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Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr
- Season 12 Episode 1 - Tba
Transcript
00:00Viewers like you make this program possible.
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00:15I'm Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
00:18Welcome to Finding Your Roots.
00:21In this episode, we'll meet America Ferreira and Darren Criss,
00:27two actors who grew up knowing very little about their very recent ancestors.
00:34Well, this is not what I was expecting to learn. It's awesome.
00:37My family was my immediate family.
00:40Yes, we had family in the Philippines, but that was far away.
00:43This will be the most connected, I think, I'll have ever been in my life to grandparents and beyond.
00:50To uncover their roots, we've used every tool available.
00:54Genealogists comb through paper trails stretching back hundreds of years.
00:59Oh, I love that!
01:01While DNA experts utilize the latest advances in genetic analysis
01:05to reveal secrets that have lain hidden for generations.
01:09Yeah, cool! Oh, man!
01:11And we've compiled it all into a book of life.
01:14Wow.
01:15A record of all of our discoveries.
01:17Woo!
01:18And a window into the hidden past.
01:20America, this is a love letter.
01:22Oh, my God! A love letter?
01:24Written by your grandmother.
01:26Stop it! I'm dying.
01:27What an amazing...
01:29It's a miracle.
01:30It's a miracle, that is the word. What a miracle. What a gift.
01:33It's like learning there's a new room in your house that you've never seen.
01:37America and Darren share a common thread.
01:40Both were raised, in whole or part, by parents who'd immigrated to the United States,
01:46leaving their roots behind.
01:48In this episode, they're going to recover those roots,
01:52hearing stories of sacrifice, courage, and survival,
01:56all hidden in the branches of their family trees.
02:26America Ferrera is living proof of the American dream.
02:52The beloved actor has defied all expectations,
02:57creating opportunities where others saw none.
03:01And she's been doing it her entire life.
03:06America was born in Los Angeles,
03:09the child of Honduran immigrants.
03:13She grew up at a time when there were very few Latinos in Hollywood.
03:18But she didn't care.
03:21When she was eight years old,
03:23America heard about a play being staged at her older sister's school
03:28and decided that she had to be part of it.
03:33There was a teacher, Mr. Protho,
03:35who did a Shakespeare play every year that was open to all the kids in the school.
03:40Wow.
03:41And so my sisters were going to go audition for it.
03:43And I was in third grade at the elementary school.
03:46And I begged my siblings to take me with them.
03:49Please let me go to the audition.
03:51And they were like, no.
03:52And my mom was like, you have to take her.
03:54So they took me.
03:55And I snuck to Mr. Protho, who was sitting in the middle of the theater.
04:01And I said, can I audition for you?
04:03And he was like, sure.
04:05And so I read, like, I don't know, the Samson and Gregory scene in the beginning of Romeo and Juliet.
04:10They were doing Romeo and Juliet.
04:11And my sisters were just there with their friends.
04:14And they look up and there's their eight-year-old sister auditioning.
04:17They were so mad at me.
04:18And then he cast me as the apothecary.
04:21Wow.
04:22And I took it so seriously.
04:23And I remember being like, that's it.
04:27Like, that's what I want to be doing.
04:29And, yeah, I just, like, I can remember it like it was yesterday.
04:33Though America knew what she wanted to do, it would take her a little longer to convince the world to actually let her do it.
04:42She found an agent when she was still a teenager, yet often didn't get the part she was seeking.
04:48Then, in 2001, everything changed when she was cast in an independent film and found a role she could embrace.
05:00It was so me.
05:03It was so my life.
05:04It was everything that I knew, you know?
05:07Daughter of immigrant, hardworking parents, mother who, like, you know, didn't understand the thing
05:17that I wanted for me, but still, like, love, but conflict, and also the body image issue.
05:26You know, I had grown up, like, internalizing so much loathing of my own body for so many reasons.
05:34The color of my skin, being Latina, being short, being chubby, you know, not fitting into all the shows that I loved watching on CW.
05:43You know, I didn't see myself in those shows.
05:46And so, which to a lot of people was proof that I would never make it, right?
05:52And that's how it was presented to me, that, like, if I was going to make it, that I was going to have to find a way to turn myself into that.
05:58And that was the message, like, lose weight, like, get skinnier, get smaller, get more American, more polished, more whatever you see on TV.
06:13Like, be that if you want this career.
06:17And luckily, I couldn't be that.
06:21America has been lucky beyond all measure.
06:26Since her breakout, she's been in the limelight almost constantly, earning an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination.
06:38Along the way, she's also become a prominent social activist and a leading voice in the Me Too movement.
06:47But for all she's accomplished, America still feels a deep connection to the eight-year-old girl who first set foot in a theater.
06:57And to all the people who helped her realize her dream.
07:01Indeed, she told me that even recently, during a crisis of confidence, she found herself buoyed by their support.
