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GATES: I'm
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

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Welcome toFinding Your Roots.

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In this episode,
we'll meet singers

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Alanis Morissette
and Ciara...

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two women whose
talents first bloomed

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in their childhood homes...

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MORISSETTE: My family would
often say, "Can you just...

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Can you just stay
still for one minute?"

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I'm like I don't know,
let's see.

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CIARA: There is this part of
me where I've just always been

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a determined little girl.

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Always since day one.

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GATES: To uncover their roots,

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we've used every
tool available...

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Genealogists combed through
paper trails stretching back

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hundreds of years,

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while DNA experts utilized
the latest advances

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in genetic analysis

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to reveal secrets that have
lain hidden for generations.

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CIARA: What in the world?

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GATES: And we've compiled
everything into a book of life.

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(gasp).

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MORISSETTE: No!

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GATES: A record of all
of our discoveries...

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CIARA: What you about
to tell me right now?

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GATES: And a window
into the hidden past.

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CIARA: Oh, it's beautiful.

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It's powerful.

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MORISSETTE: Just so much
intense stuff happened.

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I just think about their
resilience and their ability

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to keep going in the face of
tragedy is pretty poignant.

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CIARA: I feel more clear.

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I feel, um, like I
know myself even more.

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I know my roots even more.

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GATES: Ciara and Alanis have
been delighting audiences

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for decades, giving voice to
the innermost emotions of

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generations of listeners.

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In this episode, they're going
to become listeners themselves,

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hearing from ancestors whose
stories had been lost....

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Revealing secrets that
will compel them to

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rethink their family trees.

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(theme music plays)

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♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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(chatter)

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GATES: Ciara Harris, known
to her fans simply as "Ciara",

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is a human dynamo...

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The R&B songstress with the
killer dance moves has been

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dominating the charts
for more than two decades.

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Blessed with a golden voice,

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Ciara is a creative
force in the studio,

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as well as on stage...

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She helps write and
produce her own tracks,

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and plays a major role
in her choreography,

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none of which should
come as a surprise

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to anyone who knows her story.

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Ciara grew up in
a military family,

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both of her parents served,

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and she's approached
her career with a discipline

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that clearly is inherited,

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even as the focus of that
career has shifted...

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CIARA: Well, at first I thought
I wanted to be a lawyer.

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GATES: Uh-huh.

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CIARA: And then that
changed pretty quickly.

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Um, I remember watching
Michael Jackson perform

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and I was like, I
wanna be a singer.

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I saw him smile and I was
like, I'm gonna do that.

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That's what I'm gonna do.

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GATES: Did you
tell your parents?

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CIARA: I did.

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GATES: And did they say, uh...
"Good baby."?

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Or did they say,

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"No, here are the catalogs
for the law schools."

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CIARA: My mom was
definitely like, "Uh."

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She watched too many of those,

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"what happened in
the music industry," you know?

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GATES: Yeah.

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CIARA: Shows, so she
was kinda like,

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"I don't know
about that industry."

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Like, that kinda scared her.

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GATES: Yeah.

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CIARA: Right? But my dad was
kinda more, "Okay, Sugar."

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Yeah, my dad was always,
"What you want?

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Whatever you wanna do, sugar,
you could do, you could do it."

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You know. That was
kind of his mentality.

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GATES: That's great.
Good daddy.

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CIARA: Yeah.

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And then there is this part of
me where I've just always been

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a determined little girl.

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Always. Since,
um, since day one.

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GATES: "Determination" has
propelled Ciara a long way

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in just a few short years.

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She started performing as a
child, and by the time she was

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in middle school, she was
putting together groups with

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friends and writing
her own material...

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even so, it would take some
effort for her to become the

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leader of those groups...

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CIARA: When I was younger
I, I think for me,

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discovering my voice, I was
a little timid about it.

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So, you know, off the back,
I wouldn't, like, say

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I'm gonna be the lead singer.
But as I got more confidence,

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you know, I had the
spirit of a lead singer.

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GATES: Right.

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CIARA: But I just, like,
let me just, you know,

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let me get to this
thing in steps here.

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GATES: Yeah, I
understand that.

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CIARA: Let me get
my confidence up.

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GATES: Yeah.

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CIARA: And then once I knew
I was gonna do this thing,

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I knew, you know?

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I started out in a group, it
was a group called Hearsay.

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And I was in high school.

