I HAVE A NINE-YEAR-OLD LITTLE BROTHER WHO NEEDS TO KNOW THIS RIGHT NOW.

GATES: OH, ABSOLUTELY.

LATIFAH: YOU KNOW, THAT HE COMES FROM A LONG LINE OF FREE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY BEFORE IT WAS A COUNTRY.

GATES: WE HAD ALREADY TAKEN JEFFREY WRIGHT BACK FIVE GENERATIONS ON HIS MOTHER'S FAMILY TREE, REVEALING MULTIPLE BRANCHES FILLED WITH FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR IN AND AROUND YORK COUNTY, VIRGINIA, A PLACE THAT JEFFREY KNEW WELL.

NOW, WE BEGAN A JOURNEY INTO TERRITORY THAT WAS MUCH LESS FAMILIAR.

JEFFREY'S FATHER, JAMES WRIGHT, JR., WAS BORN IN GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA IN 1932...

BUT JAMES DIED WHEN JEFFREY WAS CHILD; LEAVING MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS BEHIND.

GATES: YOU CALLED YOUR FATHER A "ROLLING STONE."

WRIGHT: YEAH.

YEAH.

YOU KNOW THE OLD MOTOWN SONG, WAS VERY KIND OF MEANINGFUL, UH, AS THE SONG GOES, 'WHEN HE LEFT US, ALL HE LEFT US WAS ALONE.'

GATES: YEAH.

WRIGHT: AND UH, WHEN I, WHEN I TOLD ONE OF HIS GOOD FRIENDS THAT, UM, THAT I WAS GOING INTO ACTING, A FRIEND WHO HAD GROWN UP WITH HIM, UH, ESSENTIALLY I TOLD HIM I WAS GOING INTO ACTING, HE SAID, WELL, MAKES SENSE, YOUR FATHER WAS A BIT OF A SONG AND DANCE MAN.

HE JUST NEVER MADE IT TO THE STAGE.

SO, UM, YOU KNOW, THE STORIES OF HIM, UM, FROM THE, FROM THE FOLKS WHO KNEW HIM AND THERE ARE, THERE ARE FEWER OF THEM NOW OBVIOUSLY BECAUSE THEY'RE OF THAT GENERATION, WERE JUST OF A MAN THAT, UM, HAD, SEEMED TO HAVE A LOT OF CHARISMA, UM, AND UH, A LOT OF AMBITION, UH, MAY HAVE HAD A BIT OF A SELF-DESTRUCTIVE STREAK, UM, BUT WAS, UM, A MAN WHO HAD A PRESENCE AND WAS LIKE KIND OF LIKE, LIKE ENORMOUSLY, UM, WELL LIKED.

GATES: MM-HMM.

WRIGHT: UM, MAYBE TO HIS DETRIMENT.

GATES: TURNING TO HIS FATHER'S ROOTS, WE DISCOVERED STRIKING PARALLELS TO HIS MOTHER'S.

BOTH FAMILIES WERE CONCENTRATED IN SMALL POCKETS OF THE RURAL SOUTH AND FILLED WITH PEOPLE WHO RARELY MOVED FROM THE AREA IN WHICH THEY WERE BORN...

IN FACT, WE WERE ABLE TO TRACE JEFFREY'S PATERNAL LINES BACK OVER A CENTURY IN ONE NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY, KNOWN AS IREDELL, WHERE HIS ANCESTORS LIVED FOR GENERATIONS.

WRIGHT: "WORKMAN MCDOWELL, 37, BLACK, FARMHAND."

GATES: THAT'S YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, WORKMAN MCDOWELL.

WRIGHT: WORKMAN.

WOW.

GATES: THIS IS THE FOURTH GENERATION OF YOUR FAMILY THAT WE'VE IDENTIFIED IN IREDELL COUNTY.

WRIGHT: HMM.

GATES: DID YOU KNOW YOU HAD ROOTS GOING BACK THIS FAR THERE?

WRIGHT: UM... GATES: I MEAN, WORKMAN WAS BORN AROUND 1833.

WRIGHT: UM, I HAD MY SUSPICIONS.

GATES: THAT'S WHEN ANDREW JACKSON WAS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

WRIGHT: RIGHT.

