Would YOU ever want to dig into your ancestry? Let us know below, and be sure to also check out our video of the Top 10 Most Dramatic Moments on Finding Your Roots - th-cam.com/video/Ym3vguksREI/w-d-xo.html
Funny, I don't recall the passengers of the Mayflower being big slavers. Other than their being 400 years difference why would people of the Mayflower differ so much from their great granddaughter? In fact, weren't the passengers of the Mayflower fleeing oppression?
I already know my great grandfather was a crook. He took his family on the run. They had to squat in a cellar. By all accounts his wife, my great grandmother, was a saint, putting up with him. I wonder if she was too ashamed or just resigned to her lot? Because in those days you didn't get divorced and as a mother of seven she couldn't exactly leave, not in those days
I have tested mine & family DNA and found previously unknown information. But nothing as shaking as some of these. Well, except for that one curiosity I have not puzzled out yet.
I would want help tracing my family tree. I have done a lot of research, but I am looking for confirmation of what I have found. I am working on the confirmation but would like some help.
We aren’t all related but we may have a single piece of DNA in common which isn’t indicative of direct lineage. This is disclosed when you take DNA tests and it shows a result like say Charlemagne as a relative isnt a direct relative but that most Europeans share a single strand in common.
How could Sunny not know that she'd have Spanish ancestry if all Puerto Ricans are a mix of indigenous Taino, Africans, and Spaniards? There is no such thing as "Puerto Rican" DNA markers. It'd be a mix of Caribbean indian, European, and African. I though everyone knew this.
Yes, people from the Caribbean are some of the most genetically ambiguous people in the Western Hemisphere. Sad that US history classes ignore the history right off the southern coast of Florida as if we don't celebrate Columbus Day when he never set one shoe on the continental US..
Too bad that US history classes don't even mention much about the history just South of Florida, as if we don't celebrate Columbus day even though he never set foot in the continental US. People from the Caribbean are some of the most ethnica//y ambiguous people in the Western Hemisphere because of that history.
To only rely on history class for your education about anything is pure laziness. Sunny Hostin is a grown adult who should have an understanding of many things beyond what the classroom may have taught her.
I was working as a photojournalist, and I was covering a big annual arts event in Laguna Beach, California. I saw Lavar Burton with his wife, and I asked if I could get a photo of them for the newspaper. He was reluctant, and he said his wife was distracted with something else at the moment, but he'd find me later so I could take the picture. Naturally I thought he was brushing me off, but about 30 minutes later, he found me and said they were ready to have their picture taken. Lavar Burton is a class act.
This lady was half Puerto Rican....and she was SHOCKED that she had Spaniard Slave owner ancestors....really? Shocked.... we Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans all know this...
I loved it when they find out they have white Ancestors and they have Ancestors who were slave owners, the shock on there faces, is a thousand words 🤣. The Democrats all come from slave owners ?
I was adopted and found my birth mother before DNA companies started. My birth mother told me who my father was. I had a half sister that was born before me so I signed up for every DMA site possible. The father that my mother had listed lived in Georgia and absolutely none of my relatives lived in or near Georgia. I finally decided that what she had told me was false. I hired a genetic genealogist and found my real father. Though he was deceased it was absolutely amazing. I was abandoned by my mother at one month and placed in foster care. I was adopted by a highly abusive family where, outside of school, I worked day and night. My father was abandoned by his mother at the age of one, then placed in an orphanage. He was taken out by his uncle when he was old enough to work on the farm. He was abused and worked to the bone. Talk about your generational trauma. Good news is I met my half sister (his daughter) and we aren’t physically alike but our personalities are amazingly similar.
Puerto Rico is a melting pot of beautifulness. So many parts of the world, so many cultures into one that proudly say “We are Puertorricans even if we were born on the moon”. Our ancestry is rich and skin color means nothing, to ancestry we say “and your grandma, where is she” again, meaning we are a melting pot, a gorgeous melting pot. 🇵🇷❤️🇵🇷
After my father passed away I found out his Great Grandfather was born a slave, in South Carolina 1836 He escaped slavery and fought in the Civil War not once but Twice. I have been on a journey to find out more about my dad's side of the family.
Yes, my roots are traced back to Augustine Washington, Jr. (George's half-brother).Both my paternal and maternal great-grandfathers served in 54th of Massachusetts during Civil War. Our family was always fortunate to have preserved genetic/historical records. Also, not to be mean-spirited, but just wanted to correct you...he was born INTO slavery, rather than born a slave. We are all born free, created in the image of God. It's man's evil ignorance that can sometimes interfere with that. ❤
I am white, however, no one really knew about my great great grandfather. I am fortunate that a cousin of mine found out the truth about my family. My great grandfather was white, while my great grandmother was mixed, according to the census marked her as black. After the civil war mixed races could not marry however, they found a way to be married all the same. My great great grandfather was on the steps when Lincoln signed the emancipation, approximate was signed in 1863.I have a picture of my great great grandfather, his daughter (my great grandmother) and a photo of my grandmother. My great great grandmother was a very beautiful lady and I wished I could have met my grandmother but she passed 2 months before I was born. My great great grandfather fought along with General Custer.
Your right, but my great great grandfather was born in Charleston South Carolina, and he was listed as a slave. He escaped slavery by hiding in the cargo area of a ship and we went on a boat.by the means of the Erie Canal. He found freedom in Onondaga County NY
This is an awesome show, but these people are millionaires. They get presented with this beautiful book with expensive research -- which they can afford. I'd rather watch a show where this is done for those who can't afford it.
They are celebrities in their field... never a fan of van halen so no big deal to me.. most "guests" are lefties so fawn over and they DO fawn over them for rateings, but it is always fun to see the black sheep trotted out only because once the bones are dug up, they cant be buried again in the digital age... i remember a research project where like this show, they compared the "respectable" line of a historical person with the illegitimate like of the children of his mistress. As many famous people came from the "respectable" side as criminals of repute frim the dark side... it was an interesting article
I printed out all the documentation I could find and made my own scrapbook. I got the idea from seeing that black book. I laminated most to preserve and are thinking of gifting the different branches of our family. There is a thrill whenever I find new information.
This is what makes me laugh, why would you be embarrassed about being descended from refugees fleeing religious persecution, unless are you just obsessing about their skin colour?
@@celticmulato2609because usually those roots doesn’t go back like. It’s usually a slaveowner using their property and their ancestors just go back to Europe. Considering her being a life long civil rights activist, it’s shocking to have ancestors from the mayflower. A story that is foundational to American propaganda.
@modvsone No its not shocking! She is obviously Mixed race and alot of American Mulattoes are in denial of their European heritage and looking at her I highly doubt it had anything to do with a slave master as slavery ended in 1865 and that Gates would have mentioned that if it was the case. All that woman had to do is just look at her family and look at herself in the mirror and notice that real or most or predominantly Black peoples don't look like her ; she is just feigning surprise just like Sunny Holstein was surprised that her mum is White and has Spanish ancestry despite being from Puerto Rico.
Being a black American and being suprised that you have a white ancestor is crazy to me. Also all familys have secrets at some point, none of this is that wild.
I wish everyone could access their own family history despite cost. I think everyone deserves to learn about their direct ancestors, even more so adoptees. Wishing everyone love
You can if you take time to go to a library or do some research. The records are there, and you can also order documents at a low fee. To go way back into the 1600's may require a genealogist tho depending on your background.
You can do it yourself for free. All you need is a metro library account to access their genealogy websites. Without the library card, you'd have to pay. Fold3 and Ancestry are amazing
My great 6:29 kept a diary since she was a child. And through her daughter I was able to find out about my Great Great grandfather who was a slave and enlisted in the Cicil War when Lincoln allowed African Americans to join the Union Army. He enlisted, then he was transferred to the Navy and came home a freed man and was able to purchase land along with his 2 brothers in law. I also have an official government record of his slave owner filing for and receiving reparations for losing her " slave" due to his enlistment. I also have letters that he wrote when he was trying to receive his Naval pension.
@@skywalker6648 unfortunately for Polynesians like me it's not really possible since Polynesians have no written language and everything passed down is through oral history. which means by the time it comes to you, the story and the details have most likely significantly changed. at least my descendants can know about me since i live and grew up in America.
That is because the concept of the one drop rule is emblazoned on the consciousness of American identity. Being any sort of black is an exclusion from whiteness. So finding out you are not purely black when you are embracing the only identity socially afforded to you when you chose to follow those rules can be breaking of ones mind. The one drop rule is exclusionary not including. Its to not acknowledge humanity of a people by their skin or heritage by another people who have afforded themselves privilege, power and primacy. Its artificial and increasingly becoming obsolete. Largely because science has verified all life came from " black" Sub-Saharan African land. However, they have not dare publish that because of this new scientific reality that by virtue of the very one drop rule. It has made all Americans constitionally Black.
My sister has spent years researching our history. She went back to the 1500's I believe. We found we are descended from a man named Christoph Froschauer who was the first printer of the Zurich bible in 1531.
Our history on my father's side abruptly came to a halt sometime in the 1700s due a male ancestor in what is now Germany fleeing military conscription from one German state to another disguised as a woman, taking on his mother's maiden name (my surname). We don't know who his father was, but I'm guessing he was born "illigitamate". Personally I feel no shame in this, but rather just find it interesting.
@@garthwright4064 _...none of us need be shamed by anything our ancestors did. We had no say in the matter._ Exactly, try to teach that to Ben Affleck... :)
In old age I discovered that everything I'd believed about my ethnicity wasn't true. I always believed my European roots were from Ireland. I do have Irish DNA, but I am much more English and Scottish. I had no idea that my ancestors were from either nation. I also have many Dutch ancestors, too. On top of this shock, my genealogy is incredibly well documented as I descend from more famous people than you can shake a stick at, and that includes famous people from both sides of the Pond. My ancestors fill the pages of history books. I had no idea about any of this, until genealogy data became so readily available in the past couple of years. I can trace my family back for hundreds and hundreds of years. Truly all of this has astonished me.
Which test did you do? I'm english born and bred with one irish grandfather. My irish shows up, but the rest shows as scandinavian mainly. I've found that many english people get this too, where english just doesn't seem to show up on dna tests.
@@ellehan3003I had the opposite experience. Most of my family has heavily mixed European DNA, but I got 97% English & Irish. Wasn't exactly a shock that I had a lot since my dad is literally English and on my mom's side her moms family were Irish immigrants. But both my parents are 30-40% French/German as well, and I only got 3%. They both have a small amount of African heritage as well. My husband is Indian and he got 99.9% South Indian so I do believe in the tests but no clue how I'm nearly a purebred 😂
The boomer generation and above are the Keepers of Secrets. Sadly, most of the secrets get found out and they can be severely traumatizing for the ones who stumble upon the truth.
“I always thought of myself as Puerto Rican. I didn’t think my family was originally from Spain “ like yes sweetie you are still Puerto Rican but Puerto Rico was colonized by Spain almost all of Latin America has. Has she never opened a history book? 💀💀💀
@@bananasmoothie5960 DemonCrats open a history book? Never happen. How can a college graduate not know the relation between Spain and Puerto Rico? Oh well, that is our education system.
Puerto Ricans are mix of European, African, and Taino. Of course, there most be ancestors involved in the slave trade. It may be hard to accept, but it is history.
@@samanthab1923….thats your negative view of her. She’s married to another mixed person like herself and adores her very multiracial and multiethnic children. I share a mixed heritage like Sonny’s and l detest when strangers make derogatory statements based on their own bigotry and envy.
@@samanthab1923 I legit don't know what you're seeing? Are you talking about the black and white picture? Like, huh? If you're talking about the photo with her parents, she actually looks lighter in that photo.
Well depends. If you are a blonde and blue eyed, it would be surprising to have an Asian ancestry. The ones who should not be surprised are the “people of color” having white ancestry is they live in the New World. My family is from Mexico. Knowing basic World History it isn’t surprising that most of us are mix.
@@lavenderoh Yes but I said it would be more of an excuse to be surprise. Asians would also have more of an excuse but Blacks and Latin America have no excuse knowing history. Some of these people had very lite skin and they are shock they have European blood in there.
There may have been some native people but they would have been one of the carribean tribes native to there, they would call themselves by their tribal name..the fact that sunny doesn't know that despite being from Puerto Rico is astounding to me
I am related to Malcom X, a fact my grandmother thought was not really worth mentioning. She was surprised anyone in the family found this interesting when it eventually somehow came up.
cjoseph...please read Alex Haley's Book, Malcolm X if you haven't already...then for further reading, martin and malcolm and america by james cone. The books are so much better than the movies, because they do not leave out anything. Mr. Shabazz and his family will Bless you. Truth is powerful. Be Blessed.
I don't think anyone can claim they are of a single race or ethnicity. Humans have been moving around, meeting travelers and neighbors alike, and otherwise connecting to others since humans left Africa. We all have ancestors from a wide range of places, classes, and traditions. I hope Angela Davis joined the Mayflower Society!