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And they had gone through,
like, five members in the same

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position that they kept
switching out and I was like

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the fifth member,
um, or the sixth.

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Um, and obviously that didn't
work out, but I knew in

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my mind I wanted to
be a solo artist.

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GATES: Right.

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CIARA: I'm like, "The,
the group is my way.

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I'll start there, but I
know where I wanna finish."

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GATES: Ciara's commitment to
her own voice paid off

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in a big way.

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After Hearsay disbanded, she
signed a record deal with an

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up-and-coming Atlanta label,
and released her debut album,

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"Goodies", when she was
just 18 years old.

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♪If you're looking
for the goodies♪

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♪Keep on looking cause
they stay in the jar♪♪

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GATES: "Goodies" was an
instant phenomenon:

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it sold over five million
copies, went triple platinum,

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and made Ciara
an international star,

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utterly transforming her family
even as it delighted them...

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CIARA: It was fun.
It was fun.

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We had some funny moments.

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You know, when they send the
camera crews to your house and

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your par, my grand,
my granddad's like,

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"What am I supposed to do?"

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th, those moments like that or,
you know, I cracked up my mom.

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We were doing some taping
one time and literally...

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I mean, it's just like,

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just live your life in
front of the cameras.

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Don't do anything
different than that.

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My mom walks up the
stairs and she's like,

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"Ciara, you want
some breakfast?"

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I'm like, "When have
you asked me like,

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did you want breakfast, mom?"

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You know.

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I, it was, it was really
sweet though, you know.

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I think my grandma,

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"Yeah, Ciara got that dancing,
doing her thing."

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You know.

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"Look at her go."
You know like.

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GATES: My second guest
is singer-songwriter

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Alanis Morissette.

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In 1995, when she was just
21-years-old, Alanis released

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"Jagged Little Pill",

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♪It's like rain♪

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GATES: A mix of
alt-rock ballads...

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♪Cause I've got one
hand in my pocket♪♪

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GATES: That became an
instant classic...

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♪You, you, you oughta know♪♪

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GATES: Winning Alanis four
Grammys, and a legion of fans.

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But "Jagged Little Pill"
didn't come out of nowhere...

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♪O Canada♪♪

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GATES: Growing up in Ottawa,
Canada, Alanis was performing

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in public when she was a child,

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and had a record deal by
the time she was in high school,

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yielding a daily schedule that

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seems dizzying
to contemplate...

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How did you balance?

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MORISSETTE: There
was no balance.

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I think I learned a lot of
work addiction tendencies

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from quite a young age.

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And eventually a couple of my
teachers took notice of the

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fact that the first
periods I was...

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(snoring sound.)

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GATES: Right.

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MORISSETTE: And um,
nothing personal.

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So one of the teachers, uh my
drama teacher, she said to me

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on the down low, "I know what
you're doing after hours, and

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I know that you often do it
until 4:00 in the morning,

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Alanis, so feel
free to come in late."

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GATES: Oh yeah?

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MORISSETTE: Mm-hmm.

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GATES: Oh, that's sweet.

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MORISSETTE: And then one of
the counselors at my school

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gave me an extra credit for
the many, many hours I spent

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in the studio every day.

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And I was really moved by that.

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GATES: Boy,
that's a cool school.

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MORISSETTE: That's amazing.

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GATES: You know?
MORISSETTE: Yeah.

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GATES: No school like
that that I ever attended.

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MORISSETTE: I know, right?

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GATES: They would have
docked you, you know?

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MORISSETTE: Right, yeah.

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No, there were teachers that
were docking me for having

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this wild life that
perhaps they had issues with.

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But um you know, they say,

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"A note from your parents
means nothing to us."

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I'm like, "Okay, well, I don't
know how to help you here."

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GATES: Though Alanis' "wild
life" was extraordinarily

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productive, it took time for her
to find her creative voice...

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her first two albums were
conventional dance pop, and

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showed no sign of the
emotional range that would

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mark her later work...

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Alanis soon realized that she
wanted to write more personal

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songs, but felt she couldn't
do it if she remained at home

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in her native Canada...

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MORISSETTE: I wanted to make
sure that I was somewhere in a

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context where the slate
was clean, basically,

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because there were a lot of
preconceived notions of who

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I was as a teenage artist.

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And then when I wanted to
evolve it or just imbue it

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with a different consciousness,
it was met with resistance.

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I had some people saying,

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"You can't write these
kinds of songs. You know?