07:10Where I felt like giving up, because it felt so hard.
07:17It felt like, how much does it matter? How much difference am I making?
07:22Like, you climb one mountain, and then you're just at the bottom climbing another mountain.
07:26And you come up against these old, deeply historical dynamics of feeling like you're worth nothing or you're used.
07:36And I've had, luckily, a lot of people in my life who've been with me, like, who have said to me, like,
07:47stay, keep going, like, follow your longing, trust yourself.
07:54They were your lifelines.
07:55Yeah.
07:56And is it they who allowed that girl to become the woman sitting across from me?
08:02Absolutely. Absolutely.
08:04I think I've, I feel like I, I am who I am today in relationship with the people who have loved me.
08:14My second guest is Broadway sensation Darren Criss.
08:20Darren is living his own version of the American dream.
08:24His mother is an immigrant from the Philippines.
08:28His father's roots stretch back to colonial America.
08:31But Darren grew up wanting to be on stage.
08:35And nobody in his family knew how to get him there.
08:39So Darren took matters into his own hands.
08:43His brother went to school with the child of an actor named Peter Coyote.
08:48And Darren decided to call him.
08:52The, the school had, like, a little roster of, like, numbers.
08:56And, uh, I must have been maybe seven years old.
09:00And using the phone was, like, a whole thing.
09:04Like, phone etiquette.
09:05And, you know, I, I, you know, I didn't have my own phone.
09:08Using the phone is, is a big deal.
09:10It's, like, a supervised, uh, interaction when you're a kid.
09:12And I remember taking, and it was a cordless phone, so I, like, I could hide it away.
09:16And I went into, to a closet so nobody would see me.
09:19Like, I was doing something naughty, even though it wasn't.
09:21It was just something that I was nervous about.
09:22I needed, like, some privacy for.
09:24And I looked up the Coyote family.
09:27I looked up Peter Coyote.
09:28And I called, like, several times, probably more times than it's appropriate.
09:33And when I heard Peter's voice, I said, hello, Mr. Coyote.
09:36Uh, this is Darren Criss.
09:37And I said, um, I would like to be an actor.
09:40And I kind of remember, and who knows if I'm painting this picture now,
09:43I kind of remember hearing this sort of, um, just taken aback, charmed sound of,
09:51oh, um, I'm talking to a child.
09:55Uh, how do I, how do I deal with this?
09:58And, uh, saying, okay, well, you know, there's some things we can do.
10:01And I think he was just saying how, well, you have to study it.
10:04And I was like, done, done.
10:06If he said do 20 jumping jacks, I'd be like, great, I'll do that.
10:09And then we're off to the races.
10:10That must be how this is accomplished.
10:12I bet when he hung up, he said, this kid's gonna make it.
10:14Who knows?
10:15Who knows?
10:16That call would change Darren's life.
10:21At Peter Coyote's suggestion, he applied to, and was accepted into,
10:26the prestigious American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
10:31The theater would give him some of his first professional roles.
10:35But more importantly, it opened his mind.
10:40I would go to start taking classes there when I was, like, nine or ten.
10:44And I would go to school, and then I would go to, you know,
10:47instead of going to, like, basketball practice,
10:49I would be studying theater.
10:50And, you know, from an early age, I was learning about the musical theater lexicon,
10:54and I was learning about Shakespeare and acting technique,
10:57and all these wonderful things that I really think were an integral part of my life as not only an actor,
11:05but just as a human on the planet Earth.
11:09Darren would quickly put his education to good use.
11:12In 2010, he landed a role on the hit series Glee, and became a star.
11:19He's never looked back.
11:21Moving between television, theater, and the recording studio,
11:26he's won an Emmy, a Tony, and a legion of fans.
11:31But Darren's proudest moment is a private one.
11:36In 2023, he took his mother to Washington, D.C.,
11:42and realized just how far they'd both come.
11:46I've been very lucky to perform for, you know, American world leaders for President Obama, President Biden,
11:55and I took my mom to the Christmas party they throw, the White House.
12:00And I had never been to D.C. with my mom.
12:03And when you're there, you're reminded of a lot of American history,
12:09and particularly of the iconography of the American dream.
12:16The mall.
12:17Yeah. The symbols of the American experience, especially from afar.
12:21We obviously, they're landmarks of our nation, but we were born here.
12:24Mm-hmm.
12:25My mom, growing up, looking at this like fantasy land.
12:30Yeah.
12:31The great beyond where magic happens.
12:34Mm-hmm.
12:35And getting to take her to the White House was pretty...
12:37That's cool.
12:38Yeah.
12:39It's a pretty emotional experience.
12:41Darren and America both grew up in tight-knit families,
12:47deeply bonded to the small circles of people who raised them.
12:52But both came to me with fundamental questions about family members
12:57who were outside of those circles, either by choice or by chance.