@@d.e.b.b5788 While many people have seemed to have inhabited the fringes of their societies and are cheerfully mixed up, there are lots of thorougbreds.
@@jenniferburns2530 The only thing I’m 100% of is European according to Ancestry, but then again that’s changed 4 times since I joined. 😂. Don’t get too comfortable in what you think you are because it’s bound to change.
@@jenniferburns2530 but we know most likely our ancestors were RAPED! There were LAWS, actual LAWS FOR MURDERING AND RAPING BLK WOMEN! It comes from a different place! I know why yt folks are upset! If BLK folks have white in their family it’s because of RAPE!
I'm 75. What I think I might find (based upon the relatives I've met) they were probably all escaped from an insane asylum. It's okay. Times were hard back then.
Those asylums were used to house all sorts of sad cases.... depression & anxiety was seen as reason to commit people even in mid-20th century. Even the British royal family has this in their lineage.
My mom always suspected her father wasn't her father. She wondered if it was a certain friend of the family. All she knew about him was that he was French. The father she knew was Irish. Well, I did the spit test in 2018. Turns out there's no Irish blood, but I'm 25% French.
My mom thinks she is not related to her parents because she was abused a lot, and there was favoritism for her siblings. I believe it's possible because there is another relative who was adopted even though the family was poor. I want to know if it's the truth.
which test did you take? i dont think my dad is my dad either and we do not have a close relationship. i was gonna do a siblings test with a "sister" i have on my "dad's" side
My husband's grandmother was very angry about his 23andme. Her dad couldn't be her dad. And other family members said that it had been a rumor when she was a kid.
After my grandmother died a few years ago, my dad found a picture of his great great grandfather... From Rochester NY. He is still genuinely distressed by the idea of being the descendant of a yankee. It has given me such joy 😂
I think that while the more palatable answer is Grandma/Great Grandma/etc had an affair, it’s important to acknowledge that there is always a distinct possibility that it was not a consensual act. SA reports are low now, imagine what they were 50, 100, 200 years ago.
My great grandmother was a Baker, related to Norma Jean Baker. Aka Marilyn Monroe -she’s my third cousin. After I found out, whenever I see her, I think cousin Marilyn.
Neil being excited about his ancestor burning at the stake doesn't surprise me considering he thought a dead Amy Winehouse cake was a good idea for a Halloween cake after her death.
Yeah, he doesn’t impress me as being very smart. Me…… I would have been shocked and dismayed at knowing an ancestor had been burned at the stake. What a horrific way to die, and he laughs.
I learned as a teen that my great grandfather killed a man, stole a horse and fled to the Dakotas. He changed his last name to the name of the man he killed (my last name should have been Schultz) I found this interesting, my brother went ballistic and could talk of nothing but being descended from a murderer for days. It was not my or my brothers doing, it was two generations before us. That was demonstration of how differently people react.
Right! I'm adopted and learned that my uncle on my mother's side was a monster. He SA'd my birth mother with his friend when she was 18 after both of their parents had died. Later, hehad a baby with a woman he would beat and tried to sell his daughter on the black market for drugs. Suffice it to say, I hope he's dead, but it has nothing to do with who I am as a person.
@@Itsakindamagic that’s crazy. My ancestral roots on one side had 3 people on the Mayflower (including one that got so drunk he fell off and the ship’s records showed there was a debate as to whether to go back and save him. My other side had a murderer and several thugs. It’s interesting but not pertinent to my life.
My native American ancestors participated in executing my husband’s 8x grandfather (Colonel William Crawford) by making him the first white man burned at the stake by Indians. The crime they revenged with his gruesome death was the horrific slaughter of an entire village of dedicated pacifists. Only 2 young boys escaped. The sad part was, they got the wrong Colonel.
So, a light brown celeb finds there's a white ancestor and they are actually surprised. Really? I could look at each one and tell them that without doing a ancestry background.
Yes because black people come in all shades. There are tribes in Africa with light skin and no European ancestry or you know could be Hispanic or Asian. White people aren't the only ones in earth with naturally light skin. Use your brain
So what? Are you saying that black Americans should be consciously aware of their European ancestry in the same way that they're consciously aware of their African ancestry? If they were, what would change? They would still not be white, but they would still be black, right?
Most of us aren't surprised that we have Euro ancestry, irregardless of skin color, because slavery was nasty in colonial & the U.S. of America. We're not even shocked on the how--because, again, slavery was nasty here. What we are often shocked by is how it connects to our overall history. Sunny, for example, thought she was more indigenous than Spaniard--since indigenous native people in the Caribbean & the Americas varied by skin hue. It must have been shocking to her to learn she descended from conquistadors.
@@jinakaye Slavery was particularly brutal in all cases on every continent all throughout time. Very few, if any, people of the world escaped slavery in all of its forms and brutality. In truth, the American slaves had it better, in terms of brutality, than untold millions throughout the world and time.
I did an Ancestry DNA test...turns out I was adopted! Changeling, swapped at birth, mix-up in the maternity ward... Explains a lot...I always stood out at family gatherings.
That's amazing. Did you always have a hunch that might be the case or was it a life shattering moment when you found out? Could you find any biological relatives in any DNA database? Did you find out how the 'changeling' happened and who your biological parents are? You have an interesting story to tell, if you ever feel like it. I think I speak for everyone when I say we'd like to know more :)
Be careful about researching your ancestry. You just might find out that your relative was the "Town Butcher." And I do not mean the guy at the meat store.
I had a black friend many years ago who told me that almost all American-born blacks have white ancestors, some living. He knew his white grandfather. I figured this must be common knowledge among blacks, but apparently not.
It is common knowledge, this is a written TV show. The director encourages extreme shocked reactions. How old are you to believe what you see on TV from actors and actresses?
It IS a TV show, so I imagine that the show's producers ask the guests to inflate their responses in some kind of way. That makes for "better" TV viewing.
It is quite amazing that so many people in 'The New World' have so little understanding of the ethnic make-up of those territories. To think someone from Puerto Rico (or any south/central American country) would not have a substantial amount of Spanish heritage is astonishing.
That's why we have idiots like Kamala Harris running for President. She doesn't even where or been anywhere except India evert summer to visit her grandparents and living in Canada. Dense can easily describe 95 % of America.
I saw a non descript south American man do a dna test and found out he had no Northern European dna but loads Spanish dna. He celebrated and said , and I quote ‘ Yey I don’t come from coloniser blood ‘ 😂
@@stecaton1541 Yes, it's also amazing how little people know about their own history and the few that do know some, rarely understand it's context in the world at that time.
Does she even speak Spanish? It sounds like she doesn't. Because how the eff could you come from Puerto Rico (or even if it's just about the ancestry not the language) and not know that information? It's fine if she doesn't speak spanish, but still. You know what I mean?
So I love how it’s always affairs…. I wonder how many were actually rapes…it’s nice to spin it as love and kisses, but there is no way to know for sure.
Absolutely!!! The reason the romanticized story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings always frustrate me. The idea a slave who was a child would willingly fall in love with her slave master (who was a widower at that point) and have multiple children by him who all remained enslaved until his death (in his will he only freed the 2 older girls) defy common sense.
@@Liliarthan Slavery was a horrendous and cruel thing. But even then many people fell in love and fancied each other and babies appeared. And in our free world rape is a big evil and many people get born as a result.
10:17 this shows either extreme ignorance or Xtreme copium. Puerto Ricans by definition are a blend of Taino, African and Spanish. It's because the Spanish brought their African slaves there and bred them with the Taino that weren't already killed. For her to be Puerto Rican and be shocked her ancestor was a Spanish slave master would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
Isn’t she from the view and super pro reparations? If that’s the case she gona be super embarrassed, and poor if that actually goes through considering she’s got direct ties to the slave trade
@@Jimyjonescones most FBA have DNA from slave owners cause RAPE is a thing. It isn't like that ancestor married into the fam. Also reparations wouldn't pull from former slave holders. Why? Cause the money will come from the place that gave slave owners, native Americans, Japanese and Jews reparations. The only metric that matters when it comes to reparations is, are you direct FBA that's it.
I thought the same!!!! I don't understand how she thinks she is just Puerto Rican. Puerto Ricans are mixed Tainos, Africans and Europeans from Spain. Wow and you would think she's smart to know that how ridiculous
💯! I was looking for my mighty Zulu or African ancestors as an "African American". Nope! I'm related to President John Adams, President John Q Adams, President Fillmore, and President Taft. Also Abraham Lincoln's wife Mary Todd (through the Shelton line). She and I share grandparents. LOL It's life.
You are so right! She was hysterical,talking about how her mom couldn’t blame her for being lesbian anymore! On the Roots show, not her stand up routines
@@elizabetharnold5849 I saw where she found out she descended from freed indentured sevants, not slaves. Said it ruined her street cred. LOL And how she's married to a white woman with two white kids and how she's the maid around her house. Said she ruined her legacy. ROFLOL
@@ryanclarke7638 the same circumstances would probably be true of a white guest with a black ancestor. But if they acted disgusted like she did, their career would be immediately over.
@BetterMe981 Lord, you are a simpleton. You and I are most likely the result of r*pe in the distant past somewhere. That doesn't mean I'm a r*pe apologist. It means that history is full of people who did terrible things, great things, and everything in between. Just like us. It's pure narcissism when people judge the past with today's lens. It's not fair. And it doesn't take into account that given the same circumstances, you may have done the same. Humility is a wonderful quality.
@BetterMe981 Lol, of course not. You and I are most likely the result of a r*pe somewhere in the past. The people of history did terrible things, wonderful things, and everything in between. Just like us. It's pure narcissism to think, given the same circumstances, you wouldn't behave the same way. Again, human beings are flawed. Even you.
I hate the graceless self righteous modern people who take license to mock and ridicule the history of the formerly American enslaved and their descendants. Who apathetically only want to justify and falsely equate the evils, wrongs, misdoings of people long dead along with themselves....zero attempt to understand, zero compassion given yet want all the understanding and compassion for themselves.
This must be the Oz Caucasians insiders joke ☝🏽 🤷🏽♀️🙄 As an Original First Nations SURVIVOR of Australia (3% of us left); the colonisers, convicts & prostitutes descendants truly do thrive on exercising cognitive dissonance, cruelty & distortion to reinforce their systematic racist abuse. Fact: average Caucasian Australians have no idea where their ancestors lineages derived from. I ask the descendants: are you from the aristocracy or the convicts & prostitutes? They really don't shout royalty to me 😂
Blood is thicker than water, good to hold on to love. They certainly mistreated those they found there. A few generations ago humanity was rife with cruelty, don't over romanticize things.
I think i am royalty 😅😅😅I descend from James Squire the brewer. Convict + beer. Lol. Not many ppl know he was Romanichal Gypsy. And my 6 x GG was the Last Gypsy Queen Esther Faa Blythe. Even though research says the Gypsies of Yetholm were scoundrels I'm still so proud.
im australian, and my ancestors include john martin and john randall, two african-descended first fleeters, one likely a former slave in the usa. one married to others daughter by his irish wife. ... if only she had been accused of witchcraft...
I find it funny that all these light skin black people all think they are 100% black. I am light skinned, so I don’t pretend that I am 100% of Hispanic origins . My research shows just how mixed I am. I find it fantastic that my family didn’t see race as an issue and went for what they wanted regardless of the times.
Marriages of the past were commonly based upon religious dogma, convenience, desperate financial need, naïveté, and other fickle factors. Marriages were also typically filled with patriarchal domination and abuse. It is not surprising that infidelities took place on the part of both men (which was often known/accepted/excused) and women. People were searching for genuine connection and some sense of personal agency. They wanted life beyond duty and appearances-as we all do. Women get to be fully human and imperfect, too.
My grandmother ALWAYS said she was a descendant of Thomas Moore...well she was, but NOT THAT Thomas Moore. She also insisted that we were descendant from a particular pastor who made it into history books as the fighting parson. Well, she was wrong there too. Although there are several generations bearing the same exact name...the one son (of the pastor) that we were supposed to have descended from, never had kids (!) so that wasn't true either. I only found this out while doing genealogy work on my own, and by happenstance came across a distant cousin who informed me of the facts~and she had the paper trail to prove it. So much proof that the DAR actually edited some of their records. Genealogy has always fascinated me
My mom was adopted and while she found her bio mother she was never able to find more about her bio father than a name the egg donor provided. I took a DNA test through Ancestry after her death and found some second cousins on mom's side with names that didn't match up. Turns out egg donor either lied or was mislead about sperm donor's identity. One of the second cousins reached back out to me and we figured out who sperm donor was. That was a family that has a load of drama to this day.
Yeah my mother told everyone I died of a heart defect and then I was sold to a couple for 1000 dollars to a couple who should not have been given a humane society cat.