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We need you to
stay in your lane,"

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for lack of a better term.

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GATES: Yeah.
That's not you, dear.

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MORISSETTE: Right. Exactly.
Literally word for word.

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GATES: Yeah.

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MORISSETTE: So I just thought
I'm going to go to Los Angeles.

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GATES: The move to Los
Angeles changed everything.

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Within a year, Alanis had
released "Jagged Little Pill"...

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And soon was filling stadiums
all over the world.

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She's gone on to sell more
than 80 million records.

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Along the way, she's also
raised a family, and the raw

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emotions that marked her
breakout hits have softened...

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RODRIGO: Everyone please
welcome, Alanis Morissette!

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00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,233
GATES: Indeed, in 2022, when
Alanis was inducted into the

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Canadian songwriters
hall of fame,

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she returned to her homeland

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with a very different
perspective...

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MORISSETTE: It's not always
easy for me to receive in that

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kind of a formal public way,

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um, but at 48 now, I realize
that there is some grace

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and some elegance in
receiving recognition,

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even if there's some
inner conflict around it,

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that I just have to push
that aside and show up.

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Now for many reasons.

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Now to show up because I'm a
woman, to show up because

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I'm a woman over 25.

243
00:10:35,533 --> 00:10:37,600
You know, there's a lot of
reasons to show up now

244
00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:38,700
more than ever.

245
00:10:38,700 --> 00:10:40,500
GATES: Mm-hm. And to
let yourself be loved.

246
00:10:40,500 --> 00:10:41,766
MORISSETTE: Yes.

247
00:10:41,766 --> 00:10:43,633
And then to model what that
looks like, as awkward as it

248
00:10:43,633 --> 00:10:45,866
might be, to receive
love in that kind of way.

249
00:10:45,866 --> 00:10:47,166
GATES: Yeah.

250
00:10:47,166 --> 00:10:50,000
MORISSETTE: And then also to
push through it, but then also

251
00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,366
to see it as the sweet
illusion that it is as well.

252
00:10:53,366 --> 00:10:54,800
GATES: Oh, I like that.

253
00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:56,500
The sweet illusion that it is.
That's beautiful.

254
00:10:56,500 --> 00:10:57,700
MORISSETTE: Yes,
because it is.

255
00:10:57,700 --> 00:10:59,266
GATES: Yeah. You're a poet.
You oughta write songs.

256
00:10:59,266 --> 00:11:00,400
MORISSETTE: I
should get into this.

257
00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:02,233
GATES: Yeah, you
should get into it.

258
00:11:03,300 --> 00:11:07,366
My two guests both found
fame as teenagers,

259
00:11:07,366 --> 00:11:09,933
and never let it go...

260
00:11:09,933 --> 00:11:13,033
but growing up in the
limelight means living far

261
00:11:13,033 --> 00:11:14,633
from your roots,

262
00:11:14,633 --> 00:11:17,633
with little time to learn
your family stories...

263
00:11:18,300 --> 00:11:21,866
so both came to me
knowing almost nothing

264
00:11:21,866 --> 00:11:24,100
about their ancestors.

265
00:11:24,100 --> 00:11:26,766
That is about to change.

266
00:11:27,533 --> 00:11:30,266
I started with Ciara...

267
00:11:30,833 --> 00:11:33,633
she spent her formative
years in Georgia,

268
00:11:33,633 --> 00:11:37,133
and identifies as
a southerner...

269
00:11:37,133 --> 00:11:39,600
but her father was born
in New York City,

270
00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,633
as was her father's mother,

271
00:11:44,033 --> 00:11:46,300
and in the archives
of Manhattan, we found the

272
00:11:46,300 --> 00:11:50,100
marriage record for her
father's grandparents,

273
00:11:50,100 --> 00:11:55,566
Ciara's great-grandparents,
Luther and Nazarene Armstrong...

274
00:11:56,733 --> 00:12:01,366
it shows the couple
living in Harlem, in 1926...

275
00:12:02,633 --> 00:12:05,233
Did you know your family
on this branch had such

276
00:12:05,233 --> 00:12:07,366
deep roots in New York City?

277
00:12:07,366 --> 00:12:10,233
CIARA: No, but I always felt
when I was there in New York

278
00:12:10,233 --> 00:12:13,400
for the times that I got
to be there with them,

279
00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:15,033
I could feel the New York.

280
00:12:15,033 --> 00:12:17,000
I could feel like
that part of them.