13:03It was time to provide some answers.
13:07They started with America.
13:09Many of her questions were focused on her father, Carlos.
13:14When she was just eight years old, Carlos moved back to his native Honduras
13:20and never returned.
13:22He was there and then he was gone.
13:25And then we just didn't talk about it.
13:31And I mean, I knew like growing up that there was issues and tension and periods of silence and periods of, you know, of just like conflict, but there was no like sit-down talk of like, we've made this choice or your dad is leaving.
13:51So it was just like one day to the next, he was gone.
13:54And I think as a child, it was confusing because there was the confusion and grief of losing a parent.
14:04But in all the practical ways, like our life got better in that like my aunt stepped in and helped us live in our first house outside of an apartment.
14:20And then we lived in a better neighborhood and we went to better schools.
14:24And so like on, in a, on a, in a logistical sense, like things got better, but, but there was this massive event that just kind of was like, we don't talk about it.
14:39Carlos passed away in Honduras in 2010.
14:45And though America has visited his grave, she knows little about his life.
14:52As we set out to change that, our researchers immediately noticed something striking.
14:59Carlos himself was the child of a fractured family.
15:04The story begins in 1955 when Carlos was six years old and his mother, a woman named Georgina Paz Mendieta, traveled from Honduras to Mexico with a passport listing her as single, indicating that she was divorced from Carlos's father.
15:27What do you think it was like for your grandmother to be a divorced woman in a Roman Catholic country in the 1950s?
15:34You know, it was hard to get divorced in America, no matter what you are.
15:38And in the Catholic church, it was extremely difficult.
15:42Yeah, I have no idea.
15:46I mean, I think my questions are like, why?
15:50Yeah.
15:51And then also, why did she go to Mexico?
15:55Did she go to Mexico for good?
15:58Did she go and come back?
16:00Well, let's see.
16:01Please turn the page.
16:02Yeah.
16:03Well, this is not what I was expecting to learn.
16:06It's awesome.
16:07Man, we getting down the nitty gritty.
16:09Yes, I like it.
16:10America, this is a love letter.
16:12Oh my God, a love letter?
16:14Written by your grandmother.
16:15Stop it.
16:16I'm dying.
16:17It's dated three years before June 20, 1952, so likely around the time she got divorced.
16:23Would you please read what we translated for?
16:26Oh my God, I'm dying right now.
16:27Are you kidding me?
16:28A love letter?
16:29No, it's the real stuff.
16:30I wonder if she ever thought that one day I would be reading this on television.
16:35Maybe she's been waiting for this moment.
16:38Maybe this is what she's been waiting for.
16:40Oh my goodness.
16:41June 20, 1952.
16:43Arturo.
16:44Okay.
16:45Whew.
16:46Wow.
16:47I suffered a disillusion that caused me to close my heart to all affection, thinking
16:53that I could not love again.
16:55But you appeared on my lonely path to break this law.
16:59Despite the disappointment I suffered, I listened to your words.
17:03Despite my dashed hopes, I forged new ones and new dreams.
17:08I honestly cannot get over that you guys found a love letter.
17:12I can't get over it.
17:14This letter was written to a man named Nicholas Arturo Nuila Castillo, who went by his middle
17:22name, Arturo.
17:24He was an architect from Georgina's hometown in Honduras.
17:29By 1955, he was working in Mexico, and we think that's why Georgina made her trip.
17:37We don't know how the couple first met, but their relationship would progress quickly.
17:43And in 1956, they moved to the United States and took a very big step.
17:50Would you please read the transcribed section?
17:53Wow.
17:54Certificate of Marriage, Commonwealth of Virginia, County of Arlington.
18:00Groom, Nicolás Arturo Nuila Castillo, 36.
18:05Single, Occupation Architect.
18:08Bride, Musia Georgina Paz Meneta, 36.
18:14Divorce.
18:15Number of times previously married one occupation teacher.
18:19In Virginia?
18:21In Virginia.
18:22What?
18:23Wow.
18:24That's crazy.
18:26I had no idea.
18:29And zero.
18:30Nothing.
18:31I've known none of this.
18:34After their wedding, Georgina and Arturo would have a child together in Washington,
18:42and then return to Honduras, where they settled in the nation's capital.
18:47Georgina and her new family were now just about 100 miles from where America's father Carlos was living.
18:56And the two likely resumed contact.
19:00But tragedy was about to strike.
19:03Georgina passed away suddenly in March of 1961.
19:08Wow.
19:09She was only 41 years old.
19:10How do you think losing his mom at such a young age impacted your father?
19:15I mean, I think sadly he lost her two times, you know?
19:20Yeah.
19:21To like, obviously I can relate to losing a parent.
19:28Well, he was seven and I was about eight when he left me.
19:31Right.
19:32So I know that.
