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00:15I'm Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
00:18Welcome to Finding Your Roots.
00:21In this episode, we'll meet actor Danielle Dedweiler
00:24and musician Rhiannon Giddens,
00:27two women whose family trees are filled with family secrets.
00:33Just humans making human decisions.
00:35Flawed, beautiful.
00:38But they want some love, apparently.
00:41And they're going to go get it.
00:43Oh, my God.
00:45Yes, this is the moonshiner.
00:48To uncover their roots, we've used every tool available.
00:53Genealogists comb through paper trails
00:56stretching back hundreds of years.
00:58This is so rich.
00:59While DNA experts utilize the latest advances in genetic analysis
01:04to reveal secrets that have lain hidden for generations.
01:08This is very intense.
01:11And we've compiled it all into a book of life,
01:15a record of all of our discoveries.
01:17Jeez Louise.
01:17And a window into the hidden past.
01:21The Hatwood branch of your family was freed before the Civil War.
01:24That's pretty, that's pretty crazy.
01:26Mm-hmm.
01:27How did they do that?
01:29I'm about to dream so good the next few days.
01:33Danielle and Rhiannon have deep roots in Georgia and North Carolina,
01:37and their family trees are filled with characters
01:41who might have been pulled from the pages of a Southern Gothic novel.
01:46In this episode, we're going to separate fact from fiction,
01:51revealing who my guest's ancestors really were,
01:54while shedding light on our nation's complex racial past.
02:39Danielle Deadweiler's eyes speak volumes.
02:43The renowned actor who enthralled audiences in Station Eleven,
02:49The Harder They Fall, and Till,
02:51is blessed with a steely gaze
02:54that can inspire everything from heartbreaking sorrow
02:57to abject terror.
03:00But while Danielle's performances are tightly controlled,
03:04off-camera, she's bursting with energy.
03:07And she told me that as a child growing up in Atlanta,
03:11she had no idea that she'd end up as an actor.
03:15She was just trying to stay busy.
03:19I was always super active.
03:22I did dance since I was, like, three, four years old.
03:25Um, taekwondo, soccer.
03:28If I could have played football, I would have.
03:31But my daddy wouldn't let me, because I was a little.
03:34You know?
03:34So we just were a part of all these different things to keep us active.
03:39Hmm.
03:40When did you first discover that you were a performer,
03:42that you could entertain?
03:43My consciousness about it, I don't know.
03:46My mom says that she saw me dancing in front of the TV to Soul Train.
03:49Oh, yeah?
03:49And she was like, oh, I need to put that baby in dance.
03:51And so it's just always been there.
03:56Dan's classes would put Danielle on the path she's still following.
04:01But it would take time for her to find her way.
04:05After college, Danielle earned a master's degree from Columbia University,
04:11then took a job teaching school,
04:13before realizing she'd made a mistake.
04:19I loved working with students.
04:21And because I had done, you know, GED, ESL,
04:25teaching whilst at Columbia.
04:28Mm-hmm.
04:29But I was still doing the other things.
04:31I was still in the arts.
04:33This was a moment of just working
04:35and feeling like, what am I doing?
04:38Something's off.
04:39This is not.
04:39This is, you know, the frequency is jammed.
04:43And I would do read-alouds with the students,
04:47because everybody loves to be read to, right?
04:50Um, and that would steer, you know, the recollections,
04:56the echoes of who I really was.
04:58What were you reading?
04:59What were your favorite things to read aloud?
05:01Probably something, uh, something sci-fi-ish or something like that.
05:07Right.
05:07That's what students were into at the time.
05:09Yeah.
05:10Um, but they, I would put so much performative spirit and energy into it.
05:16Because, and they would, you know, the other teachers would read,
05:18but, you know, they would particularly dig when I did what I did.
05:22I'm not bragging, but...
05:25And I felt it with them.
05:28Danielle would soon heed her own lesson.
05:32She began doing plays in Atlanta,
05:35then moved to Hollywood,
05:37where she's become a star,
05:40bringing life to a dizzying array of roles
05:43in almost every genre.
05:46From comedy to horror,
05:48historical drama to dystopian science fiction.
05:52But for all she's accomplished,
05:55Danielle remains deeply connected to the passion
05:58she first found in her childhood.
06:03Now, here's a thought experiment.
06:05If you could go back in time
06:07and talk to that young girl watching Soul Train,
06:11what advice would you give her?
06:13Oh, just dance all the time.
06:15Just keep dancing.
06:17It's the best thing.
06:19It connects you to everything.
06:22It connects you to the earth.
06:23It connects you to your body.
06:25It connects you to your people.
06:26It connects you to the above, to the beyond.
06:31It is a language.
06:34And it is the...
06:37It's the language that you've always known.
06:41My second guest is Rhiannon Giddens,
06:45the Grammy Award-winning singer and banjo player,
06:49one of the most original talents
06:51in the long history of American folk music.
06:55And I don't have to worry what my hubby will think
06:58because I'm no man's mama now.
07:02Rhiannon was born in North Carolina,
07:05a place steeped in musical traditions.
07:08And as a biracial child,
07:11with a white father and a black mother,
07:14she inherited the full range of those traditions,
07:17from country-western to blues, gospel, and soul.
07:23But while both Rhiannon and her sister
07:25showed that they had musical gifts at a young age,
07:29they weren't pushed onto the stage.
07:32Quite the contrary.
07:34We never really performed as kids.
07:37It's one of the things I'm so grateful to my mom.
07:39Like, you know, like Star Search or whatever,
07:42they would do these regional auditions.
07:45And so we'd always want to go.
07:47And we'd want to sing Whitney Houston,
07:49Greatest Love of All.
07:50And she'd be like, nope, you can do a kata.
07:53We were in karate.
07:54She made us do karate.
07:56And we were beginners.
07:57You know, you're kind of thinking like,
07:59you know, Hidden Tiger, Crouching Dragon,
08:01or whatever, like doing all these kicks.
08:03We were not doing that.
08:04It was like, shh, shh.
08:05You know, we'd wait in line.
08:07We'd get up there.
08:08We'd do our little kata,
08:09not get picked, and then go home.
08:11I feel like it was her way of just sort of
08:13turning us away from that, like, applause thing.
08:16So I'm super grateful that I never had that experience
08:19as a child other than in my chorus,
08:20which was a group thing.
08:22Very rarely got solos.
08:24That I never attached, like,
08:27the joy that I got from making music to applause.
08:31Rhiannon would soon be finding joy and applause
08:35on a very different stage.