281
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,100
GATES: And they were
right in the heart of Harlem.

282
00:12:18,100 --> 00:12:19,066
CIARA: Yeah.

283
00:12:19,066 --> 00:12:20,100
GATES: That's 135th Street.

284
00:12:20,100 --> 00:12:21,333
CIARA: Yeah.

285
00:12:21,333 --> 00:12:23,000
GATES: And that's when it,
Harlem, became the cultural

286
00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:24,700
mecca of the Black world.

287
00:12:24,700 --> 00:12:25,733
CIARA: Mmm.

288
00:12:25,733 --> 00:12:27,566
GATES: Jazz was coming
of age in Harlem.

289
00:12:27,566 --> 00:12:29,900
It was a glorious
time, you know?

290
00:12:29,900 --> 00:12:33,266
Duke Ellington lived eight
blocks away from your ancestors.

291
00:12:33,266 --> 00:12:34,633
They could go to a club at night

292
00:12:34,633 --> 00:12:36,333
and they could hear
Louie Armstrong play.

293
00:12:36,333 --> 00:12:37,433
CIARA: That's so cool.

294
00:12:37,433 --> 00:12:38,400
GATES: Do you ever
think about that?

295
00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:39,400
CIARA: No, that's amazing.

296
00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:40,433
GATES: That's amazing.

297
00:12:40,433 --> 00:12:42,066
CIARA: That's some
good stuff right there.

298
00:12:42,300 --> 00:12:44,800
GATES: As it turns out, Luther
and Nazarene were newcomers

299
00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:46,533
to Harlem.

300
00:12:46,533 --> 00:12:49,900
They were both born in South
Carolina, and came north as

301
00:12:49,900 --> 00:12:53,500
part of what's known
as the Great Migration:

302
00:12:53,500 --> 00:12:56,633
the movement of roughly six
million African Americans

303
00:12:56,633 --> 00:12:59,233
out of the deep south.

304
00:12:59,633 --> 00:13:03,000
The migration began in
the early 20th century,

305
00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:07,933
and utterly transformed almost
every aspect of Black life.

306
00:13:08,666 --> 00:13:13,166
But at its core, it was driven
by something quite fundamental:

307
00:13:13,166 --> 00:13:16,466
the search for expanded
economic opportunities.

308
00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:21,400
And in the 1910 census for
Orangeburg, South Carolina,

309
00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,733
we got a glimpse of just how
urgently Ciara's ancestors

310
00:13:25,733 --> 00:13:28,466
needed those opportunities.

311
00:13:28,466 --> 00:13:31,766
The census shows her great-
grandfather Luther as a boy,

312
00:13:31,766 --> 00:13:34,400
living on a cotton farm
with his parents,

313
00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:38,133
along with a large
number of siblings...

314
00:13:38,633 --> 00:13:40,533
CIARA: "Sadie, daughter, 10.

315
00:13:40,533 --> 00:13:42,566
Occupation,
laborer, home farm."

316
00:13:42,566 --> 00:13:44,366
Whoo, this is
some, a lot of kids.

317
00:13:44,366 --> 00:13:46,933
"Luther, Luther, son."

318
00:13:46,933 --> 00:13:48,466
GATES: There was, there was no
TV, and they were on that farm.

319
00:13:48,466 --> 00:13:50,400
CIARA: It's a
lot of children...

320
00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:53,066
The farm produces some stuff.

321
00:13:53,533 --> 00:13:55,600
"Luther, son, eight.

322
00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:58,333
Charlie Junior, son, six.

323
00:13:58,333 --> 00:14:00,566
Eliza, daughter, four.

324
00:14:00,566 --> 00:14:02,700
Ernest, son, two."

325
00:14:02,700 --> 00:14:04,200
Oh my gosh.

326
00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:06,566
"Albert, son, one month."

327
00:14:06,566 --> 00:14:08,933
GATES: This is one household.

328
00:14:08,933 --> 00:14:12,633
All these people were
living in one household.

329
00:14:12,633 --> 00:14:13,933
CIARA: That's amazing.

330
00:14:13,933 --> 00:14:15,133
GATES: Yeah.

331
00:14:15,133 --> 00:14:18,000
So, you have roots in
Manhattan, but you have deep,

332
00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:19,266
deep roots in South Carolina.

333
00:14:19,266 --> 00:14:20,300
CIARA: South Carolina.