19:33I'm curious about the like, what that was then like for her to come back into his life in obviously a complicated way.
19:42And then to lose her again, you know, that way, I think probably really damaging and really devastating.
19:57Heartbreaking.
20:01There is a silver lining to this story.
20:05Although he'd lost his mother, Carlos maintained a relationship with his half-brother.
20:11And this relationship endured.
20:14Have you seen that photograph before?
20:17No, never.
20:18There's your father standing next to him is his half-brother, Nicolas.
20:22That photo was taken on October 31st, 1992, when you were eight years old.
20:27So right after like the year he must have left.
20:31How does it feel to see that?
20:33It just feels like salvaging like just a lost memory.
20:38Like I have no, I have no context for his life after he left.
20:47Nothing.
20:48Just he left and that was it.
20:50And I never knew where he was or what he was doing or how he was or any of it.
20:56So, you know, when he died, I really felt like that was it.
21:00That was really with him went any hope of ever knowing.
21:05And it's, um, it's feels like, like magic to get to, um, to witness even just a still image of his life.
21:22And also, like, he has a smile on his face.
21:25And he looks, he's alive and he's, looks well.
21:33Hmm.
21:34Yeah.
21:35Amazing.
21:36We now turn to Carlos's roots and discovered a remarkable coincidence.
21:41His paternal grandfather, a man named Gregorio Ferreira, is a significant figure in Honduran history.
21:51A general who fought on the side of revolutionaries in a series of civil wars that sought to establish a liberal government in Honduras.
22:04And Gregorio is not the only hero in Carlos's family.
22:09His maternal grandfather, a man named Jacobo Paz Baraona, fought on the same side in some of the same wars at the same time.
22:21That's crazy.
22:24Whoa.
22:25You have DNA from these people.
22:27Wow.
22:28Also, I mean, these are, these are both of my father's grandfathers.
22:32Like, this is, my father was full with this blood.
22:40Yes, that's right.
22:41Both sides.
22:42Yes.
22:43His mother's side and his father's side, he had this fight.
22:46And I know so little about my dad.
22:49I know so little about who he was, what he loved, what he cared about.
22:56And I'm curious about what this meant to him, or if it meant anything to him, or if it was overwhelming to him.
23:06If it was too much to live up to, too much to hold.
23:11I don't know.
23:12It's interesting to me, because I, because I know so little about who he was.
23:19But what I do know is that there was a bit of a, like a retreat.
23:23Mm-hmm.
23:24That he kind of stepped out of his life, kind of chose to, chose to retreat, chose to exit.
23:33And, and that feels so, like, contrary to this legacy.
23:40As it turns out, Gregorio and Jacabo were not Carlos's only distinguished relatives.
23:49His family tree is filled with accomplished people, including a great uncle who served as the president of Honduras.
23:57And a line of military leaders that stretched back to the 1790s.
24:04Taking it all in, America found herself reconsidering her father once more.
24:13It really, really, really does kind of color in his, his past and his lineage in the most surprising way.
24:27It's like not what I ever thought he came from.
24:30And because the narrative that I grew up with was such a different one.
24:35And was, sadly, that he lived a life that seemed disempowered.
24:41But again, that's the story I inherited.
24:43Right.
24:44You know, I don't even know how much that is his own story.
24:46So it definitely, like, my mind is still reeling and blown from, like, trying to take in all this new information and what it means.
24:59But it, it feels so magical in a way to, to, to be able to fill those empty pages.
25:11Much like America, Darren Criss was raised far from his roots, with little knowledge of his ancestors.
25:23Even his grandparents were largely a mystery to him.
25:28My family was my immediate family.
25:31My mother, my father, and my brother.
25:33And yes, we had family in the Philippines, but that was far away.
25:36Yeah.
25:37My father signed and knew my grandfather very briefly before he passed away, but I more or less grew up without grandparents.
25:42Mm-hmm.
25:43So I never really had any, this is, this will be the most connected, I think, I'll ever, I'll have ever been in my life to, to grandparents and beyond.
25:52That makes you a perfect guest.
25:54Well, let's boogie.
25:56We started with Darren's maternal grandmother, a woman named Juanita Bru Manibai.
26:04Juanita came to America in 1974, when she was roughly 62 years old.
26:12Her journey is chronicled in her immigration file, which provided Darren with a series of surprises, starting on the very first page.
26:23Wow.
26:24I have seen all but one photograph of my grandmother until now.
26:32Really?
26:33Yeah.
26:34I've never seen, I know, I don't know what she looked like.
26:36No.
26:37Yeah.
26:38Huh.
26:39Yeah.
26:40Yeah, that's it.
26:41That's number two.
26:42I can think of one photo, and even that is different because she's very, very young.
26:44Hmm.
26:45My mom would say, you know, you should, I showed you this, but like around the house, I don't have any recollection.
26:48Hmm.