08:37After high school, she was accepted
08:41into the prestigious conservatory at Oberlin College,
08:45where she studied opera
08:47and seemed destined for an international career.
08:51But when she moved to New York City to pursue that career,
08:55she realized the conservatory had not exactly prepared her
09:00for the challenges of the real world.
09:05It's great for the training,
09:07but, you know, they don't really teach you how to get a job.
09:10Because what you have to do is audition.
09:12You've got to send out tapes.
09:13You've got to, you know, you've got to live in New York.
09:15You've got to, like, travel.
09:16You've got to have money, basically, which I did not have.
09:18Right.
09:19And so, you know, you send in the tape,
09:20and then you wait to hear,
09:21did I get called back to this thing?
09:23Can I do this young artist program?
09:24Meanwhile, you've got to earn a living.
09:25And it's just like, it's a different way of being.
09:28And I just was kind of like,
09:29I don't know if this is for me.
09:30Because I loved opera, but I was already kind of,
09:33I had sung, like, in different ways
09:36before I started singing classical music.
09:37It's not like I was singing that way for years
09:39before I went to Oberlin.
09:40I was learning a lot of that stuff for the first time.
09:42So I had sung, you know, folk stuff with my dad or whatever.
09:46Celtic stuff, I joined a Celtic band.
09:48And kind of going, this is cool.
09:50You know, I can just, like, make a show.
09:53That realization changed Rhiannon's life,
09:58inspiring her to return to North Carolina,
10:01take up the banjo,
10:03a traditional African-American instrument,
10:06and shift her focus from opera to folk music.
10:10The results have been spectacular.
10:13Because right where there's smoke, baby,
10:14you know there's a fire.
10:16You and girl, everybody's again.
10:18In the past two decades,
10:20Rhiannon has released three celebrated solo albums
10:24and collaborated on dozens more,
10:27finding fame and artistic satisfaction along the way.
10:33Just as importantly,
10:35she's also come to grips with her own biracial heritage.
10:41I think every mixed person has this experience,
10:45well, I don't want to speak for everybody,
10:46but many of us have,
10:48of, you know, being looked at with suspicion
10:51because we're not dark enough.
10:54Like, experiences like, you know,
10:56listening to Queen Latifah,
10:58and, like, the black girl goes by and is like,
11:00listening to Queen Latifah don't make you black.
11:02You know, I was like,
11:03wasn't aware that that was what I was trying to do.
11:05I just liked Queen Latifah, you know.
11:07But I, you know,
11:08just having experiences like that
11:09and being questioned constantly by people,
11:11what are you?
11:12No originally.
11:14What are your parents?
11:14There's no original.
11:15No, right, yeah.
11:15That's the thing that every, like,
11:17vague-looking ethnic person has to go through.
11:19Right.
11:20So, you know,
11:21I had to kind of come to terms with,
11:23you know,
11:23what does it mean to be black?
11:25What does it mean to be white?
11:26What does it mean to be mixed?
11:28What do you claim?
11:29How can you be both at the same time?
11:31Right.
11:31You know, because I'm like,
11:32I got a lot of experience with my white family.
11:35You know, like,
11:36does that negate,
11:37just because society calls me a certain thing,
11:40does that negate my whole dad's side of the family
11:42and all the experience that I've had with them?
11:44You know what I mean?
11:45You know,
11:46it's been a journey.
11:48But for me, honestly,
11:49the banjo was at the center of releasing that
11:51because I was like,
11:52you know what?
11:53Being black is a lot of things.
11:55Yes.
11:55And this is the center of being black for me.
11:58It doesn't have to be for you.
11:59It doesn't have to be for you.
12:00But for me,
12:02the history of what we've put into this instrument
12:05and how,
12:06where I'm from
12:07and the connections I have to it
12:08and the lineage that I carry,
12:10I don't need to prove anything to anybody.
12:12But it was the music that gave me that grounding
12:15as a North Carolinian.
12:17That's why I say,
12:17you know,
12:18I'm North Carolina,
12:18black, white, yellow, whatever.
12:20I'm North Carolinian.
12:21And I,
12:22that's enough for me.
12:25My two guests both grew up in the South,
12:28in and around the same places
12:30where their ancestors had lived for centuries.
12:34But both came to me knowing a little
12:36about the lives of those ancestors.
12:39It was time for that to change.
12:42I started with Danielle
12:44and with her father,
12:47Ricky Deadweiler,
12:48a railroad supervisor
12:50who provided for his family
12:52and inspired his daughter
12:54with his tireless devotion to his job.
12:59My dad was a freaking workaholic,
13:02you know,
13:02working for the railroad
13:04in the capacity in which he did.
13:06It's 24-7.
13:07You're on call all the time.
13:09If there's a derailment
13:10or anything happening,
13:12he had to be there.
13:14He traveled a lot.
13:15And I understood that
13:17to, you know,
13:19be how stability was made.
13:22He had to go to work.
13:23So I get that.
13:25I get that discipline.
13:26I get that straight focus.
13:30Yeah.
13:31Do you know much about his roots?
13:33Not, not a wealth.
13:35Did he talk much about them?
13:37Here and there.
13:40Ricky's reticence
13:41may well have been due to the fact
13:43that the Deadweilers
13:44have very complicated roots.
13:47Indeed,
13:48digging into his family tree,
13:50we encountered a series of mysteries
13:52that we struggled mightily to solve.
13:56The first begins with Ricky's grandmother,
13:59a woman named Hattie Mae Deadweiler.
14:03Records show that Hattie Mae
14:05married Ricky's grandfather,
14:08Roy Lee Hall,
14:09in 1932,
14:12when she claimed to be 19 years old.
14:15But we're not sure that's correct.
14:18The paper trail varies
14:20as to what year Hattie was born,
14:23ranging from 1911 to 1917,
14:27meaning that she could have been
14:29as old as 21
14:30or as young as 15.
14:36So sometimes she would be 21,
14:39sometimes 15.
14:40Can you imagine getting married
14:42when you're 15 years old?
14:44That's some Zora Neale Hurst
14:45and stuff right there.
14:47That's right.
14:47Ten years, she just like...
14:48You don't need to know how old I am.
14:50That's right.
14:50It's none of your business,
14:51but I'm here.
14:52That's right.
14:53And I am ten years
14:54of one day wake up
14:55and wow, I feel lighter.
14:57Yeah.
14:58I'm ten years younger.
14:59Exactly.
15:01I dig it.
15:03Though we don't know
15:04Hattie's exact age,
15:06we did discover something curious
15:08about her marriage to Roy.
