In 2006, a series called "African American Lives" premiered on PBS, which followed the ancestries of some famous black Americans like Oprah Winfrey, Qunicy Jones, Whoopi Goldberg, T.D. Jakes and others. Not only did it trace their ancestry here in America, but it also used their DNA to determine where in Africa their ancestors came from. It was completely fascinating and moving to find out where some of these people's ancestors had been, what they had accomplished and where in Africa they supposedly might have come from. For those folks, whose genealogical information can be so hard to trace due to slavery, it was a truly moving and fascinating experience even for me, a white woman who knows something of her family stories. Now there is a second "African American Lives" series that takes other famous black Americans like Morgan Freeman, Don Cheadle, Chris Rock, Tina Turner and others through their genealogical stories. Last night, we found out that Don Cheadle's ancestors were held as slaves of the Chickasaw Nation and were not freed upon emancipation. We also found out that Chris Rock had a fascinating former slave ancestor, Julius Caesar Tingman, who was not only a black Civil War soldier, but became a state legislator in South Carolina for two terms until the end of Reconstruction in 1877, at which time he was forced to leave his legislative post to become a sharecropper. What a fascinating story that was, and what a roller coaster of a life this man led. Born into slavery, fought for his people's freedom, rose to amazing heights and then was forced into being almost no better than he was under slavery. But he persevered and left an amazing legacy for his family. I think that was perhaps the most fascinating story of the entire night, and I am greatly looking forward to next week's program to find out more about these people and the lives of their ancestors.
After all, it is often said that you can't know where you're going until you know where you've been, and I believe that with all of my heart and my soul. I think quite sincerely that I am who I am because of those who came before me and what they did. Their blood runs through mine, and I firmly believe that there is genetic memory encoded in it of who they were and what kinds of lives they lived. Chris Rock said that all he ever wanted to be as a child was President of the United States. Is that genetic memory from Julius Caesar Tingman's life as a state legislator? I truly believe that this is the case. I think that I love books and reading because of some of my Irish ancestors coming here as illiterate peasants and aspiring for their children and grandchildren to have a good education and to be literate. I think that this comes down partly as encoded genetic memory and partly from the stress our family has always put on education and reading. My love of music also comes, I believe, from the Irish and Welsh ancestors of mine who were no doubt musical themselves, but also because I was raised in a home surrounded by music, which comes to us from our mom, and from her parents who passed that along to her and my aunts and uncles. So I truly think that we are who we are because of our ancestors. That much seemed to be confirmed by watching this excellent series on PBS.
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