@@Nella87745 Egg donor = bio mom. The woman rejected my mom and caused her all sorts of rejection issues. I used "bio mom" first to establish who she was, and her bio dad = sperm donor possibly never even knew my mom existed. From what I can tell neither family knew about mom.
I have a friend who found her “first” (birth) mother. First mom identified the father as a guy she hooked up when he was on a break from the women he later married. He met her once but would not do a DNA test or anything. Years went by and then my friend gets a paternal DNA match to someone else entirely. First mom had legitimately misidentified the biological father! DNA tests were done and 1st mom wrote a letter of introduction to this guy she doesn’t remember sleeping with. My friend was born in 1978, so it wasn’t all that long ago. Bio dad turned out to be shocked but cool.
If there's a moral of the story, it's to not put any importance on your pedigree. You have no control over it, and it's easy to overcome. Not to mention, it could be embarrassing to discover the truth.
Agree! That just shows that these “celebs” want to keep a false perfect persona. Who cares what happened years ago. We are who we are and it’s because of the good, bad and ugly. WHO CARES!
@@joyslove3858For generations, people have been discriminated against for actions taken by their relatives, mental illnesses suffered by them, or by the identities or religions not in favor of the societies they lived in. Surely you are aware of this. It’s conditioning. We’ve worked hard to get away from that kind of thinking. But is it fair to call it posturing?
I love the ones that are faced with the fact they are what they've always hated, and they aren't what they thought they were. I think that's such a great life lesson. I'm proud of my people. All my people, even the crazy ones. They are why I'm here.
Man, this was just more proof that Levar Burton is a freaking gem. His thought was how the revelation could help bring the world together a little more. Just beautiful.
@godlygirls62 I think you should work on your reading comprehension. I didn't say what happened was beautiful. I said what he felt to do with the revelation. White people get away with it all the time.
That's a big truth in the US. It is the country of past slaves and slave owners. You can't just swipe off your roots. The racism there continues to be rather shocking, and it was the norm just the other day.
Can you imagine if someone white, like Diane Sawyer, or Nora O'Donnell for instance, learned she was 'one third Black' on national TV and spat out "You Take That Back!!!" Wouldn't that be considered a racist statement?
Keep acting dumb, pretending that being a slave owner and a victim of slavery were exactly the same thing. Do you feel better? You're embarrassing yourself.
@jls4382 exactly what I was thinking lol. I was scared to say it though. I'd actually think it would be really cool . I'm adopted and have no clue what or who I am, who knows what would show up for me!
I found out through Ancestry DNA that my great-great-grandmother who died in 1901 was having an affair with her neighbor. I matched with someone on Ancestry who was a "half third cousin" but should have been a full third cousin. We descended from two different siblings in that family. Turns out, the cousin had no trace of my great-great-grandfather's DNA, but a particular last name kept popping up on her matches. Census records indicated there was a guy living a few doors down with a family of his own who had that same last name.
That's how I found out about my biological grandfather. Apparently my grandmother had an affair with a married man, got pregnant with my mom, and married another man whom she passed off as my mother's father. I found out all this through DNA decades after the deaths of my mom and grandmother. I only match my cousin as a half first cousin.
Be careful about researching your ancestry. You just might find out that your relative was the "Town Butcher." And I do not mean the guy at the meat store.
What I love about this show is that it calls out all the altruistic people on their BS about oppression. And all it proves is that we just need to forgive, a move on. Because no matter how clean or righteous we are now, we have no reason or right to judge others because of the very general, and quite frankly vague, history based on their skin color.
One of the things I love about this show is that it takes some of these smug people down a notch. The ones who think they descend from Aristocrats find commoners (or even criminals) in their direct line, and Black activists who categorize White people as heirs to a bloody historical inheritance of slaveownership find out that THEY, too, are the descendants of slave owners and slave traders. Maybe someday we'll get back to accepting that NONE of us is responsible for what happened before we were even born, and that we're only responsible for our OWN behavior. It won't be anytime soon, but I can still enjoy this show.
"Black activists who categorize White people as heirs to a bloody historical inheritance of slave ownership find out that THEY, too, are the descendants of slave owners and slave traders." This comment is racist nonsense. All black Americans whose ancestors were in the United States before 1865 have at least a trace of European ancestry. But it's not something that black people consciously think about, because what difference does it make, if black people are the descendants of slave owners and slave traders? Not enough of a difference to change anything, except for the desire of white racists to say, "See? we have the same ancestry. That makes you just as responsible for endemic racism as we are."
Who's 'smug' here tho? None of these guests seemed particularly smug...except maybe Affleck, as demonstrated by his behaviour. And which of these guests believe they 'descend from aristocrats'? None of these participants mentions any such aristocratic ancestry, afaik. It would be an odd thing to believe unless they had actual evidence. And most Black Americans who have enslaved Black ancestors also knows they have some white ancestry as well...& quite possibly a slave-owner, in their past. In part because rape of Black women by white men was a ubiquitous aspect of slavery. All of it is tough to trace tho, because white people didn't consider Black people to be human beings prior to the 1870's--Black people were typically recorded as property by white people, & thus records are scant. So for example, Angela Davis certainly already knew she had white ancestors. That wasn't the 'incredible' aspect of her family tree. The incredible aspect, & what Ms Davis didn't know, is that she has a white ancestor who was one of those original handful who came over on the Mayflower.
@@tothelighthouse9843 I don't know that Davis did know. Her rhetoric at the time didn't seem self- aware . Extreme activists often refuse reality to pursue their activism. Narrow focus . It looked to me that Davis was personally ashamed that she had any white ancestor, let alone one that helped start the country she despises. She has a right to be embarrassed if she wants to.
I am surprised how some reacted to the different race of their ancestors . Considering they would Not have existed without them . History is unchanged past and can be unsettling even shocking but to seem ashamed ,bitter or denying is foolish. My ancestry is Black, white & Jewish and have always gotten a smile when I think of my past relatives.
On my husband's family history his 4th Great grandfather, Rezin Reed and 4th Great grandmother, Elizabeth Fordyce had his 3rd Great grandfather, William out of wedlock. On his birth certificate Elizabeth gave William her maiden name of Fordyce. A few months after he was born, they got married but they never changed William's last name to his father's last name of Reed. If they would have changed his name, then my husband's last name would be Reed rather than Fordyce. One decision had a direct effect on all of their descendants. Pretty amazing.
I did dig into my ancestry. It was wild. Ppl of all races, genders, religious backgrounds had major secrets back in the day. There was absolutely ZERO transparency. 😂 I had a 4x’s great grandmother than ran a house where gay couples could meet up and have drinks and whatever else they wanted to have. 😉 It was in England and in a time when you wouldn’t think that such a place even existed. It was shocking and I was actually a little proud of her after I found out why she opened the place up. It wasn’t for the money, it was because she believed that you love who you love and no one should be able to tell you that’s wrong (as long as it’s not children….she actually protested against child brides). 😊❤
Levar probably thought of Roots and Reading Rainbow's episode about slavery...but he was also right about discussing family history with others to help understand each other better.😊❤
Roots actually was proven wrong. White people didn't capture slaves. Black Africans captured the slaves and sold them. Black Africans had been running slavery long before the North Atlantic slave trade. Black Africans still own slaves.
Alex Haley, the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family, wrote, "I was just trying to give my people a myth to live by" in a private note to a critic. Haley also referred to the book as "faction".
Watch this whole episode. He was really upset he had white blood in him. His reaction was absolutely disgusting and if things were reversed he'd be cancelled for sure.
You’re not responsible for your ancestors. You had no control over what they chose to do. Any surprises should be at worst merely interesting. Getting upset about it is weird and pointless.
I completely agree. I get tired of hearing ppl whine that they don't know who they are, where they come from . YOU are he person that YOU choose to be. You are not your ancestors.
Amazing what we find out. Only a couple of my great grandfolks ever talked about thier parents (my 2great grandfolks) to thier kids. 3 of my great grandfolks were already gone before my parents were born. When I finally tracked my unknown 2great grandfolks (of 16) I discovered that 3 had dumped thier kids in orphanages, 1 of those had a second family later. Another 3 abandoned thier kids to be raised by single moms. Two of the men who dumped thier kids had long wrap sheets and were mentioned in local papers. 1 suffered from schizophrenia, and one died. The remaining 8 were fine. The number of dirtbag 2great grandfolks I have was unbelievable to me. No wonder why 5 of my great grandfolks never mentioned one or both of thier parents.
That's what I was thinking during Ben Affleck's part. He tried to hide that his ancestors owned slaves but why? He's not responsible and he has nothing to be ashamed of. But then, given the fact that he leans far to the left politically, I'm wondering if he has been supportive of reparations for descendents of slaves. If so, he might be pressured or feel a sense of pressure to pay reparations out of his own pocket. And as we know many people are very generous.....as long as isn't with their own money. I was also surprised by Levar Burton's reaction. He seemed disappointed and upset that he's just a wee bit Caucasian and that an ancestor served in the Confederacy. Such ridiculous reactions IMO.
@@66limelight Affleck: could be but it always seems to be about his image of himself. BTW, not all lefties are the same. I am very liberal but not woke or progressive. IMO, "reparations" is unworkable, and, frankly a ludicrous idea. I believe in free speech and JK Rowling, who is absolutely correct and NOT transphobic. Neither am I but hard science is against the notion of XY persons competing against XX persons. Old fascist men have no business deciding to change women's rights.
I have no idea who Sunny Hostins is, but if she thought herself Puerto Rican, who did she think the Spanish language spoken in the island came from? It should not be at all surprising that she has Spanish blood…. Her surprise only shows her level of ignorance about history and her origins… 🙄
She is someone who believes "white" people owe reperations to "black" people. She believes she is still owed reperations even thou it was proven that her family moved to Puerto Rico taking their plantation of slaves with them after their home country out lawed slavery. She is a host on the View.
She is only 7% indigenous Puerto Rican. In the island many make a proud fuss about having native blood and never about their heritage from Spain. She thought of herself as half Puerto Rican, so she expected less than 25% Spaniard.
I have some thoughts. 1) Any white person who takes pride in descending from among the first Europeans in America shouldn't t be surprised that there are slaveowners somewhere in their past, even if their family wasn't from the South 2) Anyone with Puerto Rican ancestry shouldn't be surprised to see Iberian/Spanish DNA in their own. 3) Anyone who knows that they descend from the slave trade shouldn't be surprised that they also have some European DNA as it's well known that slave owners are known to have raped their female slaves. There are definitely some rarer surprises here like having free black ancestors who were slave owners themselves, but most of these things aren't that surprising.
And any white person whose ancestors did not have slaves should not be made to feel guilty for crimes they did not commit. And any white person today whose ancestors did have slaves should not be made to feel guitly for crimes they did not commit. No Puerto Rican today should be made to feel guilty for crimes they did not commit. No black person today should be made to feel guilty for crimes they did not commit.
The part I always find surprising is when someone like Gayle King or Angela Davis act surprised when they find out they have white ancestors. Ok Halle Berry and Bryant Gumble.
@@johnlabus7359 Once you know it, you recognize the probability. But many people didn’t pay enough attention in school, or just weren’t taught those correlative facts. They’ve kept away from history. Their understanding of personal history is limited to what they were told. Once one window is open, and you look out of it, more windows open.
While it’s truth some don’t want to hear they are truth none-the-less. However, the question (specific to slave owners, traders), should the descendants be punished for their ancestors? Should they be treated as if they are the evil? I understand the sins of the father haunt the sins of the son, but the question is - should it?
My grandma use to say when you point your finger at someone else (judgement) be careful cuz you’ve got 3 pointing right back at ya! (Point and see what I mean). Maybe we should check our real history before we hardball-criticize others, huh??! 🤔😉😁
Crazy how many people don’t know the difference between nationality and ethnicity. Historically, Puerto Rico (like most Hispanic countries) have white European bloodlines, native bloodlines, black African bloodlines, and the various mixed ratios of previously mentioned bloodlines.
My mother was Polish. During the Polish-Russian war, her parents were taken away in the middle of the night for harboring a Jewish family. She was sent to a work camp. Her brother was a military pilot that she understood to have been shot down. This is all we know of our family history. My mother never wanted to talk about her life. I wish I could afford a genealogist to find out what exactly happened.
You may not need to hire a professional genealogist you can to sign up to one of the companies like Ancestry, their systems will identify other people genetically related to you that you can contact.
These celebrities act as well in this show, as they do in their movies..😂 Like the irony of Lavar Burton's situation, seeing he starred in "Roots" and all..geesh
As a European I've never seen this show or even heard of it, but it seems really interesting. It's also a little surprising Americans apparently don't know/realize that a lot of people leaving Europe for America were criminals 😅 It makes sense if you think about it tho. A new continent was discovered with new dreams and new economic opportunities to be explored. Who needed this most? The people with the least opportunities in Europe. If you were already successful here you didn't need the American dream. That was mostly interesting for people of lower economic classes and convicted felons who didn't get a fair shot here after their sentence was served.