15:11In the 1940 census,
15:14we found their son, Imel,
15:16living with an uncle,
15:18but Hattie and Roy
15:19were not in the same house.
15:24Oh.
15:25Hmm.
15:26So what do you think's going on there?
15:29I guess I don't know.
15:31Well, we have a theory.
15:33When the census was recorded,
15:34Hattie appears to have been living
15:35with her sister Gladys in Athens.
15:38And when we went looking for Roy,
15:41we came across something surprising.
15:43Please turn the page.
15:45That was a dramatic use of your hand.
15:48Oh.
15:50This is from the Georgia State Archives.
15:52Would you please read that transcribed section?
15:55Marriage license.
15:56Roy Lee Hall
15:57and Lily Mae Strange
15:59were joined in matrimony
16:00this 31st day
16:01of December 1939.
16:04Hmm.
16:05Your great-grandfather
16:06got married
16:07to another woman.
16:09Yep.
16:10And guess what?
16:11What?
16:11We found no record
16:12of a divorce.
16:14Okay.
16:14So,
16:15it is, of course,
16:17possible
16:17that they never divorced
16:18at all.
16:20Hmm.
16:21Hmm.
16:22So what do you think
16:22happened to Roy
16:23and Hattie's relationship?
16:26Hmm.
16:29It's Georgia.
16:30It's the 30s.
16:32It's 40s.
16:33Who knows?
16:34Yeah.
16:35Um,
16:36who knows?
16:37Who knows?
16:38Who knows?
16:40Danielle is right.
16:42There's no way
16:43to know
16:43what came between
16:44Hattie and Roy.
16:46But their son,
16:47Amel,
16:48was raised
16:49with his mother's surname.
16:51And Roy Lee Hall
16:52seems to have been forgotten.
16:56Ironically,
16:57Roy's death certificate
16:59reveals that his own name
17:01stemmed from
17:01similar circumstances.
17:05Date of death,
17:068-14-1971.
17:09Place of death,
17:10Wilkinson, Georgia.
17:12Father's name,
17:14Rogers Lowe.
17:15Mm-hmm.
17:16Mother's maiden name,
17:18Maddie Lou Hall.
17:19Roy died from heart trouble.
17:21At the age of 57.
17:24My father's grandfather.
17:26Your father's grandfather.
17:27And then you see
17:28his father's name
17:30and his mother's name.
17:32That's right.
17:33Amen.
17:33Can you read their names
17:34for me again?
17:35Rogers Lowe,
17:37Maddie Lou Hall.
17:39And you notice anything
17:40about those names?
17:41Yep.
17:43They got their mother's name.
17:45Yes.
17:46They don't share
17:46the same surname.
17:47That's another generation
17:49of your father's family
17:50who did not take
17:51their father's surname.
17:52Yeah.
17:54What's it like to see that?
17:55Wild.
17:58We now set out to see
17:59what became
18:00of Roy's father, Rogers,
18:02and encountered a situation
18:04that was painfully familiar.
18:06In the 1920 census,
18:09Roy is listed
18:10as a five-year-old boy
18:12living in the house
18:14of his mother,
18:15Maddie Lou Hall,
18:17and her parents.
18:19But Rogers Lowe
18:21is not living
18:22with the family.
18:25So we wonder
18:26what in the world
18:27is going on here.
18:29Would you please
18:30turn the page?
18:31This is getting
18:32more and more dramatic
18:33as it goes.
18:35Would you please
18:36read the transcribed section?
18:39Lowe, Roger,
18:40head of household,
18:41age 21,
18:43occupation,
18:44laborer,
18:45bauxite mining,
18:47Annie, wife,
18:48age 24,
18:49Ivy L,
18:51son,
18:51age 3 and 1 month,
18:53Gordon,
18:54son,
18:55age 2 and 2 months,
18:57Sadie B,
18:59daughter,
19:00age 4 months.
19:02And you recognize
19:03that Roger Lowe
19:04Roger Lowe
19:05is Roy's father.
19:07Yes.
19:07But he has a wife
19:08and three children
19:09in another town.
19:14Rogers married a woman
19:15named Annie Mae Davis
19:17in 1915.
19:18Your great-grandfather Roy
19:20wasn't even two years old
19:21when he married
19:23another woman.
19:24Mm-hmm.
19:26How does it feel
19:27to see that?
19:30People.
19:31Right?
19:32They're people.
19:32Mm-hmm.
19:33History makes it
19:34look all,
19:35you know,
19:37distant and,
19:38you know,
19:39but this is,
19:41oh,
19:41it's just humans
19:42making human decisions.
19:43Mm-hmm.
19:44Flawed,
19:45beautiful,
19:47continuing with life.
19:48Mm-hmm.
19:49But they want some love,
19:51apparently.
19:52Right.
19:52and they're going
19:53to go get it.
19:54Ha, ha, ha.
19:56We had now traced
19:58Danielle's father's roots
19:59back over 100 years,
20:02uncovering a pattern
20:03that crossed
20:04multiple generations.
20:07A pattern of absent fathers,
20:10of mothers being left
20:11to pick up the pieces,
20:13and of children
20:14forced to get by
20:16without a parent.
20:20This is interesting.
20:22So,
20:22seeing this pattern
20:23laid out,
20:24does it change the way
20:24that you think
20:25of your own father
20:27since he broke
20:28that pattern?
20:31Sure.
20:32Yeah.
20:34He's,
20:35he's the man
20:36who wants to be
20:37committed to family.
20:38Mm-hmm.
20:38Yeah.
20:39To a kind of structure.
20:41Do you think
20:42there's cause and effect
20:43that he's reacting
20:44against?
20:44Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:45Yeah.
20:46Oh, yeah, yeah.
20:47You, you often think
20:49that you need to do
20:49the opposite thing
20:50that you've witnessed
20:53that doesn't work.
20:54Yeah.
20:55Yeah.
20:56I had one final detail
20:59to share with Danielle,
21:00the source of her
21:02distinctive surname.
21:04We were able to trace
21:06the Deadweiler family
21:07back almost two centuries
21:09to Danielle's
21:11third great-grandfather,
21:13Gaines Deadweiler,
21:14who was born in Georgia
21:16around 1840.
21:19Seeing this mapped out
21:21proved thrilling
21:22to Danielle,
21:24as did the realization
21:25that she's only
21:27a Deadweiler
21:28thanks to her
21:29great-grandmother,
21:30Hattie,
21:31who chose to pass on
21:33her own surname
21:35rather than that
21:36of her husband.
21:39It's cool.
