Kelly Stern is a former school teacher and bookstore manager.

Growing up, she noticed small things about her family

that were different than the other family she knew

in her northern California town.

My parents used words, especially my mother,

that everybody else was completely clueless,

like we raised horses,

and she would say things like the horses function at the bit.

This made her curious about who she was.

But when Kelly would ask questions

about where her family came from,

the answer she got were confusing.

And I would ask my dad, what are we?

And he would say, oh, English, Irish, black Dutch.

And I said, what is black Dutch?

And he said, well, I don't really know.

He didn't know. He had no idea.

And when Kelly would travel back east to Oklahoma,

where a lot of her relatives still lived,

she'd ask the same question and get the same answer.

My aunts and uncles, they all said, oh, yeah,

we're black Dutch.

...