That may apply to the English speaking colonies but I can assure you that when it comes to the Spanish territories in the Americas (they were never colonies since they all formed integral part of Spain) being allowed to emigrate there was for centuries a privilege from which the convicted criminals and outcasts were most certainly excluded. A very few with resources (at a time where most people were poor) may have bribed their way anyway, but generally speaking the authorities checked who went there and barred those not deemed worthy. One of the many differences between the English and Spanish approach. I have to add that this changed in the 19th century though. Once these territories gained independence and became nations, the admittance was set at a very low bar; actually there was none whatsoever. I'm sure many undesirable Spaniards (together with undesirable French, Italians, Syrians, Germans, Libanese... etc) migrated there, wishing to start a new life.
@rebelragz9431 my ancestors came a few decades before the potato famine, but the English were already encouraging emigration. The cost of passage for a family from Ireland to Canada was extremely cheap
@@gracedelreal4955 from what I understand they were sponsored by her sister and her husband. I hope I explain this correctly, my 3rd great grandmother and her sister married brothers. So her sister and her brother in law (her husband’s brother) were already in New Brunswick. I went to the Ulster American Folk Park in County Tyrone. They had a portion of a famine ship on display. After what the historian told me about the voyages all I could do was cry. There were 4 children and two adults. My 3GG was 4 her baby brother was just 6 months old. They all survived. According to the historian, that was highly unlikely. When I research my people and everything they did, I feel like a bum.
It’s fascinating how generations can switch from criminal to pillars of society. My kids’ dad had a dad who had a long criminal record and was a horribly abusive dad, but all the grandkids turned out to be super talented and well-loved people who contribute wonderfulness to the world.
It baffles me that brown skinned Afro Americans are surprised that they have some white ancestry. Most African American and Caribbean people are mixed to some extent. Compare Will Smith and Hounsou Djimon.
Judging by skin complexion is not a good indicator of African or European admixture ancestry as many Africans themselves are not even Dark skinned. Having lighter skin is “not always indicative” of European ancestry for Black American people.* The Igbo people of Southeast Nigeria as well as the Fulani people have many lighter skinned people within their ethnic groups. Many Black Americans are also descended from those two aforementioned African ethnic groups.
@@DarrenMoore-le6pg You are 100% correct, I have Cameroon & Congo Bantu and Northern Africa in my blood along with Spanish, Mexico, Azorean and European. My father looks Spanish (claims Portugal blood) my mother looks Brazilian (birth land) both of them have medium complexion. I am white as a ghost with blue eyes.
My favorite was the youngest NCAAP president. He found out he was white and his black ancestors were big time slave owners in the 1700s. He was super pissed about being white but not the slaves.😂
@@bradbutcher3984 You're talking about Ben Jealous, who is 80% white yet still calls himself "black". That was the biggest joke and act of self-hated that I've ever seen.
It seems like the takeaway from this show should be that we can’t be responsible for the mistakes of our ancestors, we have to look towards a better future, but too many people look in the past. There have been so many mistakes throughout history, it’s inevitable that every person will find something they don’t like in their ancestry.
Exactly right on point. Just because there was no social media to report our ancestors missteps does NOT mean that they lived their lives with perfect behavior. They, too, were human.
I think it's invaluable learning lessons from our ancestors mistakes. Certain traits repeat I families. My mothers family tend to be barristers (lawyers in the UK). We know that one of our ancestors was the Bloody Judge and we've been telling our kids about him for generations as a warning. Instead of serving the law, he served the king and political ambitions of friends to hunt down all of the participants of a peasant rebellion. He was brutal and cruel. And this wasn't the only example of him being a cruel person who only used the parts of English law that served his purposes and ignored those parts that would have served the people. So much of my family are still involved in law, it's important we remember him and aspire to be much better than him. We also have much better examples in our family ancestry that we can be proud of and we share those stories too. It's just worthwhile learning from our mistakes in order not to abuse any status we rise to in life. It's easy to remember the composers, the politicians and writers in our ancestry. But we need to remember the ordinary farmers and those who abused their positions of power too.
I think an equally important thing to take away from this is maybe people need to stop running around judging other groups and people and backgrounds thinking they're better. You have no real idea what's lurking in your own. We are far more alike than we are different.
Agree. It's like accusing German kids today that they are responsible for what happened during WW2. A documentary came out not so long ago about adults today, that were never told of their role in that period. They were devasted and shocked.
I find the unhappy reaction of some black people to finding that they had white blood interesting. When country singer Clint Black discovered he had black blood, he said he was excited and liked having the connections. Rosanne Cash, Johnny Cash's daughter, said it made her feel "badass." Carly Simon said she could not wait to tell her sisters. Joe Manganiello said, "It's opened up this whole world." Genetically, we can't be, but we are and should carry that pridefully.
I think maybe it’s because of the implication of how it would’ve happened. It wasn’t uncommon for slave owners to assault and impregnate female slaves. I guess if I found out I was a product of something as terrible as that, I would be upset and feel sorry for the ancestor that was assaulted, potentially. What a sad world humans have made this place:(
Most Black people are proud to be Black (might only consider a dab of Native American desirable). The terrible treatment colonizing people have historically and currently given Black people don't make being part non-melanated palatable.
I'm 61. My DNA shows my dad's family and my surname is not my surname. My dad's dad is a person I never heard of. My sister and I always said Dad didn't look anything like the pictures of his father. Now we know why...
Why would someone from Puerto Rico be surprised to find that they have Spanish roots? I’m not embarrassed by the actions of those who came before. Why should I be? Interesting reactions from the African American people featured here when they find they have white ancestors.
Would YOU ever want to dig into your ancestry? Let us know below, and be sure to also check out our video of the Top 10 Most Dramatic Moments on Finding Your Roots - th-cam.com/video/Ym3vguksREI/w-d-xo.html
I would love to be able to have stuff like this figured out for us a large part of my family tree is missing and several of us can't figure it out
Funny, I don't recall the passengers of the Mayflower being big slavers. Other than their being 400 years difference why would people of the Mayflower differ so much from their great granddaughter? In fact, weren't the passengers of the Mayflower fleeing oppression?
I already know my great grandfather was a crook. He took his family on the run. They had to squat in a cellar. By all accounts his wife, my great grandmother, was a saint, putting up with him. I wonder if she was too ashamed or just resigned to her lot? Because in those days you didn't get divorced and as a mother of seven she couldn't exactly leave, not in those days
I have tested mine & family DNA and found previously unknown information. But nothing as shaking as some of these.
Well, except for that one curiosity I have not puzzled out yet.
I would want help tracing my family tree. I have done a lot of research, but I am looking for confirmation of what I have found. I am working on the confirmation but would like some help.
A nice reminder that if you go back far enough we're all related to heroes and villians, commoners and kings.
That England sent crooks to the U.S. makes "Florida man" make sense 😂
@@cherylmaden5989
😂😂😂
And each other
We aren’t all related but we may have a single piece of DNA in common which isn’t indicative of direct lineage. This is disclosed when you take DNA tests and it shows a result like say Charlemagne as a relative isnt a direct relative but that most Europeans share a single strand in common.
And Outlaws
How could Sunny not know that she'd have Spanish ancestry if all Puerto Ricans are a mix of indigenous Taino, Africans, and Spaniards? There is no such thing as "Puerto Rican" DNA markers. It'd be a mix of Caribbean indian, European, and African. I though everyone knew this.
She lied to herself.
Yes, people from the Caribbean are some of the most genetically ambiguous people in the Western Hemisphere. Sad that US history classes ignore the history right off the southern coast of Florida as if we don't celebrate Columbus Day when he never set one shoe on the continental US..
Too bad that US history classes don't even mention much about the history just South of Florida, as if we don't celebrate Columbus day even though he never set foot in the continental US. People from the Caribbean are some of the most ethnica//y ambiguous people in the Western Hemisphere because of that history.
i mean... just LOOK at her .... looks Latin.
To only rely on history class for your education about anything is pure laziness. Sunny Hostin is a grown adult who should have an understanding of many things beyond what the classroom may have taught her.
I was working as a photojournalist, and I was covering a big annual arts event in Laguna Beach, California. I saw Lavar Burton with his wife, and I asked if I could get a photo of them for the newspaper. He was reluctant, and he said his wife was distracted with something else at the moment, but he'd find me later so I could take the picture. Naturally I thought he was brushing me off, but about 30 minutes later, he found me and said they were ready to have their picture taken. Lavar Burton is a class act.
It's LeVar, and yeah he's an awesome guy 👍
That's all very nice, he's also a racist MFer!
@@edwardfletcher7790 It's actually LeVar not Levar.
@@imagesinla8575 Cheers, fixed 🙏
@@imagesinla8575 It's actually La Forge
It's always amazing to see obviously mixed people "Shocked" to discover that they are genetically part European...
no one is mixed....smh
@@virtuouslady5679 Actually, everyone's mixed.
Exactly.
Ikr?!
@kyontherocks that's just not true. There are 100 percent people.
This lady was half Puerto Rican....and she was SHOCKED that she had Spaniard Slave owner ancestors....really? Shocked.... we Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans all know this...
Puerto Rican is a nationality not an ethnicity
Just wondering. it implies that ALL Spanish inhabitants of Puerto Rico were slave owners, which I highly doubt.
Yeah. She didn't come off as very knowledgeable. In the picture,her mother looked mostly white, which would mean her mother is mostly Spanish.
bro known nothing of puerto rico. XD soooo american she thinks puertorican are a race that poofed out of thin air
I loved it when they find out they have white Ancestors and they have Ancestors who were slave owners, the shock on there faces, is a thousand words 🤣. The Democrats all come from slave owners ?
I was adopted and found my birth mother before DNA companies started. My birth mother told me who my father was. I had a half sister that was born before me so I signed up for every DMA site possible. The father that my mother had listed lived in Georgia and absolutely none of my relatives lived in or near Georgia. I finally decided that what she had told me was false. I hired a genetic genealogist and found my real father. Though he was deceased it was absolutely amazing. I was abandoned by my mother at one month and placed in foster care. I was adopted by a highly abusive family where, outside of school, I worked day and night. My father was abandoned by his mother at the age of one, then placed in an orphanage. He was taken out by his uncle when he was old enough to work on the farm. He was abused and worked to the bone. Talk about your generational trauma. Good news is I met my half sister (his daughter) and we aren’t physically alike but our personalities are amazingly similar.
Similar. Both sides were whacked😂❤😂
How sad. My mother was also a horribly abusive woman. I used to wish someone would adopt me. Oh well. I survived but I never loved my mother.
That's a tough start.
Wishing you all healing ❤
@@JeanetteFaithSo sad to read what people have suffered. I had wonderful parents and wonderful parents in law. I was blessed. 🇬🇧
Did Suni know nothing of Puerto Rico’s history before the show? 😂
Exactly lol made mo sense as Puerto Rico is Spanish and black mixed
Average American ...
Puerto Rico is a melting pot of beautifulness. So many parts of the world, so many cultures into one that proudly say “We are Puertorricans even if we were born on the moon”. Our ancestry is rich and skin color means nothing, to ancestry we say “and your grandma, where is she” again, meaning we are a melting pot, a gorgeous melting pot. 🇵🇷❤️🇵🇷
@@gorillaonbarscalisthenics2866and also arawak indian
well they dont teach anything about the island in American schools
Viola is a giant of a person. "Silence is always interesting..." That's strong.
After my father passed away I found out his Great Grandfather was born a slave, in South Carolina 1836 He escaped slavery and fought in the Civil War not once but Twice. I have been on a journey to find out more about my dad's side of the family.
Bless him.
Yes, my roots are traced back to Augustine Washington, Jr. (George's half-brother).Both my paternal and maternal great-grandfathers served in 54th of Massachusetts during Civil War. Our family was always fortunate to have preserved genetic/historical records. Also, not to be mean-spirited, but just wanted to correct you...he was born INTO slavery, rather than born a slave. We are all born free, created in the image of God. It's man's evil ignorance that can sometimes interfere with that. ❤
What is your racial appearance & how do you identify today?
I am white, however, no one really knew about my great great grandfather. I am fortunate that a cousin of mine found out the truth about my family. My great grandfather was white, while my great grandmother was mixed, according to the census marked her as black. After the civil war mixed races could not marry however, they found a way to be married all the same. My great great grandfather was on the steps when Lincoln signed the emancipation, approximate was signed in 1863.I have a picture of my great great grandfather, his daughter (my great grandmother) and a photo of my grandmother. My great great grandmother was a very beautiful lady and I wished I could have met my grandmother but she passed 2 months before I was born. My great great grandfather fought along with General Custer.