21:41It's like
21:43we don't have to adhere
21:44to, you know,
21:47these structures
21:49and traditions.
21:50Mm-hmm.
21:51And starting with your name
21:53is critical, you know.
21:57August Wilson wrote his name,
21:58right,
21:59when he first,
21:59when he first started,
22:01when he got his typewriter
22:02from his,
22:03the gift of $20
22:04from his sister.
22:05The first thing
22:05he wanted to see
22:06was his name.
22:06Yeah.
22:07So he typed his name.
22:08So the idea that
22:10the first thing,
22:12the thing that my
22:13great-grandmother did
22:14was I'm going to
22:15maintain my name.
22:16My child is going to
22:17maintain, you know,
22:19my name.
22:20And that persists
22:22for my, you know,
22:23great-grandchild.
22:23Like, it's like,
22:25you get to define
22:26how you want to be
22:27in the world.
22:28That's a great way
22:29to put it.
22:29Yeah.
22:30Yeah.
22:30And that's pretty dope.
22:34Much like Danielle,
22:36Rhiannon Giddens
22:37has an ancestor
22:38who utterly
22:39redefined her family.
22:41But the story
22:42starts closer to home.
22:45In 1970,
22:47just three years
22:48after interracial marriage
22:50was legalized
22:51in the United States,
22:53Rhiannon's father,
22:55Paul Giddens,
22:57dismayed his parents
22:58and grandparents
22:59by marrying
23:00Rhiannon's mother
23:02and soon
23:03found himself disowned.
23:07The fracture
23:08might have been permanent,
23:09but after the birth
23:10of the couple's
23:11first child,
23:13Paul's mother
23:14made a choice.
23:16My sister was
23:17his mother Margaret's
23:19first grandchild.
23:20Oh.
23:21And his, you know,
23:22it's like I always say
23:22one person can change
23:24the tenor of an entire family.
23:25Right?
23:26So his, his,
23:27my grandmother,
23:28Grandma Giddens,
23:29she was a God-fearing woman,
23:31only book in the house
23:32was the Bible,
23:33you know,
23:34and she, like,
23:36was concerned,
23:37you know,
23:37she wouldn't have been hateful,
23:38but she was concerned,
23:39like, what about the children,
23:40you know,
23:40when he married Mom?
23:42But then,
23:43my sister came along
23:44and she had a,
23:45you know,
23:45she had a decision
23:46in that time.
23:46Right.
23:47I can be a bigot or not.
23:49Right.
23:49And she went for love.
23:51That's great.
23:51And she's just,
23:52she was just love incarnate
23:54and in, you know,
23:55it's not to say
23:56things were smooth
23:56on that side of the family
23:57because they were not.
23:58Right.
23:59But because she was a beacon,
24:00you know,
24:01and she wholeheartedly
24:02supported him
24:03and his choice of family,
24:04I think that then
24:06had branches
24:07that then sort of
24:08blossomed
24:09as the years passed.
24:10She was a pretty
24:11amazing woman.
24:13Unfortunately,
24:14Margaret's attitude
24:16was not shared
24:17by her mother,
24:19a woman named
24:20Edith Hanner.
24:22Edith never accepted
24:24her grandson's marriage.
24:26And as a result,
24:28Rhiannon knew very little
24:29about Edith.
24:31She'd been told
24:32that Edith was married
24:34to a man named
24:35George Clifton Hanner.
24:37And she'd also heard
24:38that there was a moonshiner
24:40in her past.
24:42But beyond that,
24:44Edith was a mystery.
24:46One that Rhiannon
24:47had never been
24:48inclined to explore.
24:52She didn't really,
24:54I never really felt like
24:57she thought of us
24:58the same as the other
24:59grandkids.
25:00Mm-hmm.
25:02Like, yeah,
25:03Christmas time.
25:04It's very marked
25:04difference in presents
25:06and things, you know.
25:07Um, so we went out
25:09to visit occasionally,
25:12um, to, as, you know,
25:15because it was family.
25:16But it was not,
25:17we, we had a hard time
25:19going out there sometimes.
25:20Oh, it's too bad.
25:21I'm sorry about that.
25:22Yeah, that's like the time
25:23and the life
25:24and the whatever, you know.
25:25Have you heard any stories
25:26about her relationship
25:27with George?
25:29No.
25:30Could you please
25:31turn the page?
25:35This is a newspaper article
25:36published in the
25:37Greensboro Daily Record.
25:38Oh, my God.
25:40May 27th.
25:41Yes.
25:421929.
25:43This is the moonshiner.
25:44That's right.
25:44George was 23 years old.
25:46I didn't know he was arrested.
25:47He had been married to Edith
25:48for about three years.
25:49Would you please read
25:49that transcribed section
25:51in the white box?
25:52Cliff Hanner was arrested
25:53by county officers
25:54Saturday night
25:55when they found
25:55the worm of a still
25:56in his possession.
25:57The officers were
25:58on an expedition
25:59in the vicinity
26:00of Tabernacle Church
26:01when they caught Hanner.
26:02He will be given
26:03a hearing tomorrow afternoon.
26:05Your great-grandfather
26:06was arrested
26:07for possessing
26:07one of the key components
26:08of a still
26:09during Prohibition.
26:12I see.
26:12Well, it's funny
26:13because Grandma
26:16was a total teetotaler.
26:17Mm-hmm.
26:18Oh, what a shock.
26:19I mean, it's like,
26:20it's a funny thing.
26:23Wow.
26:25We found over
26:27a dozen news articles
26:29reporting that
26:30Rhiannon's great-grandfather
26:31grandfather George
26:33was, in fact,
26:34involved in distilling
26:35and selling
26:36his own alcohol.
26:39And this was only
26:40the beginning
26:41of his problems.
26:43Matters of record,
26:44municipal county court,
26:45George C. Hanner,
26:46drunk,
26:4730 days suspended.
26:48Your great-grandfather
26:49was convicted
26:50of public drunkenness.
26:51Have you ever heard
26:52anything about that?
26:53No.
26:55I mean, you know,
26:56he's a moonshiner,
26:56so I guess, you know,
26:57he's drinking his own stuff.
26:58I don't know.
26:59Well, this story
27:00is more complicated
27:02than it might seem.
27:03Could you please
27:04turn the page?
27:06This record we found
27:07in the state archives
27:08of North Carolina.
27:10Would you please read
27:11that transcribe section?
27:12Yes.
27:12Edith Wilson-Hanner
27:14versus G.C. Hanner.
27:15Have the plaintiff
27:16and the defendant
27:16been separated
27:17for two years?