26:49It's a very blurry thing.
26:50Mm-hmm.
26:51So seeing this photo, and seeing the striking resemblance of my mother.
26:55Yeah.
26:56Is blowing my mind.
26:58That is wild.
27:00There she is.
27:01According to this record, Juanita flew to Honolulu with plans to meet her daughter, Victoria, who was already living in California, and who intended to pay for her mother's ticket.
27:16Victoria is Darren's aunt, the first of his close relatives to come to America, but her journey was very different from her mother's.
27:27Victoria arrived in Detroit, from Alberta, Canada, on a bus.
27:33Would you please read that transcribe section?
27:36This is so cool.
27:39Name Victoria B. Money Bay.
27:41Date of entry, July 1st, 1967.
27:44Means of entry, Greyhound bus.
27:46Naturalization date was November 17th, 1972.
27:48By the way, Alberta and Detroit, 2,340 miles.
27:53Yeah, those aren't close.
27:5438 hours by car.
27:56In a bus.
27:57Greyhound bus.
27:58On a Greyhound bus.
27:59Darren, you have the distinction, we believe, to be the first guest in the history of this show who had a relative immigrate to the United States on a Greyhound bus.
28:09That you know about.
28:11That you know about.
28:12We would know.
28:13You would know.
28:14You would know.
28:15The ticket stub and everything.
28:16The bag of peanuts they ate on the bus.
28:18You guys are very thorough.
28:19To quote Donald King, only in America.
28:21Only in America.
28:22Yeah.
28:23That's pretty cool.
28:24I love how there's something very rock and roll about coming in America on a bus.
28:30Victoria was just 25 years old when she crossed the border.
28:36And she was taking a huge chance, traveling all on her own with no safety net.
28:45But the gamble paid off.
28:49In 1974, Victoria wrote a letter for her mother's immigration file, detailing all she'd accomplished in America in just a few short years.
29:01I'm the sole owner of a three bedroom townhouse with a total equity of $10,000 plus all furnishings.
29:06I'm financially able to support and defray all expenses for the coming and stay of my mother and can guarantee that my mother will not be a public charge to this country.
29:16What a badass.
29:18Isn't that amazing?
29:19It is amazing.
29:20Yeah, she put in her work.
29:21When this record was filed, your aunt had only been in the country for about seven years and already owned a three bedroom home.
29:27She don't mess around.
29:28A car was working as a nurse in a major hospital, had become a naturalized citizen and had money in the bank.
29:35Yeah, pretty cool.
29:36That's incredible.
29:37And also, if you're doing the math here of how old she would have been and being the first of her family to come to this new country and to accomplish that that quickly.
29:48No, it's pretty badass.
29:50Quite remarkable.
29:51Yeah, it's pretty rad.
29:52We now wanted to see what Darren's family had left behind in the Philippines.
29:59What we uncovered was almost unrelentingly grim.
30:05His grandmother and aunt were both born on Leyte, an island that was devastated during World War II, leaving tens of thousands dead and disease and starvation running rampant.
30:22Fleeing the chaos, the family moved south, from Leyte to Sabu City, where Darren's mother would be born in 1952.
30:35But stability proved elusive.
30:40In the 1960s, the Philippines was riven by civil strife and economic turmoil, culminating with the Declaration of Martial Law in 1972, just two years before Darren's grandmother decided to immigrate.
30:58So Darren, think about this.
31:01By the time your grandmother arrived in the States, she'd experienced a tremendous amount of trauma, a lot of loss, suffering, dislocation.
31:10Do you think that trauma was passed down to your mom?
31:13No.
31:14No.
31:15Because I'm guessing here.
31:20But if you're leaving the rubble and wreckage of war to go somewhere new, you're pressing reset.
31:30Yeah.
31:31And my mom being the youngest, the baby of the family, like I am myself, I think there is a desire to make sure that those children are free in whatever degree possible or reasonable of that trauma.
31:47So I think there was, it seems there was a very concerted effort to filter and sift as much of that sorrow out as possible.
32:03Darren is correct.
32:05His family made a concerted effort to block out their past and leave the Philippines behind.
32:14Even so, they did preserve a few stories along the way.
32:19The most intriguing concerned Darren's grandmother's own mother, a woman named Concepcion Hosen.
32:28Concepcion was said to be of Chinese descent.
32:30Yeah.
32:31Well, unfortunately, there were simply no records to tell us, but then we took a look at your DNA.
32:37Because if she was Chinese, we would be able to find out.
32:40And we saw something we found quite fascinating.
32:43Please turn the page.
32:44This is great.
32:46Would you please read your percentage of Chinese ancestry?
32:51I am a 11% Southern Chinese.
32:55That is roughly equivalent to one great grandparent.
32:58Yeah, that makes sense.
32:59Yeah.