Your right, but my great great grandfather was born in Charleston South Carolina, and he was listed as a slave. He escaped slavery by hiding in the cargo area of a ship and we went on a boat.by the means of the Erie Canal. He found freedom in Onondaga County NY
This is an awesome show, but these people are millionaires. They get presented with this beautiful book with expensive research -- which they can afford. I'd rather watch a show where this is done for those who can't afford it.
Years ago, I requested a quote from Ancestry for help finding the lineage of a single individual ancestor, and was quoted $2500
Serious question. Are these people celebrities?
I only recognised two or 3 names.
They are celebrities in their field... never a fan of van halen so no big deal to me.. most "guests" are lefties so fawn over and they DO fawn over them for rateings, but it is always fun to see the black sheep trotted out only because once the bones are dug up, they cant be buried again in the digital age... i remember a research project where like this show, they compared the "respectable" line of a historical person with the illegitimate like of the children of his mistress. As many famous people came from the "respectable" side as criminals of repute frim the dark side... it was an interesting article
Are all these people millionaires? Not all celebrities are millionaires.
You’d be surprised what celebrities actually get paid.
I printed out all the documentation I could find and made my own scrapbook. I got the idea from seeing that black book. I laminated most to preserve and are thinking of gifting the different branches of our family. There is a thrill whenever I find new information.
Angela Davis story was the most shocking . I'm sure after hearing her ancestors coming on The Mayflower was not something she ever expected.
This is what makes me laugh, why would you be embarrassed about being descended from refugees fleeing religious persecution, unless are you just obsessing about their skin colour?
@@catinthehat906 if you know who she is it's was shocking
The woman is obviously Mulato ( Black and White mix) why would she be surprised is beyond me! 🤔
@@celticmulato2609because usually those roots doesn’t go back like. It’s usually a slaveowner using their property and their ancestors just go back to Europe. Considering her being a life long civil rights activist, it’s shocking to have ancestors from the mayflower. A story that is foundational to American propaganda.
@modvsone No its not shocking! She is obviously Mixed race and alot of American Mulattoes are in denial of their European heritage and looking at her I highly doubt it had anything to do with a slave master as slavery ended in 1865 and that Gates would have mentioned that if it was the case. All that woman had to do is just look at her family and look at herself in the mirror and notice that real or most or predominantly Black peoples don't look like her ; she is just feigning surprise just like Sunny Holstein was surprised that her mum is White and has Spanish ancestry despite being from Puerto Rico.
Being a black American and being suprised that you have a white ancestor is crazy to me. Also all familys have secrets at some point, none of this is that wild.
I wish everyone could access their own family history despite cost. I think everyone deserves to learn about their direct ancestors, even more so adoptees. Wishing everyone love
There's numerous sites available online you can use for your search for free
You can if you take time to go to a library or do some research. The records are there, and you can also order documents at a low fee. To go way back into the 1600's may require a genealogist tho depending on your background.
You can do it yourself for free. All you need is a metro library account to access their genealogy websites. Without the library card, you'd have to pay. Fold3 and Ancestry are amazing
My great 6:29 kept a diary since she was a child. And through her daughter I was able to find out about my Great Great grandfather who was a slave and enlisted in the Cicil War when Lincoln allowed African Americans to join the Union Army. He enlisted, then he was transferred to the Navy and came home a freed man and was able to purchase land along with his 2 brothers in law. I also have an official government record of his slave owner filing for and receiving reparations for losing her " slave" due to his enlistment. I also have letters that he wrote when he was trying to receive his Naval pension.
@@skywalker6648 unfortunately for Polynesians like me it's not really possible since Polynesians have no written language and everything passed down is through oral history. which means by the time it comes to you, the story and the details have most likely significantly changed. at least my descendants can know about me since i live and grew up in America.
Finding your roots -- where light skinned black Americans are shocked, shocked, to find out they have a white ancestor.
Not so strange.Slave women were raped by white plantation owners.
Fr😂
That is because the concept of the one drop rule is emblazoned on the consciousness of American identity. Being any sort of black is an exclusion from whiteness. So finding out you are not purely black when you are embracing the only identity socially afforded to you when you chose to follow those rules can be breaking of ones mind. The one drop rule is exclusionary not including. Its to not acknowledge humanity of a people by their skin or heritage by another people who have afforded themselves privilege, power and primacy. Its artificial and increasingly becoming obsolete. Largely because science has verified all life came from " black" Sub-Saharan African land. However, they have not dare publish that because of this new scientific reality that by virtue of the very one drop rule. It has made all Americans constitionally Black.
@@aashleyainlong4191very well said
Ikr?
My sister has spent years researching our history. She went back to the 1500's I believe. We found we are descended from a man named Christoph Froschauer who was the first printer of the Zurich bible in 1531.
Our history on my father's side abruptly came to a halt sometime in the 1700s due a male ancestor in what is now Germany fleeing military conscription from one German state to another disguised as a woman, taking on his mother's maiden name (my surname). We don't know who his father was, but I'm guessing he was born "illigitamate". Personally I feel no shame in this, but rather just find it interesting.
😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😅😅
@@PolferiferusII Good, none of us need be shamed by anything our ancestors did. We had no say in the matter.
@@garthwright4064 _...none of us need be shamed by anything our ancestors did. We had no say in the matter._
Exactly, try to teach that to Ben Affleck... :)
@@garthwright4064 How do you feel about taking pride in having VIP ancestors?
In old age I discovered that everything I'd believed about my ethnicity wasn't true. I always believed my European roots were from Ireland. I do have Irish DNA, but I am much more English and Scottish. I had no idea that my ancestors were from either nation. I also have many Dutch ancestors, too.
On top of this shock, my genealogy is incredibly well documented as I descend from more famous people than you can shake a stick at, and that includes famous people from both sides of the Pond. My ancestors fill the pages of history books. I had no idea about any of this, until genealogy data became so readily available in the past couple of years. I can trace my family back for hundreds and hundreds of years. Truly all of this has astonished me.
Be wary of fake, for profit, genealogy. Im supposedly descended from the Duke of Marlboro. Yea, sure. I don't buy it for a minute.
Which test did you do? I'm english born and bred with one irish grandfather. My irish shows up, but the rest shows as scandinavian mainly. I've found that many english people get this too, where english just doesn't seem to show up on dna tests.
@@ellehan3003I had the opposite experience. Most of my family has heavily mixed European DNA, but I got 97% English & Irish. Wasn't exactly a shock that I had a lot since my dad is literally English and on my mom's side her moms family were Irish immigrants. But both my parents are 30-40% French/German as well, and I only got 3%. They both have a small amount of African heritage as well. My husband is Indian and he got 99.9% South Indian so I do believe in the tests but no clue how I'm nearly a purebred 😂
My mother always said old people have some deep secrets.
Fact is, talking about certain things could result in serious consequences, even death back then.
Oh my goodness! My sister used to work in a nursing home and she said those deathbed confessions were something else.
The boomer generation and above are the Keepers of Secrets. Sadly, most of the secrets get found out and they can be severely traumatizing for the ones who stumble upon the truth.
and deep secretions.
@@DavidNefelimSlayer Probably just you. Must run in the family, lol.
Sonny Hostin didn't know her ancestors were Spanish? Well, where does she think Puerto Ricans come from?
“I always thought of myself as Puerto Rican. I didn’t think my family was originally from Spain “ like yes sweetie you are still Puerto Rican but Puerto Rico was colonized by Spain almost all of
Latin America has. Has she never opened a history book? 💀💀💀
Magic
Now you know why she qualifies to be on “The View”
@@bananasmoothie5960
DemonCrats open a history book? Never happen.
How can a college graduate not know the relation between
Spain and Puerto Rico? Oh well, that is our education system.
Hahaha...yup
Puerto Ricans are mix of European, African, and Taino. Of course, there most be ancestors involved in the slave trade. It may be hard to accept, but it is history.
Regardless Sunny has whitened herself up from her college days! 😮
@@samanthab1923….thats your negative view of her. She’s married to another mixed person like herself and adores her very multiracial and multiethnic children. I share a mixed heritage like Sonny’s and l detest when strangers make derogatory statements based on their own bigotry and envy.
@@Mimi-ht6xr But you can see the difference in the photos, right? It’s like a different person. So what’s up with that?
@@samanthab1923 I legit don't know what you're seeing? Are you talking about the black and white picture? Like, huh? If you're talking about the photo with her parents, she actually looks lighter in that photo.
@@LemGray Her features look blacker to me sorry
Why are people so surprised to learn there are white or black or asian ancestors is ridiculous. Dont they realize we all have thousands of ancestors??
Well depends. If you are a blonde and blue eyed, it would be surprising to have an Asian ancestry. The ones who should not be surprised are the “people of color” having white ancestry is they live in the New World. My family is from Mexico. Knowing basic World History it isn’t surprising that most of us are mix.
Exactly
@@MrSophire even then.. my family is white, lots of blondes and blue eyes too. There's still African heritage in the DNA results.
@@lavenderoh Yes but I said it would be more of an excuse to be surprise. Asians would also have more of an excuse but Blacks and Latin America have no excuse knowing history. Some of these people had very lite skin and they are shock they have European blood in there.
Puerto Rican shocked by having Spanish ancestry🤦♀️
Yeah this show makes some of these celebrities look stupid. How laver Burton could be surprised to be mixed with European is astounding
Sunny Hostin’s reaction is priceless. Thinking that when your mother is from Puerto Rico you must be half native Puerto Rican. Madre Mia 😂
Puerto Rico is a nation not a race.
There may have been some native people but they would have been one of the carribean tribes native to there, they would call themselves by their tribal name..the fact that sunny doesn't know that despite being from Puerto Rico is astounding to me
@@Dee_nyce How is it a nation? It's part of the USA.
@@gilmer3718
That didn't come about until recent history! Puerto Rico is an island
@@gilmer3718 It is an annex of the US.
I am related to Malcom X, a fact my grandmother thought was not really worth mentioning. She was surprised anyone in the family found this interesting when it eventually somehow came up.
Grandma, what the hell?! 😂
Lol.
You were caught with a mistress too, ehy?
cjoseph...please read Alex Haley's Book, Malcolm X if you haven't already...then for further reading, martin and malcolm and america by james cone. The books are so much better than the movies, because they do not leave out anything. Mr. Shabazz and his family will Bless you. Truth is powerful. Be Blessed.
sunny: ''wow i didnt know i was Spanish'' her mom literally being light skinned and blonde
We are who we are. We become what we choose
Wise words
I like your idea!
enslaved chose to be enslaved? oppressed chose to be oppressed? how privileged is your mindset?
Bravo
I don't think anyone can claim they are of a single race or ethnicity. Humans have been moving around, meeting travelers and neighbors alike, and otherwise connecting to others since humans left Africa. We all have ancestors from a wide range of places, classes, and traditions. I hope Angela Davis joined the Mayflower Society!
I have a distant ancestor from somewhere in Africa, named 'Lucy'. Short little lady, I understand.
@@d.e.b.b5788 While many people have seemed to have inhabited the fringes of their societies and are cheerfully mixed up, there are lots of thorougbreds.
@@jenniferburns2530 The only thing I’m 100% of is European according to Ancestry, but then again that’s changed 4 times since I joined. 😂. Don’t get too comfortable in what you think you are because it’s bound to change.
I have cousins in Ireland who are 100% Irish. I'm only 50%.
@@jenniferburns2530 but we know most likely our ancestors were RAPED! There were LAWS, actual LAWS FOR MURDERING AND RAPING BLK WOMEN! It comes from a different place! I know why yt folks are upset! If BLK folks have white in their family it’s because of RAPE!
That Sunny was Puerto Rican and was surprised to find out she was part Spanish? WTF? How stupid is that.
well,,,,,,,,she is a democrat
A college graduate does not know what part of the world that Spain colonized???
History is not taught any more.
being part white goes against her very public agenda
She's no MENSA candidate....
She is black with spanish heritage. You are what your dad is.
It slightly irritates me when light skinned black people are surprised/shocked that they have European ancestry.
I'm 75. What I think I might find (based upon the relatives I've met) they were probably all escaped from an insane asylum. It's okay. Times were hard back then.
I can relate to that statement!
Those asylums were used to house all sorts of sad cases.... depression & anxiety was seen as reason to commit people even in mid-20th century. Even the British royal family has this in their lineage.
@@Wyz369 Sadly the humor went over your head, or you are humorless.
😂 nice take!
😅
My mom always suspected her father wasn't her father. She wondered if it was a certain friend of the family. All she knew about him was that he was French. The father she knew was Irish. Well, I did the spit test in 2018. Turns out there's no Irish blood, but I'm 25% French.
My mom thinks she is not related to her parents because she was abused a lot, and there was favoritism for her siblings. I believe it's possible because there is another relative who was adopted even though the family was poor. I want to know if it's the truth.
which test did you take? i dont think my dad is my dad either and we do not have a close relationship. i was gonna do a siblings test with a "sister" i have on my "dad's" side
@@actual_doge3221 same exact situation with me. and the parents that i have refuse to help me get a DNA test. red flag number 1
My husband's grandmother was very angry about his 23andme. Her dad couldn't be her dad. And other family members said that it had been a rumor when she was a kid.