27:17Answer, yes.
27:18Edith Wilson-Hanner,
27:19the plaintiff,
27:20is hereby granted
27:20an absolute divorce
27:22from the defendant,
27:22G.C. Hanner,
27:23this, the 16th day
27:25of December, 1946.
27:27When George was convicted
27:28in the record
27:29we just saw,
27:30your great-grandparents
27:31had just separated.
27:32Yeah.
27:33What's it like
27:33to learn that?
27:34Um, it's just,
27:36it's the story of,
27:37it's the sad story
27:38of a life unraveling.
27:41Records show
27:41that George and Edith
27:42were separated
27:43for at least two years
27:45prior to their divorce.
27:47And during those years,
27:49George was cited
27:50for public drunkenness
27:51at least three more times.
27:54But it turns out
27:56that Edith had secrets
27:57of her own.
27:59Oh, boy.
28:02So this is the year
28:04before George and Edith
28:05got divorced.
28:05Would you please read
28:06that transcribed section?
28:07Well, well, Edith.
28:09Sherman M. Amick
28:11and Edith Minnie Hanner
28:12were charged
28:12with occupying a room
28:13at 221 South Green Street
28:15for immoral purposes.
28:17Whoa!
28:18Wow!
28:19All right!
28:21Mm-hmm.
28:22I'm not gonna,
28:23I'm not going down
28:24the road of he,
28:25she drove him to drink,
28:26but, so it shows
28:28that there was maybe
28:28multiple reasons
28:29for a divorce.
28:31Has your great-grandmother
28:32become more interesting
28:33now than,
28:35now that you've
28:35turned the page?
28:36I mean, that's definitely,
28:37no, I wasn't expecting that,
28:38that's for sure.
28:41According to this article,
28:42in May of 1945,
28:45Rhiannon's great-grandmother
28:47was arrested in Greensboro
28:49for renting a room
28:50with a man named Sherman Amick,
28:53who was known around town
28:55as Snake.
28:58Snake!
28:59What?
29:01Edith, wow, all right.
29:03Now she got interesting.
29:05He also was a convicted bootlegger.
29:08Oh, well, she,
29:09yeah, wow, okay.
29:11And he and Edith
29:12had a relationship.
29:13Clearly.
29:14Any family stories about that?
29:16I have,
29:16not that I have hurt.
29:18Not that it have come down to me.
29:20So, now think about this.
29:22At the time,
29:22Edith was still
29:24technically married
29:25to your great-grandfather.
29:26Mm-hmm.
29:27Even though they were separated.
29:30So what do you mean?
29:31I mean, this is a scandal
29:31in the paper.
29:33Yeah, I mean,
29:33if it's happening
29:34during the separation,
29:37you know,
29:37it's kind of like
29:38there's a little bit
29:39of gray area there
29:40because they've already
29:41announced the intent
29:42to divorce.
29:44Mm-hmm.
29:44So she may feel like
29:46I'm, you know,
29:46not legally a free woman,
29:48but, like, morally
29:48I'm a free woman
29:49because I'm, you know.
29:51Yeah.
29:51So.
29:52They were separated.
29:53Yeah.
29:53Yeah.
29:54I can understand that.
29:56We don't know
29:57what happened
29:58to the case against Edith.
30:00The court records
30:01have been lost.
30:03But it seems
30:04that she moved on
30:05from Snake.
30:06Roughly a year
30:08after she was arrested
30:09with him
30:09and just a week
30:11after her divorce
30:12from George
30:12was finalized,
30:14Edith married a man
30:15named Paul May,
30:17whom Rhiannon met
30:19on multiple occasions,
30:21causing her to reconsider
30:23her great-grandmother
30:24once more.
30:28It doesn't make me,
30:29you know,
30:31warm to her
30:32in the phase
30:33that I knew her,
30:34but it makes me
30:34interested in her life,
30:36you know,
30:36because, like,
30:36everybody has a life
30:37before they're old.
30:38You know what I mean?
30:39Sure.
30:39Everybody was young.
30:40If they're lucky.
30:40If they're lucky.
30:41Everybody was young.
30:42Everybody, you know,
30:43had youthful peccadillos
30:44or whatever,
30:44and it does help
30:46humanize people
30:47to, like,
30:48hear these kind of stories,
30:50you know?
30:50All right.
30:51Let's return then
30:52to your great-grandfather,
30:54George.
30:54George charged
30:56with public drunkenness
30:57at least twice
30:59after Edith remarried.
31:00Right.
31:01Do you know
31:02what happened
31:03to him after that?
31:04I don't.
31:05Please turn the page.
31:06Something tells me
31:06you do.
31:09And now you do.
31:10Would you please
31:11read the transcribed section?
31:13In the Superior Court
31:14of Greensboro Division,
31:151958,
31:16the court finding
31:17as a fact
31:17that defendants
31:18George Clifton Hanner,
31:19Garland Clayton Reese,
31:20Harry Ray Stewart,
31:22Reese was convicted of,
31:23Hanner and Stewart
31:24entered pleas
31:24of guilty to
31:25the illegal possession
31:26non-tax paid liquor
31:27in the amount
31:28of 60 gallons.
31:3060 gallons.
31:31Man,
31:31you just can't stay away.
31:33No.
31:37In the wake
31:38of this arrest,
31:39George pleaded guilty
31:40and was given
31:42two concurrent
31:43one-year sentences
31:45in a North Carolina prison.
31:47He would die of a heart attack
31:50at age 63.
31:52But the story
31:54of his grim fate
31:55drew Rhiannon's thoughts
31:57to something
31:58far more hopeful,
32:00the larger trajectory
32:02of her father's family.
32:06It's like a family's
32:07either going down
32:08or it's going up.
32:09Mm-hmm.
32:09And sometimes
32:11it can be because
32:12of one person.
32:13So it's like going back
32:13to my grandmother,
32:15you know,
32:15she kind of grew up
32:17with this chaotic,
32:19you know,
32:19at one point
32:20they were homeless
32:20and, you know,
32:21this chaotic life
32:23and to raise
32:24three children
32:25that, you know,
32:27lived,
32:28have been living,
32:29you know,
32:29my uncle sadly
32:30has passed,
32:30but have lived
32:31pretty great lives
32:33and their children
32:34are all doing
32:35like really amazing things.
32:37So it's like
32:38there's a way to go.
32:40It doesn't always
32:41have to be one way,
32:42you know,
32:43but like it can be
32:44that matriarch
32:45that can really
32:46make that difference,
32:47you know,
32:48and where a family's going.