334
00:14:20,300 --> 00:14:21,300
GATES: Did you have any idea?

335
00:14:21,300 --> 00:14:22,566
CIARA: No.

336
00:14:22,566 --> 00:14:24,200
GATES: That's where
your people are from.

337
00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:26,800
CIARA: Hey. That's my people,
and they were southern people.

338
00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:28,300
GATES: And they were
working in the soil.

339
00:14:28,300 --> 00:14:30,866
I mean, they were
hard scrabble farmers.

340
00:14:30,866 --> 00:14:32,033
CIARA: Mm-hmm.

341
00:14:32,033 --> 00:14:33,500
GATES: And as you can see,
their older children were

342
00:14:33,500 --> 00:14:35,266
working for them on the farm.

343
00:14:35,266 --> 00:14:38,300
Their daughter, Sadie, was
just 10 years old and is

344
00:14:38,300 --> 00:14:40,266
listed as a laborer too.

345
00:14:40,266 --> 00:14:42,766
What do you think that must've
been like, not being able to

346
00:14:42,766 --> 00:14:44,000
send your kids to school,

347
00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:45,933
putting them out
there to sow the seeds?

348
00:14:45,933 --> 00:14:48,766
Clean the cotton?
Could you imagine that?

349
00:14:48,766 --> 00:14:51,566
CIARA: Yeah, I don't even know
if I have the best words to

350
00:14:51,566 --> 00:14:55,066
describe, you know,
uh, what I...

351
00:14:55,066 --> 00:14:58,000
how this makes me feel.

352
00:14:59,233 --> 00:15:02,466
GATES: Luther and his family
undoubtedly endured a great

353
00:15:02,466 --> 00:15:06,866
deal of suffering simply to
keep their farm running...

354
00:15:07,533 --> 00:15:10,733
But, moving back one
generation, we came to a man

355
00:15:10,733 --> 00:15:14,233
who had endured even more...

356
00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,800
Ciara's third great-grandfather,
Aaron Gardner,

357
00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:22,066
was born in South Carolina
around 1830...

358
00:15:22,066 --> 00:15:26,533
meaning that almost certainly
he was born into slavery.

359
00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,833
Searching for details about
his life, we uncovered a labor

360
00:15:31,833 --> 00:15:36,433
contract signed in
February of 1866,

361
00:15:36,433 --> 00:15:40,133
less than a year after
the end of the Civil War...

362
00:15:40,733 --> 00:15:43,600
It lays out terms of
employment between a

363
00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:47,200
white cotton planter named
William Zimmerman and

364
00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:50,700
ten newly-freed
African Americans,

365
00:15:50,700 --> 00:15:53,866
one of whom had
a familiar name...

366
00:15:54,500 --> 00:15:58,633
CIARA: "Aaron Gardner, X.
His mark, full hand."

367
00:15:59,033 --> 00:16:01,300
GATES: That is your ancestor
signing his mark, because he

368
00:16:01,300 --> 00:16:02,500
couldn't read and write.

369
00:16:02,500 --> 00:16:03,633
CIARA: Oh.

370
00:16:03,633 --> 00:16:04,833
GATES: He's
signing a contract.

371
00:16:04,833 --> 00:16:06,133
CIARA: Oh, wow.

372
00:16:06,133 --> 00:16:08,266
GATES: This is a year he's
been freed for one year.

373
00:16:08,266 --> 00:16:09,566
CIARA: Wow.

374
00:16:09,566 --> 00:16:11,366
GATES: And he's signing a
labor contract with this white

375
00:16:11,366 --> 00:16:13,033
man named William Zimmerman.

376
00:16:13,033 --> 00:16:14,266
CIARA: Wow.

377
00:16:14,266 --> 00:16:15,933
GATES: This is likely the
first contract your ancestor

378
00:16:15,933 --> 00:16:17,333
ever signed.

379
00:16:17,333 --> 00:16:19,966
And the first time he was ever
compensated in any way

380
00:16:19,966 --> 00:16:21,000
for his labor.

381
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:22,733
CIARA: Yeah, it's sad.
It's sad.

382
00:16:22,733 --> 00:16:24,033
GATES: Yeah, it's sad.

383
00:16:24,033 --> 00:16:26,000
CIARA: You know? It's like you
get a little bit of freedom,

384
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,100
but you got so far to go.

385
00:16:29,966 --> 00:16:32,500
GATES: Aaron's plight
was even worse than

386
00:16:32,500 --> 00:16:34,866
Ciara had imagined...

