In America One Drop Of Black Ancestry

Ever Since I Watched 'roots,' I've Dreamed Of Tracing My African Ancestry And Helping Other People Do The Same.

My Father Was The Funniest Man I Ever Met. He Made Redd Foxx Look Like An Undertaker.

The Biggest Surprise For Me, Without A Doubt, Was That The First Black People Who Came To The United States Weren't The 20 Who Arrived In Jamestown In 1619. All Of Us Had Been Taught That. Well, Guess What? The First African Came To Florida In 1513. And The Huge Shock Is We Know His Name, Juan Garrido, And That He Wasn't A Slave. He Was Free! This Brother Was A Conquistador Who Came With Ponce De Leon. He Was Looking For The Fountain Of Youth Just Like The White People Were.

All Of The Guests On 'faces Of America' Were Deeply Moved By What We Revealed About Their Ancestry. We Were Able To Trace The Ancestry Of Native American Writer Louise Erdrich Back To 438 A.d. We Found That Queen Noor Is Descended From Royalty, And That's Before She Married King Hussein Of Jordan.

I Use African-american, Because I Teach African Studies As Well As African-american Studies, So It's Easy, Neat And Convenient. But Sometimes, When You're In A Barber Shop, Somebody'll Say, "did You See What That Negro Did?" A Lot Of People Slip In And Out Of Different Terms Effortlessly, And I Don't Think The Thought Police Should Be On Patrol.