32:51We'd already
32:52traced Danielle
32:53Deadweiler
32:54back to her
32:55third great-grandfather
32:56Gaines Deadweiler
32:57who likely passed away
32:59sometime around 1900.
33:03Now,
33:04turning to another branch
33:06of her father's family tree,
33:08we were able
33:09to go back even further,
33:11mapping the line
33:12that stretched
33:13almost two centuries
33:15into the past.
33:17Second great-grandfather,
33:20Lathie Stanley,
33:22third great-grandmother,
33:24Mm-hmm.
33:25March Stanley,
33:27fourth great-grandfather,
33:30Sprigg Stanley,
33:32fifth great-grandfather.
33:33Let me tell you
33:34something about these names.
33:35They're poetic, aren't they?
33:37They don't.
33:39The southerners are,
33:40they come with it.
33:43No, that's true.
33:44Sprigg.
33:44Sprigg.
33:46Okay.
33:47Your fifth great-grandfather.
33:48That is your great-great-great-
33:50great-great-grandfather.
33:51Now,
33:52That's wild.
33:53You sat down here?
33:54Did you think
33:55that we would be able
33:56to get back to your
33:56fifth great-grandfather
33:57on your daddy's side?
33:58I had no clue.
33:59I had no clue.
34:02Naming Danielle's
34:03fifth great-grandfather
34:04was one thing.
34:06Researching his life
34:07would prove
34:08far more complicated
34:09as we immediately
34:11confronted one
34:12of the greatest
34:13of all genealogical challenges,
34:16identifying ancestors
34:17who were trapped
34:19in slavery.
34:21Enslaved people
34:22were almost never
34:23listed by name
34:25in federal documents.
34:27And Sprigg Stanley
34:28was born around 1830,
34:30so he was almost
34:31certainly enslaved.
34:34Our best chance
34:35to learn about him
34:36was to find him
34:37in the records
34:37of the people
34:38who may have owned him.
34:40And in the 1860 census
34:42for Georgia,
34:43we uncovered a clue.
34:46A slave schedule
34:48for a white planter
34:49named Edward M. Stanley.
34:52It lists nine enslaved people,
34:55not by name,
34:57only by age,
34:58color, and gender.
35:00At the time,
35:02Sprigg would have been
35:03about 30 years old.
35:07So you see anyone
35:08about that age?
35:09Yes.
35:10Yes.
35:11We believe
35:13that you're looking
35:13at your fifth
35:14great-grandfather,
35:16Sprigg.
35:16Okay.
35:18Okay.
35:19Who is
35:20a nameless mark.
35:22Yeah.
35:25Yeah.
35:26What's it like
35:27to see that?
35:28You know...
35:37I'm quieted
35:39in that,
35:40you know,
35:40it's, uh...
35:45It's confusing,
35:47it's upsetting,
35:48it's, um...
35:52You see all the textures
35:55on the skin
35:56of something.
35:57If this hash mark
35:59does, in fact,
36:01represent Sprigg,
36:02it means that in 1860,
36:05he was owned
36:06by Edward M. Stanley,
36:08who was then
36:09only 12 years old.
36:12This suggests
36:13that Edward
36:13likely inherited Sprigg.
36:16So we went looking
36:18for estate records
36:19that might give us
36:19more information,
36:21and it didn't take long
36:23for our search
36:24to pay off.
36:27R. L. Cumming,
36:29guardian of Edward M. Stanley,
36:32minor,
36:32heir of James R. Stanley,
36:34deceased,
36:35received from the estate
36:37of James R. Stanley
36:38the following property
36:39on the 16th,
36:41December, 1858.
36:43Sprigg's man,
36:44aged 28 years,
36:46valued at $1,000.
36:57Yeah.
36:59Yeah.
37:01Yeah.
37:06This record is part
37:08of the probate file
37:09of Edward's father,
37:10a man named
37:11James R. Stanley.
37:13It indicates
37:14that Edward received
37:15Sprigg from James' estate
37:17in December of 1858.
37:21Digging deeper,
37:22we found the will
37:23of James' father
37:25from March of 1841
37:27and saw that Sprigg
37:29had been one
37:30of the Stanley family's
37:31possessions
37:32for decades.
37:34Indeed,
37:35James had inherited
37:36Sprigg
37:36from his father.
37:39I give and bequeath
37:41unto my son,
37:41James R. Stanley,
37:43his heirs,
37:44and assigns
37:44the following Negroes,
37:46Ned, Jenny,
37:47Lewis, and Betsy,
37:48and their increase,
37:49all of which
37:50he has already
37:51in possession also
37:52after the death
37:53or widowhood
37:54of my wife,
37:55Jim, Mary,
37:56Sprigg,
37:57and Molly,
37:58and their increase
37:59to him and his heirs
38:00forever.
38:01Forever.
38:06What do you think
38:07Sprigg must have
38:10been feeling
38:11toward the three generations
38:13of this family
38:13who owned him?
38:24not too connected.
38:29Not too connected.
38:32We had now reconstructed
38:35much of Sprigg's life
38:36in slavery,
38:37but there was one
38:38haunting detail
38:39still to share.
38:41The 1880 federal census
38:43indicates that
38:45Sprigg and his parents,
38:46Danielle's unnamed
38:48six great-grandparents,
38:50were all born in Virginia,
38:52meaning that Sprigg
38:53was likely transported
38:55south to Georgia
38:56as a young boy.
38:58But we don't know
39:00if his parents
39:01came with him,
39:02and we could find
39:03no evidence
39:04that they did.
39:07Yeah.
39:09No way that
39:10didn't affect him.
39:12Surely.
39:14Surely.
39:15I mean,
39:16what's it like
39:16to think that
39:17your ancestor
39:17may have been
39:18separated from his parents
39:19when he was a child
39:20and never saw them again?
39:22I mean,
39:22can you imagine?
39:25I, I, I mean,
39:27losing my mother
39:27was the most, um,
39:29horrific idea
39:30that I thought of
39:31as a kid.
39:32Mm-hmm.
39:33You know?
39:33I didn't want to,
39:34sometimes I didn't
39:35want to stay
39:35at my grandparents' house
39:36because I'd be
39:37in the dark
39:37and because I was
39:38in Athens
39:39and I'd much rather
39:40be in Atlanta.
39:41Sure, yeah.
39:41But,
39:45because we,
39:45we, we need them.
39:47And so,
39:52he was a boy
39:52in the dark.
39:55There was
39:56a final twist
39:57to this story,
39:58a happy one.