@@grassfedcharlieeven without their help, you should still do the DNA!
You'll find out what you need by omission. Good luck!
Man, Blanche took it better when Dorothy told her that she had a relative born in Buffalo & that she was Jewish.
LMAOOOOOOO 💀💀💀
After my grandmother died a few years ago, my dad found a picture of his great great grandfather... From Rochester NY. He is still genuinely distressed by the idea of being the descendant of a yankee. It has given me such joy 😂
@@kevinriley6320 Lord, I remember that episode! 😆
“…a yankee doodle dandy!” 😂
99 percent of this dna was forced on little black slave girls.
I think that while the more palatable answer is Grandma/Great Grandma/etc had an affair, it’s important to acknowledge that there is always a distinct possibility that it was not a consensual act. SA reports are low now, imagine what they were 50, 100, 200 years ago.
This was my first thought. I guess it is more palatable to assume your Grandmother had an affair than that she was a victim of the alternative.
My great grandmother was a Baker, related to Norma Jean Baker. Aka Marilyn Monroe -she’s my third cousin. After I found out, whenever I see her, I think cousin Marilyn.
Norma Jean Morrison
@@RonGerstein Mortensen. She's my cousin, too!
Mortensen was made up in birth certificate because she wanted to name Mortensen as her father even tho he probably wasn't.
She my 8th cousin apparently.
No one cares or is impressed as much as you think they do.
Neil being excited about his ancestor burning at the stake doesn't surprise me considering he thought a dead Amy Winehouse cake was a good idea for a Halloween cake after her death.
Yeah, he doesn’t impress me as being very smart. Me…… I would have been shocked and dismayed at knowing an ancestor had been burned at the stake. What a horrific way to die, and he laughs.
My immediate thought too
Neil Patrick is a gay bobble head,,,another Blu kennedy😂
Very creepy.
Yikes I forgot about that
“They met on up” is in everyone’s back story. Lol
I learned as a teen that my great grandfather killed a man, stole a horse and fled to the Dakotas. He changed his last name to the name of the man he killed (my last name should have been Schultz) I found this interesting, my brother went ballistic and could talk of nothing but being descended from a murderer for days. It was not my or my brothers doing, it was two generations before us. That was demonstration of how differently people react.
Right! I'm adopted and learned that my uncle on my mother's side was a monster. He SA'd my birth mother with his friend when she was 18 after both of their parents had died. Later, hehad a baby with a woman he would beat and tried to sell his daughter on the black market for drugs. Suffice it to say, I hope he's dead, but it has nothing to do with who I am as a person.
@@Itsakindamagic that’s crazy. My ancestral roots on one side had 3 people on the Mayflower (including one that got so drunk he fell off and the ship’s records showed there was a debate as to whether to go back and save him. My other side had a murderer and several thugs. It’s interesting but not pertinent to my life.
My native American ancestors participated in executing my husband’s 8x grandfather (Colonel William Crawford) by making him the first white man burned at the stake by Indians. The crime they revenged with his gruesome death was the horrific slaughter of an entire village of dedicated pacifists. Only 2 young boys escaped. The sad part was, they got the wrong Colonel.
Villain arc 😂
@teschchr122 It's not about being pertinent to life, but about comprehending your life proceeded from treachery.
So, a light brown celeb finds there's a white ancestor and they are actually surprised. Really? I could look at each one and tell them that without doing a ancestry background.
Yes because black people come in all shades. There are tribes in Africa with light skin and no European ancestry or you know could be Hispanic or Asian. White people aren't the only ones in earth with naturally light skin. Use your brain
So what? Are you saying that black Americans should be consciously aware of their European ancestry in the same way that they're consciously aware of their African ancestry? If they were, what would change? They would still not be white, but they would still be black, right?
@@hwgray Triggered much?
Most of us aren't surprised that we have Euro ancestry, irregardless of skin color, because slavery was nasty in colonial & the U.S. of America. We're not even shocked on the how--because, again, slavery was nasty here.
What we are often shocked by is how it connects to our overall history. Sunny, for example, thought she was more indigenous than Spaniard--since indigenous native people in the Caribbean & the Americas varied by skin hue. It must have been shocking to her to learn she descended from conquistadors.
@@jinakaye Slavery was particularly brutal in all cases on every continent all throughout time. Very few, if any, people of the world escaped slavery in all of its forms and brutality. In truth, the American slaves had it better, in terms of brutality, than untold millions throughout the world and time.
I did an Ancestry DNA test...turns out I was adopted!
Changeling, swapped at birth, mix-up in the maternity ward...
Explains a lot...I always stood out at family gatherings.
Wow! Did you find out who your biological parents are?
Wow. That's a lot.
That's amazing. Did you always have a hunch that might be the case or was it a life shattering moment when you found out? Could you find any biological relatives in any DNA database? Did you find out how the 'changeling' happened and who your biological parents are?
You have an interesting story to tell, if you ever feel like it. I think I speak for everyone when I say we'd like to know more :)
Be careful about researching your ancestry. You just might find out that your relative was the "Town Butcher." And I do not mean the guy at the meat store.
I’m Henry Gates, Jrs daughter, and this thread is amazing! Great show, great dad
He is a keeper. Enjoy all of his work
Mr. Gates would be a very kick ass father in law.Are you married? Asking for a friend
I don’t watch this show bc primarily they only do black people. It’s a racist show.
Your dad is so brilliant ❤
I had a black friend many years ago who told me that almost all American-born blacks have white ancestors, some living. He knew his white grandfather. I figured this must be common knowledge among blacks, but apparently not.
I have an Afro American friend who's grandparents are a White Man and an Afro Woman...... this was 1940's South so they moved to California
It is common knowledge, this is a written TV show. The director encourages extreme shocked reactions. How old are you to believe what you see on TV from actors and actresses?
Surely there are surprises here, but the "shock" is overblown...
The ones upset are racist against themselves lol 😂
Not if it was YOUR story!
@@keithkoenig5320 everyone is mixed, people need to realize that.
It IS a TV show, so I imagine that the show's producers ask the guests to inflate their responses in some kind of way. That makes for "better" TV viewing.
It is quite amazing that so many people in 'The New World' have so little understanding of the ethnic make-up of those territories. To think someone from Puerto Rico (or any south/central American country) would not have a substantial amount of Spanish heritage is astonishing.
That's why we have idiots like Kamala Harris running for President. She doesn't even where or been anywhere except India evert summer to visit her grandparents and living in Canada. Dense can easily describe 95 % of America.
I saw a non descript south American man do a dna test and found out he had no Northern European dna but loads Spanish dna. He celebrated and said , and I quote ‘ Yey I don’t come from coloniser blood ‘ 😂
@@stecaton1541 Yes, it's also amazing how little people know about their own history and the few that do know some, rarely understand it's context in the world at that time.
Does she even speak Spanish? It sounds like she doesn't. Because how the eff could you come from Puerto Rico (or even if it's just about the ancestry not the language) and not know that information? It's fine if she doesn't speak spanish, but still. You know what I mean?
Has no one had a history class? Where did you think your ancestors came from?
My favorite Julia Roberts trivia bit is that Martin Luther King Jr paid the hospital bill for birth.
Do people think Puerto Ricans just popped up in Puerto Rico and Spanish is their main language??🤣🤣
So I love how it’s always affairs…. I wonder how many were actually rapes…it’s nice to spin it as love and kisses, but there is no way to know for sure.
Absolutely!!! The reason the romanticized story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings always frustrate me. The idea a slave who was a child would willingly fall in love with her slave master (who was a widower at that point) and have multiple children by him who all remained enslaved until his death (in his will he only freed the 2 older girls) defy common sense.
@@reeree3641for many defenders of patriarchal customs, marriage and slavery are not dissimilar.
@@Liliarthan Slavery was a horrendous and cruel thing. But even then many people fell in love and fancied each other and babies appeared. And in our free world rape is a big evil and many people get born as a result.
Like pelosi changing the sexual abuse of children to...molesting. she said it was softer or some crap like that
Good point!
Very odd that someone like Gayle King would imagine that she's all sub-saharan black. She doesn't look like that.
The PENMANSHIP in those records is absolutely beautiful!
10:17 this shows either extreme ignorance or Xtreme copium. Puerto Ricans by definition are a blend of Taino, African and Spanish. It's because the Spanish brought their African slaves there and bred them with the Taino that weren't already killed. For her to be Puerto Rican and be shocked her ancestor was a Spanish slave master would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
😂 Puerto Rican is not a race. The aboriginals of the land are phenotypically negroe.
Soooo ignorant of her. She doesn’t know what is a Puerto Rican. I do, and proud. 💜
Isn’t she from the view and super pro reparations? If that’s the case she gona be super embarrassed, and poor if that actually goes through considering she’s got direct ties to the slave trade
@@Jimyjonescones most FBA have DNA from slave owners cause RAPE is a thing. It isn't like that ancestor married into the fam. Also reparations wouldn't pull from former slave holders. Why? Cause the money will come from the place that gave slave owners, native Americans, Japanese and Jews reparations. The only metric that matters when it comes to reparations is, are you direct FBA that's it.
I thought the same!!!! I don't understand how she thinks she is just Puerto Rican. Puerto Ricans are mixed Tainos, Africans and Europeans from Spain. Wow and you would think she's smart to know that how ridiculous
Them: I am basically Malcolm X.
Him: Your grandaddy was Robert E. Lee
Them: 😮
@@iluvcamaros1912 Also them: Robert E. Lee RAPED my grandmother.
So you do know the majority of American Negro ppl have European ancestry? This isn't a gotcha.
💯! I was looking for my mighty Zulu or African ancestors as an "African American". Nope!
I'm related to President John Adams, President John Q Adams, President Fillmore, and President Taft. Also Abraham Lincoln's wife Mary Todd (through the Shelton line). She and I share grandparents. LOL It's life.
@@MsLhuntMartinez79That’s remarkable!!!
@jandramardges3368 Thanks! I didn't do anything. I was just born. LOL
Wanda Sykes episode was so shocking it became part of her standup routine. Worth the watch!
Tell me you don't know anything about American history.
@@MsJay-cr1id Oh but I do! Love it!😘
You are so right! She was hysterical,talking about how her mom couldn’t blame her for being lesbian anymore! On the Roots show, not her stand up routines
@@elizabetharnold5849 I saw where she found out she descended from freed indentured sevants, not slaves. Said it ruined her street cred. LOL And how she's married to a white woman with two white kids and how she's the maid around her house. Said she ruined her legacy. ROFLOL
I like Wanda, she's so funny.
A black guest expresses shame and horror to learn of a white ancestor. Can you imagine the reverse? Why is some brazen nastiness permissible?
Because it more than likely meant that it wasn’t consential…
@@ryanclarke7638 the same circumstances would probably be true of a white guest with a black ancestor. But if they acted disgusted like she did, their career would be immediately over.
Life is messy. People are flawed! And we are no better than the people in the past. I hate the graceless judgment of history.
You hate that rapists are being judged?
@BetterMe981 Lord, you are a simpleton. You and I are most likely the result of r*pe in the distant past somewhere. That doesn't mean I'm a r*pe apologist. It means that history is full of people who did terrible things, great things, and everything in between. Just like us. It's pure narcissism when people judge the past with today's lens. It's not fair. And it doesn't take into account that given the same circumstances, you may have done the same. Humility is a wonderful quality.
@BetterMe981 Lol, of course not. You and I are most likely the result of a r*pe somewhere in the past. The people of history did terrible things, wonderful things, and everything in between. Just like us. It's pure narcissism to think, given the same circumstances, you wouldn't behave the same way. Again, human beings are flawed. Even you.
I hate the graceless self righteous modern people who take license to mock and ridicule the history of the formerly American enslaved and their descendants. Who apathetically only want to justify and falsely equate the evils, wrongs, misdoings of people long dead along with themselves....zero attempt to understand, zero compassion given yet want all the understanding and compassion for themselves.
@@BetterMe981 Her post, as well as the historical context, went over your head.
In Australia, we consider convict ancestry as our own type of royalty.
We also hope that our ancestors did not massacre Indigenous People.
This must be the Oz Caucasians insiders joke ☝🏽 🤷🏽♀️🙄
As an Original First Nations SURVIVOR of Australia (3% of us left); the colonisers, convicts & prostitutes descendants truly do thrive on exercising cognitive dissonance, cruelty & distortion to reinforce their systematic racist abuse.
Fact: average Caucasian Australians have no idea where their ancestors lineages derived from.
I ask the descendants: are you from the aristocracy or the convicts & prostitutes?
They really don't shout royalty to me 😂
Blood is thicker than water, good to hold on to love. They certainly mistreated those they found there. A few generations ago humanity was rife with cruelty, don't over romanticize things.