RIGHT.

THAT'S A HELL OF A NAME TOO.

WORKMAN.

GATES: IT'S TRUE.

WRIGHT: WORKMAN.

CONSIDERING THE TIMES.

YEAH.

UM, I MEAN, I, AS FAR AS I KNEW IT WAS, IT WAS, YOU KNOW, IT WAS VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, YOU KNOW?

WHEN I'M ASKED WHERE I'M FROM, WHERE ARE YOU REALLY FROM, I TELL THEM VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA.

GATES: AND YOU ARE!

WRIGHT: YEAH.

GATES: THERE WAS, HOWEVER, A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES OF JEFFREY'S FAMILY TREE.

WHEREAS MANY OF HIS MOTHER'S ANCESTORS WERE FREE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR, HIS FATHER'S FAMILY WERE ALMOST CERTAINLY ALL ENSLAVED.

SO WHILE WE COULD TELL JEFFREY MULTIPLE STORIES ABOUT HIS FREE MATERNAL ANCESTORS, WE STRUGGLED TO FIND EVEN THE SLIGHTEST TRACE OF HIS PATERNAL ROOTS PRIOR TO 1865.

IN THE END, WE TURNED TO WHAT'S OFTEN THE ONLY TOOL FOR GENEALOGISTS CONFRONTING THIS DILEMMA: THE RECORDS OF SLAVE-OWNERS.

WE SEARCHED TO SEE IF JEFFREY'S GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, WORKMAN MCDOWELL, MIGHT HAVE TAKEN HIS SURNAME FROM THE WHITE FAMILY THAT OWNED HIM.

KNOWING THAT IF SO, THEN HE MIGHT APPEAR IN THE PAPER TRAIL THAT THEY LEFT BEHIND.

GATES: NOW YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE SLAVE SCHEDULE FOR IREDELL COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, FROM THE 1860 CENSUS, AND THIS WAS A SEPARATE PART OF THE CENSUS THAT LISTED THE SLAVES A SLAVE OWNER POSSESSED.

SO, DO YOU SEE ANY MCDOWELLS ON THAT PAGE?

WRIGHT: I DO.

GATES: WHAT DO YOU READ?

WRIGHT: "ROBERT MCDOWELL."

GATES: RIGHT.

THAT'S THE ONLY MCDOWELL SLAVE OWNER IN IREDELL COUNTY AT THE TIME THE CENSUS WAS TAKEN.

WRIGHT: RIGHT.

GATES: THE TALLY MARKS REPRESENT EACH INDIVIDUAL SLAVE THEY OWN.

GENDER AND AGE ARE NOTATED BUT AS YOU CAN SEE THEIR NAMES ARE NOT.

WHAT'S IT LIKE TO SEE THAT, NAMELESS FIGURES ON AN INVENTORY GRID.

YOU KNOW, THESE ARE ACTUAL HUMAN BEINGS.

WRIGHT: RIGHT.

GATES: REPRESENTED AS HASH MARKS.

WRIGHT: IT'S CRAZY.

I MEAN, IT'S, IT IS WHAT IT IS, IT'S DEHUMANIZING, ISN'T IT?

GATES: IT IS.

WRIGHT: YEAH.

GATES: NOW, NORMALLY I ASK GUESTS TO COUNT THE TALLY MARKS TO SEE HOW MANY SLAVES A MASTER OWNED, BUT ROBERT'S SLAVES TAKE UP TWO PAGES.

WRIGHT: WOW.

GATES: OF THE CENSUS, TWO PAGES.

WRIGHT: WOW.

HMM.

GATES: HE OWNED 58 SLAVES.

WRIGHT: WOW.

GATES: NOW, WORKMAN COULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THEM.

GATES: WHAT'S IT LIKE TO SEE THAT?

WRIGHT: UH, I'M ALMOST DIZZY FROM THE, UH, FROM, FROM THE INFORMATION AND FROM THE INSIGHT.

UM, IT'S KIND OF DISORIENTING AND GROUNDING AT THE SAME TIME.

GATES: ABSOLUTELY.

WRIGHT: WOW.

DAMN.

WOW.