40:00When freedom
40:01finally came,
40:02Sprigg settled down
40:03on a farm
40:04with his wife
40:05and children.
40:06But that wasn't
40:07all that he did.
40:08In 1867,
40:11black men in Georgia
40:12were given the right
40:14to vote.
40:15And despite a rising tide
40:17of white resistance,
40:19Sprigg bravely chose
40:21to exercise that right.
40:24Date of registry,
40:26June 29th, 1867.
40:29names of voters,
40:30Stanley Sprigg colored.
40:36Boom.
40:39Yeah.
40:40As soon as he could,
40:42your fifth great
40:43grandfather registered
40:44to vote.
40:44Yeah.
40:46And they were threatened.
40:47They risked their lives.
40:49Did it anyway.
40:50Because those former
40:51confederates did not want to,
40:52because that was black power.
40:53Yeah.
40:54This is,
40:55this is,
40:56this is so rich.
40:58This is so rich.
41:00And Danielle,
41:01he couldn't even
41:01read or write.
41:02This is the richest.
41:04Yeah.
41:04He did it anyway.
41:06Did it anyway.
41:07Yeah.
41:09Sprigg.
41:10Yeah.
41:13Just like Danielle,
41:14Rhiannon Giddens
41:15knew that she had
41:16ancestors
41:17who'd been enslaved.
41:18In fact,
41:20she tried to research them
41:22in connection
41:23with her music
41:23and hit the same brick wall
41:26that so many people hit.
41:28But that
41:29did not deter us.
41:31And when we focused
41:33on Rhiannon's maternal
41:34third great grandfather,
41:36a man named
41:37William Reiser,
41:39we got lucky.
41:41We found William
41:43and his mother,
41:44Hannah Reiser,
41:45in the 1870 census
41:48for Clark County, Alabama.
41:50And in the 1860 census
41:52for that same county,
41:54we found the slave schedule
41:56for a white farmer
41:57named Dicey Reiser.
41:59As we'd seen,
42:01these schedules
42:02are challenging
42:03to interpret.
42:04The entries on them
42:06do not contain names,
42:08only notations
42:09for age,
42:10color,
42:11and gender.
42:12But given what we knew
42:14about Rhiannon's ancestors,
42:16two entries stood out.
42:19So do you see anyone
42:20who might be
42:21around 28
42:22or around 48 years old?
42:24Well,
42:25there's
42:26a male,
42:2728,
42:28and then
42:28a female,
42:3050.
42:31That's right.
42:31Yeah.
42:32Which, of course,
42:33like,
42:33the ages are probably
42:34approximate anyway.
42:35Of course.
42:35Yeah.
42:35So what's it like
42:36to see that,
42:37to think that those marks
42:40might be your family?
42:41Yeah.
42:42I mean,
42:43listed there,
42:43robbed of their names.
42:45Yeah.
42:45Just identified as property
42:46on a separate slave schedule.
42:48Yeah.
42:49I mean,
42:49cash,
42:50basically.
42:51Yeah.
42:52Um,
42:53yeah.
42:54It's,
42:55uh,
42:56the reality of it.
42:59We now began
43:00to search for evidence
43:01that these hash marks
43:03did,
43:04in fact,
43:05represent Rhiannon's family.
43:07And we soon uncovered
43:08the estate records
43:09of Dicey Reiser's father,
43:12a man named Noah Dykes.
43:15They list Rhiannon's
43:17fourth great grandmother,
43:18Hannah,
43:19by name,
43:21bringing Rhiannon
43:22a measure
43:23of deep satisfaction.
43:27It's amazing
43:28to have a name
43:29because names
43:30are so difficult.
43:31You know,
43:32we're so nameless
43:33so often.
43:34Right.
43:34Um.
43:35And that's,
43:36um,
43:37a way of empowering
43:38the people
43:39who control names
43:40and disempowering
43:41the people
43:41whose name
43:42you can take away.
43:43Exactly.
43:43So you hear the,
43:44you know,
43:45you hear female
43:46age 48,
43:48you know,
43:48that means nothing.
43:49When you hear Hannah,
43:50you can,
43:52your mind conjures up
43:53somebody.
43:55Tragically,
43:56the same records
43:57that preserve Hannah's name
43:59also detail
44:01the depth
44:02of her suffering.
44:03When her owner
44:05passed away in 1832,
44:07his will gave Hannah
44:09and her young son,
44:10Ben,
44:11to one of his children,
44:13while Hannah's daughter,
44:14Violet,
44:15was bequeathed
44:16to another child,
44:18meaning that Hannah's
44:19family was broken up.
44:23It's crazy.
44:24Mm-hmm.
44:25It's just crazy.
44:26It is.
44:27It's like,
44:27why are people surprised
44:28that we're falling apart?
44:30Mm-hmm.
44:30It's just crazy.
44:32You know what I mean?
44:33Yeah.
44:33It's like,
44:34there was a whole system
44:35with receipts.
44:37Yeah.
44:37You could get a receipt
44:38for a person.
44:39You could put an ad
44:40in the paper
44:41for a person.
44:42Mm-hmm.
44:42That's bananas.
44:43It is.
44:43And for hundreds of years,
44:45and we wonder why
44:45we're, like,
44:47completely insane.
44:48Wow.
44:51This is as far back
44:53as we could trace
44:54Rhiannon's riser ancestors.
44:57Turning to another branch
44:58of her mother's family tree,
45:00the Hatwoods,
45:01we wanted to see
45:03if we could go further.
45:05We were expecting,
45:06yet again,
45:07to hit the brick wall
45:08of slavery.
45:09But we were in
45:11for a surprise.
45:13In the 1860 census
45:15for North Carolina,
45:17Rhiannon's fourth
45:18great-grandfather,
45:19a man named
45:20Alfred Hatwood,
45:21is listed by name,
45:23along with the names
45:25of his family.
45:28Alfred Hatwood,
45:29age 58,
45:29mulatto,
45:30occupation farmer,
45:31value of real estate,
45:31$500,
45:32value of personal estate,
45:33$150.
45:35Mary, age 56,
45:36mulatto,
45:36occupation housekeeper.
45:38Jehu, age 20,
45:39mulatto,
45:39occupation laborer.
45:40Katie, age 15,
45:41mulatto,
45:42Lavinia, age 12,
45:43mulatto,
45:43John, age 6,
45:45mulatto.
45:45And what year
45:46is the census?
45:471860.
45:49And the Civil War
45:50breaks out in 1861.
45:51Yeah, so he's free.
45:53He was free.
45:54The Hatwood branch
45:55of your family
45:56was freed
45:57before the Civil War.