33:00And since we know that your father has no Chinese ancestry, we could be even more specific.
33:05Your DNA is telling us that you have the equivalent of a great grandmother or great grandfather on your mother's side who was fully Chinese.
33:13Yeah.
33:14So you have recent Chinese ancestry.
33:16Yeah, that's right.
33:17Which matches your family story.
33:18That's wild to see.
33:19That's really beautiful.
33:21But we believe that Darren's Chinese ancestors settled in the Philippines in the late 1800s.
33:26But it's possible that they came much earlier.
33:34Merchants from Southern China were trading with Filipinos as early as the 10th century.
33:40So all we can say for certain is that at some point, Darren's ancestors traveled to the Philippines and chose to stay.
33:51Let's think about the journey of your mother's family. From China to Leyte, to Cebu City, to Los Angeles, and then to you.
34:00Yeah, yeah.
34:01That's incredible. What do you make of that story?
34:03It's a nice reminder that, you know, by the time anybody is, quote-unquote, insert nationality, that that can be any mix of genealogical and ethnic ancestry.
34:15Absolutely.
34:16Which is a cool reminder.
34:17Recent and less recent, as were.
34:19Yeah. It's just good to know. It's good to know what the roots are, man. It just makes things a lot more interesting and enduring.
34:26We'd already traced America Ferrara's father's roots, a journey that America had never imagined possible.
34:35Now, turning to her mother's family tree, America expected to find herself on more familiar terrain.
34:44Growing up, she'd spent time with her maternal grandmother, and she thought she knew her story.
34:51But America was in for a surprise.
34:56Moving back one generation, we came to her grandmother's father, a man named Abel Lopez Osario.
35:05Abel was born in Honduras in 1885, the son of a shoemaker.
35:12As a young man, he studied law, became a civil prosecutor, and then launched his own newspaper.
35:23He started a newspaper?
35:25Your great-grandfather founded his own independent newspaper.
35:28Oh, my goodness. I just, like, why don't I know this? This is so shocking. He founded a newspaper?
35:35He founded a newspaper. And look at how it's described.
35:38El demócrata. The demócrata. The demócrata. Yes.
35:42The he who is for democracy. How about that? He was an idealistic person.
35:47Wow. That's... I'm so shocked about why I knew my grandma. Like, I knew her. Like, I'm so curious about why...
35:56She didn't talk about this. Yeah. And that my mother and her sister...
36:02Like, why that wasn't then a part of the conversation that they passed on to us. That's amazing.
36:12This story was about to get even more amazing. Roughly a year after founding his paper, Abel was elected the mayor of San Pedro Sula, a city in northwestern Honduras, where he settled down with America's great-grandmother.
36:29A woman named Magdalena Ricarte. But the family's good fortune did not last.
36:38When Civil War broke out in 1919, Abel opposed the rebel cause. And his house was set on fire.
36:48Wow.
36:51They were likely left with nothing.
36:54That must have been really scary. Um...
36:59Where do you go? Where do you go?
37:03Let's see. Please turn the page.
37:05America, this record is dated October 20, 1920, a little over a year after your ancestors' home was burned down. Would you please read the transcribed section?
37:16Date and place of birth, 16th October 1920, Dean Street, Belize.
37:23There's your grandmother being born to your great-grandparents, Abel and Magdalena.
37:29Um, and what is this Belize?
37:31Belize.
37:32They're in Belize.
37:33They were refugees. They'd picked the wrong side in the Civil War, so they had to run.
37:38Wow.
37:39What's it like to see that?
37:40That's crazy. That's crazy.
37:42America's family didn't stay in Belize for long.
37:47They moved to Guatemala sometime in 1921 and remained there in exile for at least six more years before finally returning to Honduras.
38:03Oh, my gosh.
38:05Did you know your grandmother spent some of her childhood in Guatemala?
38:09No, and I didn't know that she was born in Belize.
38:13And I didn't know that her father was a mayor and that he, his house was burned down and they fled. Like, none of this. I didn't know any of this.
38:24What's it been like for you to learn this? Grandmothers are not so far away, you know?
38:29It's crazy. I mean, I, I, I, this is a completely erased part of my, for me, my history. I have never heard any peace whisper, nothing.
38:45I, I, I, I wonder how much anyone knew about this. Like, I, I don't know if it was kept from us or if just no one knew.
38:54Following another branch of America's mother's family tree, we encountered another piece of her family's history that had been completely erased.
39:04America's fourth great grandmother was a woman named Isabel Ayes. She was likely born in Honduras around 1790. But her roots lay elsewhere.
39:20In the parish church of Jiticalpa, solemnly baptized a boy, natural child of Isabel Ayes, free mulata.
39:29That's your fourth great grandmother. Can you read again how she's described?
39:34Isabel Ayes, free mulata.
39:37That means that she is of recent African descent. She's black and white.
39:44Wow.