I think i am royalty 😅😅😅I descend from James Squire the brewer. Convict + beer. Lol.
Not many ppl know he was Romanichal Gypsy. And my 6 x GG was the Last Gypsy Queen Esther Faa Blythe.
Even though research says the Gypsies of Yetholm were scoundrels I'm still so proud.
im australian, and my ancestors include john martin and john randall, two african-descended first fleeters, one likely a former slave in the usa. one married to others daughter by his irish wife. ... if only she had been accused of witchcraft...
😂
I find it funny that all these light skin black people all think they are 100% black. I am light skinned, so I don’t pretend that I am 100% of Hispanic origins . My research shows just how mixed I am. I find it fantastic that my family didn’t see race as an issue and went for what they wanted regardless of the times.
I find it funny that you think Hispanic is a racial category. 🤣
@@DarrenMoore-le6pg What? Hispanic is a BAME.
Lucky for you that you didn't encounter a lot of discrimination. Not everyone is so fortunate.
@@cps525i7 Discrimination is not just about colour.
@@carolinemcgovern8059 Who said it was?
I'm suprised how shocked some of these people are, like did Angela Davis think she got her complexion from, drinking too much milk?
"It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you"
Usually said by people who do not know who they are.
dumbledore?
@@tonyborelli. yup!
But what we do is shaped a lot by who we are underneath.
@@DavidA.-bv8xy what's wrong with that?
The takeaway from this watch your neighbors lol 😂
The show just reiterates the old saying, “Mama’s baby, Daddy’s maybe.”
I never heard that saying, but it is fitting!
Fi show u how women wicked
Marriages of the past were commonly based upon religious dogma, convenience, desperate financial need, naïveté, and other fickle factors. Marriages were also typically filled with patriarchal domination and abuse. It is not surprising that infidelities took place on the part of both men (which was often known/accepted/excused) and women. People were searching for genuine connection and some sense of personal agency. They wanted life beyond duty and appearances-as we all do. Women get to be fully human and imperfect, too.
Until now, my late father-in-law was the only person I ever heard utter that saying.
Yeah it’s amazing how the same shit is still going on these days. We can ignore our history but we can’t shake our human nature.
Angela Davis saying her ancestors did not come over on the Mayflower is a trip. Paradigms are crazy.
My grandmother ALWAYS said she was a descendant of Thomas Moore...well she was, but NOT THAT Thomas Moore. She also insisted that we were descendant from a particular pastor who made it into history books as the fighting parson. Well, she was wrong there too. Although there are several generations bearing the same exact name...the one son (of the pastor) that we were supposed to have descended from, never had kids (!) so that wasn't true either.
I only found this out while doing genealogy work on my own, and by happenstance came across a distant cousin who informed me of the facts~and she had the paper trail to prove it. So much proof that the DAR actually edited some of their records. Genealogy has always fascinated me
My mom was adopted and while she found her bio mother she was never able to find more about her bio father than a name the egg donor provided. I took a DNA test through Ancestry after her death and found some second cousins on mom's side with names that didn't match up. Turns out egg donor either lied or was mislead about sperm donor's identity. One of the second cousins reached back out to me and we figured out who sperm donor was. That was a family that has a load of drama to this day.
“Egg donor”?! So not adopted then?
Yeah my mother told everyone I died of a heart defect and then I was sold to a couple for 1000 dollars to a couple who should not have been given a humane society cat.
@@Nella87745 Egg donor = bio mom. The woman rejected my mom and caused her all sorts of rejection issues. I used "bio mom" first to establish who she was, and her bio dad = sperm donor possibly never even knew my mom existed. From what I can tell neither family knew about mom.
@@Nella87745 no still adopted. egg donor is another term used for bio mom. usually used when bio mom is a turd of a person,
I have a friend who found her “first” (birth) mother. First mom identified the father as a guy she hooked up when he was on a break from the women he later married. He met her once but would not do a DNA test or anything. Years went by and then my friend gets a paternal DNA match to someone else entirely. First mom had legitimately misidentified the biological father! DNA tests were done and 1st mom wrote a letter of introduction to this guy she doesn’t remember sleeping with. My friend was born in 1978, so it wasn’t all that long ago. Bio dad turned out to be shocked but cool.
If there's a moral of the story, it's to not put any importance on your pedigree. You have no control over it, and it's easy to overcome. Not to mention, it could be embarrassing to discover the truth.
My ancestor is also William Brewster. We are all cousins, making prejudice and racism seem even more rediculous and pointless.
How do Educated people still confuse race with nationality.
having secondhand embarrassment for someone you never knew is a strange concept to me
It's strange and ridiculous.
It's also allows a type of twisted victim posturing that I can't quite explain
Agree! That just shows that these “celebs” want to keep a false perfect persona. Who cares what happened years ago. We are who we are and it’s because of the good, bad and ugly. WHO CARES!
@@LissBee-n7p Perhaps you’ve grown up in a more lenient and forgiving environment. That’s good. However it’s also societally new.
Or second hand pride.
@@joyslove3858For generations, people have been discriminated against for actions taken by their relatives, mental illnesses suffered by them, or by the identities or religions not in favor of the societies they lived in. Surely you are aware of this. It’s conditioning. We’ve worked hard to get away from that kind of thinking. But is it fair to call it posturing?
I love the ones that are faced with the fact they are what they've always hated, and they aren't what they thought they were. I think that's such a great life lesson. I'm proud of my people. All my people, even the crazy ones. They are why I'm here.
Man, this was just more proof that Levar Burton is a freaking gem. His thought was how the revelation could help bring the world together a little more. Just beautiful.
He's one of those special alien humans you don't think exist, like RuPaul and Tim Walz
He thinks hes Kunta Kinte the African plagiarized by Haleys fake roots. A white man wrote roots Haley stole it.
Sorry dear. The revelation is sad and actually quite disgusted.
This YTE man SA a black woman who had no recourse 😢😢😢
@godlygirls62 I think you should work on your reading comprehension. I didn't say what happened was beautiful. I said what he felt to do with the revelation. White people get away with it all the time.
@@godlygirls62 it is quite sad, unfortunately I believe it happened far more than we even realize.
He loves telling people their ancestors owned slaves.
Yes, he does. I don’t like his attitude towards whites. I guess the blacks that owned slaves are ok with him.
That's a big truth in the US. It is the country of past slaves and slave owners. You can't just swipe off your roots. The racism there continues to be rather shocking, and it was the norm just the other day.
Can you imagine if someone white, like Diane Sawyer, or Nora O'Donnell for instance, learned she was 'one third Black' on national TV and spat out "You Take That Back!!!" Wouldn't that be considered a racist statement?
Of course. Why do you ask?
Absolutely. And it proves that they’re racist.
@@inacook2285 Lol.
Keep acting dumb, pretending that being a slave owner and a victim of slavery were exactly the same thing. Do you feel better? You're embarrassing yourself.
@jls4382 exactly what I was thinking lol. I was scared to say it though. I'd actually think it would be really cool . I'm adopted and have no clue what or who I am, who knows what would show up for me!
My family gave me multiple stories about their grandparents so I would love to have this done. It would be great to connect to them.
Lavar looks GREAT! 🫶🏿
I found out through Ancestry DNA that my great-great-grandmother who died in 1901 was having an affair with her neighbor. I matched with someone on Ancestry who was a "half third cousin" but should have been a full third cousin. We descended from two different siblings in that family. Turns out, the cousin had no trace of my great-great-grandfather's DNA, but a particular last name kept popping up on her matches. Census records indicated there was a guy living a few doors down with a family of his own who had that same last name.
This theme keeps popping up again and again. Perhaps the spinoff could be named "A Few Doors Down"
@cjoseph2045 that's clever 😅
That's how I found out about my biological grandfather. Apparently my grandmother had an affair with a married man, got pregnant with my mom, and married another man whom she passed off as my mother's father. I found out all this through DNA decades after the deaths of my mom and grandmother. I only match my cousin as a half first cousin.
When conducting family roots research, expect to find the good, the bad, and the ugly facts. The stories the family told you may not be accurate.
Stories may not be the most accurate, but the whispers perhaps hold the most truth.
ya think..?
Be careful about researching your ancestry. You just might find out that your relative was the "Town Butcher." And I do not mean the guy at the meat store.
What I love about this show is that it calls out all the altruistic people on their BS about oppression. And all it proves is that we just need to forgive, a move on. Because no matter how clean or righteous we are now, we have no reason or right to judge others because of the very general, and quite frankly vague, history based on their skin color.
One of the things I love about this show is that it takes some of these smug people down a notch. The ones who think they descend from Aristocrats find commoners (or even criminals) in their direct line, and Black activists who categorize White people as heirs to a bloody historical inheritance of slaveownership find out that THEY, too, are the descendants of slave owners and slave traders.
Maybe someday we'll get back to accepting that NONE of us is responsible for what happened before we were even born, and that we're only responsible for our OWN behavior. It won't be anytime soon, but I can still enjoy this show.
I was thinking the same thing. There would be some complicated calculations for some, apparently, fractional compensation for "past wrongs."
"Black activists who categorize White people as heirs to a bloody historical inheritance of slave ownership find out that THEY, too, are the descendants of slave owners and slave traders." This comment is racist nonsense. All black Americans whose ancestors were in the United States before 1865 have at least a trace of European ancestry. But it's not something that black people consciously think about, because what difference does it make, if black people are the descendants of slave owners and slave traders? Not enough of a difference to change anything, except for the desire of white racists to say, "See? we have the same ancestry. That makes you just as responsible for endemic racism as we are."
Who's 'smug' here tho? None of these guests seemed particularly smug...except maybe Affleck, as demonstrated by his behaviour.
And which of these guests believe they 'descend from aristocrats'?
None of these participants mentions any such aristocratic ancestry, afaik. It would be an odd thing to believe unless they had actual evidence.
And most Black Americans who have enslaved Black ancestors also knows they have some white ancestry as well...& quite possibly a slave-owner, in their past. In part because rape of Black women by white men was a ubiquitous aspect of slavery. All of it is tough to trace tho, because white people didn't consider Black people to be human beings prior to the 1870's--Black people were typically recorded as property by white people, & thus records are scant.
So for example, Angela Davis certainly already knew she had white ancestors. That wasn't the 'incredible' aspect of her family tree. The incredible aspect, & what Ms Davis didn't know, is that she has a white ancestor who was one of those original handful who came over on the Mayflower.
@@tothelighthouse9843
I don't know that Davis did know. Her rhetoric at the time didn't seem self- aware .
Extreme activists often refuse reality to pursue their activism. Narrow focus .
It looked to me that Davis was personally ashamed that she had any white ancestor, let alone one that helped start the country she despises.
She has a right to be embarrassed if she wants to.
Well said.
I am surprised how some reacted to the different race of their ancestors . Considering they would Not have existed without them . History is unchanged past and can be unsettling even shocking but to seem ashamed ,bitter or denying is foolish. My ancestry is Black, white & Jewish and have always gotten a smile when I think of my past relatives.
"Black, white & Jewish" So, which of them do you identify as on the census? Or do you go with "Other"?
@@hwgray jewish
@@hwgray Why does it matter?? That’s his business, not yours.
American Mutt here
@@hwgrayGood question.
On my husband's family history his 4th Great grandfather, Rezin Reed and 4th Great grandmother, Elizabeth Fordyce had his 3rd Great grandfather, William out of wedlock. On his birth certificate Elizabeth gave William her maiden name of Fordyce. A few months after he was born, they got married but they never changed William's last name to his father's last name of Reed. If they would have changed his name, then my husband's last name would be Reed rather than Fordyce. One decision had a direct effect on all of their descendants. Pretty amazing.
I did dig into my ancestry. It was wild. Ppl of all races, genders, religious backgrounds had major secrets back in the day. There was absolutely ZERO transparency. 😂
I had a 4x’s great grandmother than ran a house where gay couples could meet up and have drinks and whatever else they wanted to have. 😉 It was in England and in a time when you wouldn’t think that such a place even existed. It was shocking and I was actually a little proud of her after I found out why she opened the place up. It wasn’t for the money, it was because she believed that you love who you love and no one should be able to tell you that’s wrong (as long as it’s not children….she actually protested against child brides). 😊❤
Levar probably thought of Roots and Reading Rainbow's episode about slavery...but he was also right about discussing family history with others to help understand each other better.😊❤
LeVar
Roots actually was proven wrong. White people didn't capture slaves. Black Africans captured the slaves and sold them. Black Africans had been running slavery long before the North Atlantic slave trade. Black Africans still own slaves.
Alex Haley, the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family, wrote, "I was just trying to give my people a myth to live by" in a private note to a critic. Haley also referred to the book as "faction".
Watch this whole episode. He was really upset he had white blood in him. His reaction was absolutely disgusting and if things were reversed he'd be cancelled for sure.