45:59And in North Carolina,
46:01that's pretty,
46:01that's pretty crazy.
46:03How did they do that?
46:06We don't know
46:07how the Hatwoods
46:08became free,
46:09but Alfred's story
46:11is incredible.
46:13In 1810,
46:15when he was roughly
46:15seven years old,
46:17Alfred was indentured
46:19as an apprentice
46:20to work for a white farmer.
46:23His indenture agreement
46:25states that in exchange
46:26for housing and food,
46:28he was to labor without pay
46:30until his 21st birthday.
46:33The agreement also indicates
46:35that Alfred was an orphan,
46:36so he likely had
46:38no family support
46:39awaiting him
46:41once his indenture ended.
46:43The odds against him
46:45having any kind of success
46:47were enormous.
46:49But somehow,
46:50Alfred beat those odds.
46:52In the 1850 census,
46:55we found him on a farm
46:57in Chatham County,
46:59North Carolina,
47:00living with his wife
47:01and nine children.
47:06Mmm.
47:07Alfred was an orphan.
47:09Now he's head of a household
47:11full of kids.
47:12Good Lord.
47:13What's it like to see that?
47:14I, it makes me,
47:16it makes me really happy
47:17because I really believe
47:24that to be of the South
47:26is to hold infinite storylines.
47:30You know?
47:31Every single story,
47:32like, adds shades and complexity
47:35to the Southern story.
47:38You know, there's, there's,
47:39we tend to talk about things
47:40like, you know,
47:42the Civil War and slavery
47:44and, like, that's the South.
47:46It's like there were just
47:47lots of people
47:48having things happen to them.
47:50Yeah.
47:51You know, and,
47:51and trying to live
47:52their lives.
47:53But it also shows us
47:54that there were cracks
47:55and fissures
47:56in the simple binary world
47:58that we've constructed
47:59between black and white
48:00and slave and free.
48:02Yep.
48:02And your family is living
48:05in that, those cracks
48:06and fissures.
48:07Absolutely.
48:07Big time.
48:09We had one more record
48:11to share with Rhiannon,
48:13a record that would add
48:15another layer of complexity
48:17to her distinctly Southern story.
48:20Turning back to her father's roots,
48:22we focused on her
48:24fourth great grandfather,
48:26a man named Henry Schaffner.
48:29Henry was born around 1806
48:31in North Carolina.
48:33And in the 1850 census,
48:36we saw that he was very much
48:38a man of his era.
48:41Name of slave owner,
48:42Henry Schaffner.
48:43One black female, age 29.
48:45One black female, age 27.
48:47One black male, age 11.
48:49One black female, age 8.
48:50One black female, age 6.
48:52One black male, age 3.
48:53One black male, age 11 months.
48:55Had you ever thought about
48:57the slave owners
48:59in your family tree?
49:01You know, I knew there was a chance.
49:03I figured there weren't,
49:05I figured just because
49:06people were poor,
49:07there was probably not a lot of it,
49:09you know, just because,
49:10you know, that was wealth,
49:12was owning people.
49:13And you would have
49:14if you could have.
49:15Right, absolutely.
49:18So, yeah, I mean,
49:20I suspected as much.
49:22Yeah.
49:22You descend from enslaved people
49:24on your mother's side
49:25and enslavers,
49:27Yeah.
49:28owners of enslaved people
49:29on your father's side.
49:31Yeah.
49:31Which puts you in a
49:32very interesting position.
49:34Mm-hmm.
49:34You know, as a mixed race person
49:36and your relationship to slavery
49:38is, uh,
49:43bifurcated.
49:45Complicated and bifurcated.
49:46Yeah, you got it.
49:47The paper trail had run out
49:49for each of my guests.
49:50Oh, wow.
49:52That's so cool.
49:53It was time to show them
49:54their full family trees.
49:57These are all the ancestors.
49:58Now filled with people
50:00whose names
50:00they'd never heard before.
50:02Wow.
50:03For each,
50:04it was a moment of pride.
50:05It's beautiful.
50:06Offering the chance
50:07to reflect on the men and women
50:10who shaped them
50:11to the core.
50:14What do you think
50:15all these ancestors
50:16would have made of?
50:17You.
50:19Who knows?
50:20It would be the gamut
50:21of,
50:21what is that one, girl?
50:24Um,
50:25I'd like to think
50:26that they appreciate
50:27that I'm trying,
50:27I want to represent,
50:28you know,
50:29I want to represent
50:30and talk about all of them
50:31and not just some of them.
50:33No, I think that,
50:34you know,
50:35I hear, uh,
50:36the church saying amen.
50:37Yeah.
50:38I mean,
50:38this is the fullness
50:39of, you know,
50:40who we are.
50:41Just because society says
50:43you have to choose
50:44doesn't mean
50:45that you actually do.
50:47My time with my guests
50:48was drawing to a close,
50:50but I still had
50:52a surprise left
50:53for Danielle.
50:54When we compared
50:55her DNA
50:56to that of others
50:58who've been in the series,
50:59we found a match.
51:02Evidence of a distant cousin
51:03she never knew she had.
51:10That is Rebecca Hall.
51:11I am gagged.
51:13Do you know
51:13we share a birthday?
51:14Really?
51:15Yes.
51:16How do you know that?
51:17I met Rebecca.
51:18Wow.
51:19And we,
51:19I, I, I mean,
51:20it was a thing for me
51:21to be like,
51:21oh, we have the same birthday.
51:23Well, you had more than that.
51:24You had a lot of DNA
51:25in common.
51:26This is a gag.
51:29Danielle shares
51:30a long segment
51:31of DNA
51:32with celebrated actor
51:34Rebecca Hall
51:36whose mother
51:37was roughly
51:3720%
51:38sub-Saharan African.
51:42Rebecca Hall
51:43just got blacker
51:44in her own mind
51:45without a doubt.
51:46Stop.
51:46Stop.
51:47She black.
51:47You,
51:48we, we know
51:49it's in there,
51:50but goodness gracious,
51:51I wouldn't have,
51:52I wouldn't have guessed.
51:53No, I told you.
51:54I wouldn't have guessed.
51:54She would be so happy.
51:58We're birthday twins
51:59and we're cousins.
52:00That's amazing.
52:01That is amazing.
52:03That's the end
52:04of our journey
52:05with Danielle Deadweiler
52:07and Rhiannon Giddens.
52:09Join me next time
52:11when we unlock
52:13the secrets of the past
52:14for new guests
52:15on another episode
52:17of Finding Your Roots.
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