39:45She's a sister.
39:46So this wouldn't have been mixed race, like, like indigenous and white.
39:50They would be Mestizo or Mesti.
39:52That would be Mestizo. So she was of African descent.
39:55Yes, that's right.
39:56Wow.
39:57You ever wonder if you had black ancestry?
40:00I'd hoped.
40:04But never, ever, ever.
40:08No, I mean, it's just not, it's just not, has never made a mark on any, any storytelling in the family. That's amazing.
40:21According to this record, Isabel was set free by 1819, five years before the abolition of slavery in Honduras.
40:33We don't know how she gained her freedom, but the word mulata is tangible evidence that this line of America's family originates in Africa.
40:44Wow.
40:45So did you ever imagine that one of your ancestors came to Honduras in chains, in bondage?
40:54No.
40:55Well, they did.
40:56Wow.
40:57Wow.
40:58What's it like to learn this? That's the name of your black ancestor.
41:08I'm just so grateful that she's visible.
41:19That I can know that she existed.
41:22We had now traced America's roots back six generations on both sides of her family tree, identifying dozens of ancestors who lived in Honduras in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
41:41To America, the sheer scope of it all was awe-inspiring.
41:48I, like, I haven't obviously had any time to, like, digest this and really, like, feel it and explore it.
41:55But seeing these names, these dates, these places, people that I actually come from is mind-blowing.
42:08And I'm so glad I get to give this to my children.
42:13Oh, yeah.
42:14I'm so happy.
42:15You know, that makes me emotional to know that I, that they'll get to grow up, and my nieces and nephews and my siblings, and that this history is recovered.
42:27That it's been rescued from what felt like a black hole.
42:34Turning back to Darren Criss, we shifted from his mother's roots in the Philippines to his father's roots in Pennsylvania.
42:47Darren's grandmother, a woman named Charlotte Bartlett, was born in the small city of Newcastle in 1913.
42:57And Darren told me that he was especially eager to learn about her.
43:03I'm so excited.
43:06I've always felt connected to this woman, even though I never met her or knew her, so I, I, this is gonna be, it's gonna be cool.
43:11Okay.
43:12This article was published.
43:13Yes!
43:15All I saw was in senior play in a picture of Charlotte.
43:19That a girl.
43:20That's rad.
43:21This was published in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, January 10th, 1931.
43:26Would you please read the transcribed section?
43:28In senior play, Miss Charlotte Bartlett will interpret the role of Martha Winslow or Muff in senior class play.
43:37The, the youngest quote unquote, Miss Bartlett is particularly well chosen to present the lively, warm hearted impish Muff.
43:46As was doubtless true of Muff when in high school, Charlotte is very popular with the younger set.
43:52I just love the sort of older fashioned rhetoric of this article.
43:58Were you aware that you weren't the first actor on your family tree?
44:01I guess I never really thought about it.
44:03You know, I'm sure my mom after this would be like, you knew that.
44:06And I'll be like, I guess I somehow compartmentalized it in a place that wasn't in my frontal lobe.
44:11But, um, as of right now, as seen by my reaction, all I saw was in senior play in a picture of Charlotte Bartlett.
44:17That excitement was a genuine reaction to, oh my God, of course she was doing something along those lines.
44:23Your grandmother was 17 years old at the time.
44:25That's amazing.
44:26And according to this and other articles we found, this is not the only one, Charlotte was a gifted performer who also played the piano.
44:33Awesome.
44:34How about that?
44:35That's amazing.
44:37She even directed several plays.
44:41Charlotte!
44:43You son of a gun.
44:46Charlotte's theatrical ambitions may well have been inspired by her roots.
44:50She descends from a long line of dramatic characters.
44:57None more so than her fourth great grandfather, a man named Israel Manning.
45:04Israel was born in colonial Massachusetts in 1756.
45:11And when he was 19 years old, shots were fired in the town of Lexington.
45:17Barely 30 miles from his home.
45:22So he had a choice.
45:24He could join the raggedy-ass patriots, or he could remain loyal to King George.
45:29Was he a red coat?
45:30What did he do?
45:31I don't know.
45:32You've got to guess.
45:33You're setting me up, because you said raggedy-ass, and so I'm like, oh no, is he a red coat?
45:38Was he loyalist?
45:39He lived in a place that was a hotbed of rebel activity.
45:43Did he side with the crown, or did he side with the rebels?
45:47I'm only guessing, but I can't judge.
45:51You know?
45:52Different times, different circumstances.
45:53I'm going to guess that he was a loyalist.
45:55Okay.
45:56To the crown.
45:57Please turn the page.
45:58Oh, boy.
45:59Didn't you?
46:00This is from the Massachusetts State Archives.
46:03Would you please read the transcribed section?
46:05Israel Manning, private muster role of Captain Ephraim, Richardson's company.