You’re not responsible for your ancestors. You had no control over what they chose to do. Any surprises should be at worst merely interesting. Getting upset about it is weird and pointless.
I completely agree.
I get tired of hearing ppl whine that they don't know who they are, where they come from .
YOU are he person that YOU choose to be. You are not your ancestors.
Amazing what we find out. Only a couple of my great grandfolks ever talked about thier parents (my 2great grandfolks) to thier kids. 3 of my great grandfolks were already gone before my parents were born. When I finally tracked my unknown 2great grandfolks (of 16) I discovered that 3 had dumped thier kids in orphanages, 1 of those had a second family later. Another 3 abandoned thier kids to be raised by single moms. Two of the men who dumped thier kids had long wrap sheets and were mentioned in local papers. 1 suffered from schizophrenia, and one died. The remaining 8 were fine. The number of dirtbag 2great grandfolks I have was unbelievable to me. No wonder why 5 of my great grandfolks never mentioned one or both of thier parents.
That's what I was thinking during Ben Affleck's part. He tried to hide that his ancestors owned slaves but why? He's not responsible and he has nothing to be ashamed of. But then, given the fact that he leans far to the left politically, I'm wondering if he has been supportive of reparations for descendents of slaves. If so, he might be pressured or feel a sense of pressure to pay reparations out of his own pocket. And as we know many people are very generous.....as long as isn't with their own money.
I was also surprised by Levar Burton's reaction. He seemed disappointed and upset that he's just a wee bit Caucasian and that an ancestor served in the Confederacy. Such ridiculous reactions IMO.
@@66limelight
Affleck: could be but it always seems to be about his image of himself.
BTW, not all lefties are the same. I am very liberal but not woke or progressive. IMO, "reparations" is unworkable, and, frankly a ludicrous idea. I believe in free speech and JK Rowling, who is absolutely correct and NOT transphobic. Neither am I but hard science is against the notion of XY persons competing against XX persons.
Old fascist men have no business deciding to change women's rights.
You are right , we cannot look back in time with our today’s eyes.
I have no idea who Sunny Hostins is, but if she thought herself Puerto Rican, who did she think the Spanish language spoken in the island came from? It should not be at all surprising that she has Spanish blood…. Her surprise only shows her level of ignorance about history and her origins… 🙄
Hm hmm..
Yes very! Considering she was a lawyer!
Her level of ignorance is high indeed.
She is someone who believes "white" people owe reperations to "black" people. She believes she is still owed reperations even thou it was proven that her family moved to Puerto Rico taking their plantation of slaves with them after their home country out lawed slavery. She is a host on the View.
She is only 7% indigenous Puerto Rican. In the island many make a proud fuss about having native blood and never about their heritage from Spain. She thought of herself as half Puerto Rican, so she expected less than 25% Spaniard.
They celebrities are so dumbfounded when they learn an ancestor isn’t who they thought or did something bad. lol. It’s called life people.
I have some thoughts. 1) Any white person who takes pride in descending from among the first Europeans in America shouldn't t be surprised that there are slaveowners somewhere in their past, even if their family wasn't from the South 2) Anyone with Puerto Rican ancestry shouldn't be surprised to see Iberian/Spanish DNA in their own. 3) Anyone who knows that they descend from the slave trade shouldn't be surprised that they also have some European DNA as it's well known that slave owners are known to have raped their female slaves.
There are definitely some rarer surprises here like having free black ancestors who were slave owners themselves, but most of these things aren't that surprising.
And any white person whose ancestors did not have slaves should not be made to feel guilty for crimes they did not commit.
And any white person today whose ancestors did have slaves should not be made to feel guitly for crimes they did not commit.
No Puerto Rican today should be made to feel guilty for crimes they did not commit.
No black person today should be made to feel guilty for crimes they did not commit.
The part I always find surprising is when someone like Gayle King or Angela Davis act surprised when they find out they have white ancestors. Ok Halle Berry and Bryant Gumble.
@@johnlabus7359 Once you know it, you recognize the probability. But many people didn’t pay enough attention in school, or just weren’t taught those correlative facts. They’ve kept away from history. Their understanding of personal history is limited to what they were told. Once one window is open, and you look out of it, more windows open.
Black and white slave owners
While it’s truth some don’t want to hear they are truth none-the-less.
However, the question (specific to slave owners, traders), should the descendants be punished for their ancestors? Should they be treated as if they are the evil?
I understand the sins of the father haunt the sins of the son, but the question is - should it?
My grandma use to say when you point your finger at someone else (judgement) be careful cuz you’ve got 3 pointing right back at ya! (Point and see what I mean).
Maybe we should check our real history before we hardball-criticize others, huh??! 🤔😉😁
Love watching people's pre conceived notions about themselves get broken.
Crazy how many people don’t know the difference between nationality and ethnicity. Historically, Puerto Rico (like most Hispanic countries) have white European bloodlines, native bloodlines, black African bloodlines, and the various mixed ratios of previously mentioned bloodlines.
My mother was Polish. During the Polish-Russian war, her parents were taken away in the middle of the night for harboring a Jewish family. She was sent to a work camp. Her brother was a military pilot that she understood to have been shot down. This is all we know of our family history. My mother never wanted to talk about her life. I wish I could afford a genealogist to find out what exactly happened.
You may not need to hire a professional genealogist you can to sign up to one of the companies like Ancestry, their systems will identify other people genetically related to you that you can contact.
@catinthehat906 I've done that, and no one has come back related to me yet. Lol
U can ask documents from yad vashem they have
These celebrities act as well in this show, as they do in their movies..😂 Like the irony of Lavar Burton's situation, seeing he starred in "Roots" and all..geesh
As a European I've never seen this show or even heard of it, but it seems really interesting. It's also a little surprising Americans apparently don't know/realize that a lot of people leaving Europe for America were criminals 😅 It makes sense if you think about it tho. A new continent was discovered with new dreams and new economic opportunities to be explored. Who needed this most? The people with the least opportunities in Europe. If you were already successful here you didn't need the American dream. That was mostly interesting for people of lower economic classes and convicted felons who didn't get a fair shot here after their sentence was served.
That may apply to the English speaking colonies but I can assure you that when it comes to the Spanish territories in the Americas (they were never colonies since they all formed integral part of Spain) being allowed to emigrate there was for centuries a privilege from which the convicted criminals and outcasts were most certainly excluded.
A very few with resources (at a time where most people were poor) may have bribed their way anyway, but generally speaking the authorities checked who went there and barred those not deemed worthy. One of the many differences between the English and Spanish approach.
I have to add that this changed in the 19th century though. Once these territories gained independence and became nations, the admittance was set at a very low bar; actually there was none whatsoever. I'm sure many undesirable Spaniards (together with undesirable French, Italians, Syrians, Germans, Libanese... etc) migrated there, wishing to start a new life.
My ancestors came during the potato famine when England was killing the Irish. It was a genocide !
@@fortheloveofgrey6045mine too except they went to Canada.
@rebelragz9431 my ancestors came a few decades before the potato famine, but the English were already encouraging emigration. The cost of passage for a family from Ireland to Canada was extremely cheap
@@gracedelreal4955 from what I understand they were sponsored by her sister and her husband. I hope I explain this correctly, my 3rd great grandmother and her sister married brothers. So her sister and her brother in law (her husband’s brother) were already in New Brunswick. I went to the Ulster American Folk Park in County Tyrone. They had a portion of a famine ship on display. After what the historian told me about the voyages all I could do was cry. There were 4 children and two adults. My 3GG was 4 her baby brother was just 6 months old. They all survived. According to the historian, that was highly unlikely. When I research my people and everything they did, I feel like a bum.
Isa Rae should make a movie about her family history. I am here for it! 🎬📽🎞
It’s fascinating how generations can switch from criminal to pillars of society. My kids’ dad had a dad who had a long criminal record and was a horribly abusive dad, but all the grandkids turned out to be super talented and well-loved people who contribute wonderfulness to the world.
It baffles me that brown skinned Afro Americans are surprised that they have some white ancestry. Most African American and Caribbean people are mixed to some extent. Compare Will Smith and Hounsou Djimon.
I believe it’s approximately an average 20% admix for black Americans.
Judging by skin complexion is not a good indicator of African or European admixture ancestry as many Africans themselves are not even Dark skinned. Having lighter skin is “not always indicative” of European ancestry for Black American people.* The Igbo people of Southeast Nigeria as well as the Fulani people have many lighter skinned people within their ethnic groups. Many Black Americans are also descended from those two aforementioned African ethnic groups.
@@DarrenMoore-le6pg You are 100% correct, I have Cameroon & Congo Bantu and Northern Africa in my blood along with Spanish, Mexico, Azorean and European. My father looks Spanish (claims Portugal blood) my mother looks Brazilian (birth land) both of them have medium complexion. I am white as a ghost with blue eyes.
I’m AfAm, and brown skin. I got less than 10% European ancestry. This ain’t always true.
@@annemurphy9339 I think 30% is closer.
My favorite was the youngest NCAAP president. He found out he was white and his black ancestors were big time slave owners in the 1700s. He was super pissed about being white but not the slaves.😂
@@bradbutcher3984 You're talking about Ben Jealous, who is 80% white yet still calls himself "black". That was the biggest joke and act of self-hated that I've ever seen.
Angela Davis having a relative come over on the Mayflower is rich beyond comprehension.😂
Most Black Americans have a white ancestor, so I'm not that surprised.
@@jeromepowell1873 True. I read that 60% of southern white males are at least 2% African American. Those kkk guys probably love that😆
Issa rae is beautiful. Luminous.
It seems like the takeaway from this show should be that we can’t be responsible for the mistakes of our ancestors, we have to look towards a better future, but too many people look in the past. There have been so many mistakes throughout history, it’s inevitable that every person will find something they don’t like in their ancestry.
Exactly right on point. Just because there was no social media to report our ancestors missteps does NOT mean that they lived their lives with perfect behavior. They, too, were human.
I think it's invaluable learning lessons from our ancestors mistakes. Certain traits repeat I families. My mothers family tend to be barristers (lawyers in the UK). We know that one of our ancestors was the Bloody Judge and we've been telling our kids about him for generations as a warning. Instead of serving the law, he served the king and political ambitions of friends to hunt down all of the participants of a peasant rebellion. He was brutal and cruel. And this wasn't the only example of him being a cruel person who only used the parts of English law that served his purposes and ignored those parts that would have served the people. So much of my family are still involved in law, it's important we remember him and aspire to be much better than him.
We also have much better examples in our family ancestry that we can be proud of and we share those stories too. It's just worthwhile learning from our mistakes in order not to abuse any status we rise to in life. It's easy to remember the composers, the politicians and writers in our ancestry. But we need to remember the ordinary farmers and those who abused their positions of power too.
Its is possible to become bogged down in the past; however, Ignore the past at one's peril.
I think an equally important thing to take away from this is maybe people need to stop running around judging other groups and people and backgrounds thinking they're better. You have no real idea what's lurking in your own. We are far more alike than we are different.
Agree. It's like accusing German kids today that they are responsible for what happened during WW2. A documentary came out not so long ago about adults today, that were never told of their role in that period. They were devasted and shocked.
I find the unhappy reaction of some black people to finding that they had white blood interesting. When country singer Clint Black discovered he had black blood, he said he was excited and liked having the connections. Rosanne Cash, Johnny Cash's daughter, said it made her feel "badass." Carly Simon said she could not wait to tell her sisters. Joe Manganiello said, "It's opened up this whole world." Genetically, we can't be, but we are and should carry that pridefully.
my DNA reveals not a single atom of black blood for which i'm glad. my family on my mother's side had been in North America for over 400 yr's.
@MistyMcCarthy-cf3kx we are glad as well
We are glad too, you are 100% a cave woman.
I think maybe it’s because of the implication of how it would’ve happened. It wasn’t uncommon for slave owners to assault and impregnate female slaves. I guess if I found out I was a product of something as terrible as that, I would be upset and feel sorry for the ancestor that was assaulted, potentially. What a sad world humans have made this place:(
Most Black people are proud to be Black (might only consider a dab of Native American desirable). The terrible treatment colonizing people have historically and currently given Black people don't make being part non-melanated palatable.
I'm 61. My DNA shows my dad's family and my surname is not my surname. My dad's dad is a person I never heard of. My sister and I always said Dad didn't look anything like the pictures of his father. Now we know why...
Why would someone from Puerto Rico be surprised to find that they have Spanish roots? I’m not embarrassed by the actions of those who came before. Why should I be? Interesting reactions from the African American people featured here when they find they have white ancestors.
sunny is always cloudy. shes not the brightest or kindest
They are like "oh this explains why they speak Spanish in Puerto Rico" 😂
@@tessdean2523 Well...She's On "The View", That Tells Me All I Need To Know!!
They don't like to think about how they became their ancestor.
She probably doesn't like the idea of being related to the Spanish conquistador.@tessdean2523