GATES: LOOKING CLOSER, ONE OF THESE ANONYMOUS HASH MARKS STOOD OUT.

BECAUSE IT CORRESPONDS TO A 26 YEAR OLD BLACK MALE, WHICH IS EXACTLY THE AGE THAT WORKMAN WOULD HAVE BEEN AT THE TIME.

OF COURSE, NO WAY TO TELL IF THIS MARK ACTUALLY REPRESENTS JEFFREY'S GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, BUT IN THE 1870 CENSUS, WE NOTICED SOMETHING THAT GAVE THE IDEA A GREAT DEAL OF SUPPORT... GATES: WOULD YOU PLEASE READ THE TRANSCRIPTION AND SEE WHO LIVES FOUR HOUSES DOWN THE ROAD FROM YOUR MCDOWELL ANCESTORS?

WRIGHT: "ROBERT MCDOWELL, 56, WHITE, FARMER."

GATES: SO JEFFREY, WE HAVE GOOD REASON TO BELIEVE THAT ROBERT VERY LIKELY OWNED YOUR MCDOWELL ANCESTORS DURING SLAVERY BECAUSE FIVE YEARS AFTER THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR THEY'RE LIVING RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD FROM EACH OTHER AND WHEN FREEDOM CAME YOUR ANCESTORS JUST STAYED NEARBY THE PERSON FOR WHOM THEY HAD WORKED.

WRIGHT: HMM.

HMM.

GATES: CAN YOU IMAGINE HAVING NEIGHBORS WHO USED TO OWN YOU?

WRIGHT: YEAH.

UH, UH, IMAGINE IT WOULD CAUSE SOME NEIGHBORLY TENSION.

YEAH.

COMPLICATED.

UH, COMPLICATED STUFF.

GATES: GO BACK A MINUTE TO THE HASH MARKS.

WRIGHT: YEAH.

THAT'S, THAT'S KIND OF... GATES: AND NOW THAT YOU KNOW THAT THEY LIVED FOUR HOUSES DOWN THE ROAD IN 1870 FROM ROBERT, IS THAT LOOKING MORE LIKE WORKMAN TO YOU, IF YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN?

WRIGHT: I GUESS SO... WOW.

HMM...

THESE BLANK SPACES, THEY REALLY REPRESENT UM, EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE: BLANK SPACES IN OUR HISTORY, IN OUR PERSONAL HISTORY, BLANK SPACES IN OUR NATIONAL HISTORY, AND UH... THAT'S RIDICULOUS.

WOW.

OKAY.

GATES: THIS IS AS FAR BACK AS WE CAN GO ON JEFFREY'S FATHER'S FAMILY TREE.

BEYOND WORKMAN, SLAVERY HAD WIPED AWAY HIS PATERNAL ROOTS, ERASING GENERATIONS OF HIS ANCESTOR'S NAMES, AS WELL AS THEIR STORIES.

BUT FOR JEFFREY, SIMPLY SEEING THE EVIDENCE THAT THESE ANCESTORS EXISTED AT ALL WAS PROFOUNDLY MOVING.

WRIGHT: IT'S, YOU KNOW, IT'S JUST EMPOWERING, UH, FOR ME, UH, BECAUSE, FOR A COUPLE OF REASONS.

ONE, TO HAVE EMERGED OUT OF THOSE DIFFICULTIES, UM, AS A FAMILY, TO HAVE SURVIVED AND FLOURISHED IN SPITE OF THE RESISTANCE TO THAT BY, YOU KNOW, EXTERNAL FORCES I TAKE STRENGTH OUT OF.

BUT ALSO WHEN I LOOK AT THESE BLANK SPACES, UM, I TAKE STRENGTH FROM THAT TOO BECAUSE, UM, THE BLANK SPACES THERE WERE NOT THE ONES WHO TRIED TO RENDER THEMSELVES INVISIBLE.

GATES: MM-HMM, MM-HMM.

WRIGHT: IT'S THE, THE NAMES HERE THAT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT.

GATES: ABSOLUTELY.

WRIGHT: AND I LIKE BEING OF THOSE BLANK SPACES AS OPPOSED TO BEING OF THE NAMES THAT TRIED TO RENDER THOSE PEOPLE INVISIBLE.