46:09Time of enlistment would have been April 26th, 1775.
46:12So he was enlisting?
46:13In the Patriot Army.
46:14In the Patriot side.
46:15Okay, great.
46:16Cool.
46:17Isn't that cool of storytelling that I went with the thing that was a little more scary,
46:19and then it ended up being a cool one?
46:22Israel enlisted just days after the start of the war.
46:28At the time, the Patriot armies were mainly composed of volunteers.
46:33And they struggled to retain troops.
46:37Some soldiers signed up for just a few months.
46:41But Israel's pension file shows that he had a very different experience.
46:46I, Israel Manning, do on oath testify and declare that in the War of Revolution,
46:53on the first day of April in the year 1777,
46:57I entered and was engaged in the land service of the United States on the Continental Establishment
47:04and served accordingly from that time to the first day of April in the year 1780
47:09as a private against the common enemy without any interruption or absence.
47:14Those are your ancestors' own words.
47:17What's it like to read them?
47:19I just read my sixth-great-grandfather just, like, flexing.
47:24That's right.
47:25I said, listen, I did this really cool thing and I had no problems doing it.
47:28Gonna write that down.
47:30My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson's gonna read that one day.
47:35Israel not only served for three full years, his regiment was also involved in several notable battles,
47:46including the Battle of Saratoga, a crucial patriot victory.
47:52And Israel did something else as well.
47:57He spent the winter of 1778 serving under General George Washington at Valley Forge,
48:06one of the most iconic events in American history.
48:10Could you ever have imagined that you had an ancestor who spent time with George Washington?
48:16No.
48:17They might even have known each other.
48:18No.
48:19Wow.
48:20What's it like to know this?
48:21I can't believe it.
48:22I can't believe it.
48:23That's wild.
48:24What would your father have said?
48:25Would it have been meaningful to him?
48:27Yeah.
48:28Of course.
48:29Of course it would.
48:30I wish he could have heard this, you know?
48:33But the great thing is that, you know, my kids will hear this and their kids will hear this.
48:37It'll be an amazing sort of goalposts from which to refer for many generations to come.
48:45We had one more story for Darren.
48:48Following a different branch of his father's family tree,
48:52we found ourselves traveling from Massachusetts to what was once the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam.
49:00Darren's tenth great grandfather, a man named Tonus Tomas, received a land grant here in the year 1645.
49:13A lot for a house and garden located on the northeast side of Fort Amsterdam.
49:18And you know where New Amsterdam was?
49:19Are we talking about where we are at right now?
49:21Manhattan.
49:22Manhattan, baby, I know.
49:23New Dorp.
49:24That's right.
49:25Your family's owned property in Manhattan since 1645.
49:29What?
49:33That is crazy.
49:34That is crazy.
49:36Can I just live there?
49:37Do I still have to pay the rent that I'm paying in Manhattan?
49:40I think the present landowner might want to argue with it.
49:42The present landowner, yeah, might have a gripe with it and be like,
49:44no, but I was on Finding Roots and they said.
49:47That's crazy.
49:49We don't know exactly when Tonus arrived in New Amsterdam, but we think we know why he came.
49:56He was a brick worker in the Netherlands, and records show that he was hired to build and repair chimneys in the New World.
50:06Meaning that Darren's ancestor helped build the city where he now lives.
50:11That is rad.
50:15Isn't that cool?
50:16That's really cool.
50:18And that's a lot.
50:19The D that you are looking at, the lot was located at the corner of Broadway and Stone Streets on the southern tip of Manhattan.
50:27What you're telling me is my earliest ancestor on this land was on Broadway.
50:34Yep.
50:36That's insane.
50:37It's amazing.
50:39That is really amazing.
50:41The paper trail had now run out for each of my guests.
50:44It was time to show them their full family treats and see what DNA could tell us about their deeper roots.
50:54I'm so grateful.
50:55For America, this would yield quite a surprise.
51:02When we compared her genetic profile to that of others who've been in the series, we found a match.
51:10Evidence of a distant cousin she never knew she had.
51:15Okay. Can I?
51:16Turn the page.
51:17Ava!
51:20Ava DuVernay.
51:22Oh my God!
51:24Oh, I love that!
51:26Do you know her? Have you met her?
51:27Yes, we've met. We've worked together. We did a little music video together and we've been in many rooms.
51:36That makes me so happy.
51:37America shares a long identical segment of DNA on her X chromosome with Emmy Award winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay.
51:50That means that you share a distant common ancestor somewhere in your family trees.
51:54Oh my God, I love that! That's amazing!
51:58So you're free to call her and tell her.
52:00I can't thank you enough. This is amazing. Thank you so much.
52:04That's the end of our journey with America Ferreira and Darren Criss.
52:12Join me next time when we unlock the secrets of the past for new guests on another episode of Finding Your Roots.
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