Discovering America's Black DNA [Rebroadcast]
Wonder Cabinet
Wonder Cabinet Productions
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 October 2018
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
DNA tests are uncovering mixed bloodlines. For African Americans, this can be emotionally-charged. What do you do when you find out one of your direct ancestors was a slave owner? Does it open the door to new conversations about racial justice?
Guests:
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's to the best of our knowledge. I'm Anne Strain Champs. |
| 0:07.6 | Meet Reverend Alex G. Like a lot of us, he's interested in his family history. |
| 0:16.8 | I've always been interested in genealogy. It's always intrigued me to know where my family name came from. |
| 0:23.6 | My entire life I've been asked, where does G come from? |
| 0:31.6 | So he started digging around. |
| 0:34.6 | My great-great-grandfather was born a slave. |
| 0:38.3 | His name was Henderson. |
| 0:39.3 | And so about a year ago, I googled his name and through Ancestry.com and I found that |
| 0:44.3 | his father's name was Ruben Joshua G. |
| 0:47.3 | But here's the kicker. |
| 0:50.3 | The relatives Alex G found are white. |
| 0:57.7 | He discovered that he's part white as well. |
| 1:02.7 | I found a post from a gentleman named John who basically said, |
| 1:06.7 | I just found out that my great-gray grandfather had a black son. |
| 1:10.0 | Does anyone know anything about Henderson G.? And I thought, wait a minute, this is my grandfather's |
| 1:13.5 | grandfather. And I wrote this guy about midnight. When I woke up the next morning, I had something |
| 1:19.8 | in my inbox explaining who he was and who we were to each other. And that's how the discussion |
| 1:25.0 | began. And that discussion turned into a trip for Reverend Alex G. |
| 1:31.1 | He and a couple of family members headed from Wisconsin down to New Orleans to meet his white cousin, John Harkin. |
| 1:39.1 | Roast beef gravy, all those are like the specials. |
| 1:42.4 | That's great. |
| 1:43.5 | That's good for as long as you. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wonder Cabinet Productions, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Wonder Cabinet Productions and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