GATES: RIGHT.

WRIGHT: I TAKE STRENGTH FROM THAT TOO.

GATES: THE PAPER TRAIL HAD NOW RUN OUT FOR EACH OF MY GUESTS.

IT WAS TIME TO SHOW THEM THEIR FAMILY TREES, FILLED WITH FAR MORE NAMES THAN THEY COULD HAVE IMAGINED WHEN WE SAT DOWN TOGETHER.

WRIGHT: OH, WOW.

LATIFAH: OH, MY GOODNESS.

IT JUST SEEMS BIGGER THAN ME.

GATES: ONCE LOST, NOW FOUND AND THEY'LL NEVER BE LOST AGAIN.

WRIGHT: WOW, WHAT A, WHAT A GREAT GIFT.

GATES: FOR EACH, IT WAS A MOMENT OF WONDER.

PROVIDING A CHANCE TO REFLECT ON THE IMMENSE AND UNUSUAL JOURNEY THAT THEIR ANCESTORS TOOK... FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM... WRIGHT: THERE IS A VERY POWERFUL THING THAT'S PASSED IN THROUGH FAMILY AND THROUGH, UM, GENETIC LINEAGE, AND IT'S MORE THAN JUST PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES.

I FEEL THESE PEOPLE.

GATES: MH-MM.

JEFFREY WEIGHT: I THINK I'VE ALWAYS FELT THEM.

AND I APPRECIATE THEIR PLACE HERE, I APPRECIATE THAT DESPITE WHAT, WHAT INSTITUTIONS, LAWS AS WELL, PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE WANTED FOR THEM THAT AT SOME POINT THEY DEFIED THAT.

GATES: RIGHT.

WRIGHT: AND UH, REWROTE THEMSELVES ON THEIR OWN TERMS.

LATIFAH: THIS IS ALL MIRACULOUS TO ME AND THE FACT THAT I COULD EVEN GET TO YOU TO HAVE YOU DO THIS FOR ME IS SUCH A BLESSING.

I'M SO THANKFUL TO YOU.

GATES: YOU DON'T HAVE TO GUESS WHO THEY WERE OR WHERE THEY WERE.

YOU NOW KNOW.

LATIFAH: I KNOW THEM BY NAME AND THIS IS NO ACCIDENT.

I'M NO ACCIDENT.

GATES: OH, YOU'RE NO ACCIDENT.

YOU ARE THE LOGICAL EXTENSION OF STUFF THAT WAS SET IN MOTION A COUPLE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

LATIFAH: NO SURPRISE.

GATES: NO SURPRISE.

LATIFAH: YOU, THE ONE IN A MILLION SHOT THAT I HAVE TO EVEN DO WHAT I DO.

GATES: RIGHT.

LATIFAH: WE'VE BEEN ONE IN THE MILLIONS FOR A WHILE IT SEEMS.

GATES: THAT'S THE END OF OUR SEARCH FOR THE ANCESTORS OF JEFFREY WRIGHT AN QUEEN LATIFAH... JOIN ME NEXT TIME WHEN WE UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF THE PAST FOR NEW GUESTS ON ANOTHER EPISODE OF "FINDING YOUR ROOTS".

GOLDBLUM: WOW.

NARRATOR: NEXT TIME, ON "FINDING YOUR ROOTS" ACTOR, JEFF GOLDBLUM.

GOLDBLUM: BOTH MY DAD AND MY MOM WERE NOUVEAU AMERICANS.

NARRATOR: RADIO HOST, TERRY GROSS.

GROSS: I KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT MY ANCESTRY.

NARRATOR: AND COMEDIAN PODCASTER, MARC MARON.

MARON: BOTH MY GRANDPARENTS SPOKE YIDDISH WHEN THEY DIDN'T WANT ME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY WRE SAYING.

NARRATOR: ANCESTORS LOST.

GROSS: IT'S HORRIBLE.

NARRATOR: STORIES THAT SURVIVED.

GATES: IT'S NOT THE TYPICAL RAGS TO RICHES STORY.

MARON: I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY DID IT.

NARRATOR: ON THE NEXT, "FINDING YOUR ROOTS".