387
00:16:34,866 --> 00:16:37,933
In the wake of the confederate
defeat, former slave owners

388
00:16:37,933 --> 00:16:41,766
sought new ways to
exploit Black labor.

389
00:16:41,766 --> 00:16:45,866
And contracts like this
one became commonplace...

390
00:16:46,733 --> 00:16:50,800
under its terms, Ciara's
ancestor was hired to work for

391
00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:54,933
one year, but he wasn't
going to be paid a salary.

392
00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:59,666
Instead, Aaron was to receive
a portion of the food crops

393
00:16:59,666 --> 00:17:03,300
he grew, and a percentage
of the cash profit

394
00:17:03,300 --> 00:17:05,633
at the end of the
growing season.

395
00:17:05,633 --> 00:17:07,866
But there was a catch.

396
00:17:07,866 --> 00:17:11,100
There never was a profit.

397
00:17:11,100 --> 00:17:12,933
They would do the books,
and they would come to the

398
00:17:12,933 --> 00:17:14,433
Black people and say,

399
00:17:14,433 --> 00:17:16,833
"Hey. It's a tough year."

400
00:17:16,833 --> 00:17:18,700
"We didn't break even."

401
00:17:18,700 --> 00:17:22,400
"So sorry.
No cash for you guys."

402
00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:25,233
They never made any cash.

403
00:17:25,466 --> 00:17:28,866
Now, what's it like to know
that your ancestor had to

404
00:17:28,866 --> 00:17:30,900
go through that kind of
business arrangement?

405
00:17:30,900 --> 00:17:32,166
CIARA: That's hard...

406
00:17:32,166 --> 00:17:35,000
GATES: Yup. Cause when they
lost the Civil War, it took 'em

407
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,166
about five seconds to reinvent
a new form of slavery.

408
00:17:38,166 --> 00:17:39,233
CIARA: Yeah. A new way.

409
00:17:39,233 --> 00:17:41,566
And unfortunately,
because my people...

410
00:17:41,566 --> 00:17:42,766
GATES: Mm-hmm.

411
00:17:42,766 --> 00:17:44,233
CIARA: You know,
weren't educated.

412
00:17:44,233 --> 00:17:45,633
GATES: Mm-hmm.

413
00:17:45,633 --> 00:17:48,033
CIARA: You didn't even
know what were, you know.

414
00:17:48,033 --> 00:17:51,100
You, you, you thought there
was great opportunity,

415
00:17:51,100 --> 00:17:52,366
and there was joy.

416
00:17:52,366 --> 00:17:53,633
GATES: Cause it
sounds pretty good.

417
00:17:53,633 --> 00:17:54,766
CIARA: Cause you
never had it before.

418
00:17:54,766 --> 00:17:55,966
GATES: No, you
never had it before.

419
00:17:55,966 --> 00:17:56,966
CIARA: Yeah. It sounds good
cause you never had it.

420
00:17:56,966 --> 00:17:58,100
GATES: And you go, "Well."

421
00:17:58,100 --> 00:17:59,166
And he went back to
talk to his wife.

422
00:17:59,166 --> 00:18:00,600
Said, "I think we,
we gonna work hard."

423
00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:01,666
CIARA: Yeah.

424
00:18:01,666 --> 00:18:02,966
GATES: "And we gonna make it."

425
00:18:02,966 --> 00:18:06,133
CIARA: And work hard to just
basically end up with nothing.

426
00:18:07,866 --> 00:18:11,000
GATES: There was a
grace note to this story...

427
00:18:11,333 --> 00:18:13,866
Knowing that Aaron was
working on William Zimmerman's

428
00:18:13,866 --> 00:18:17,533
plantation a year
after emancipation,

429
00:18:17,533 --> 00:18:19,733
we wondered if he
could have been enslaved

430
00:18:19,733 --> 00:18:23,266
on that same plantation.

431
00:18:23,266 --> 00:18:27,400
We found our answer
in the 1860 census...

432
00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:31,533
It contains a slave schedule
listing the 19 human beings

433
00:18:31,533 --> 00:18:35,366
that William Zimmerman
held in bondage.

434
00:18:35,366 --> 00:18:38,666
There are no names on this
schedule, as was customary...

435
00:18:38,666 --> 00:18:42,633
but two of the men are roughly
the same age as Aaron,

436
00:18:42,633 --> 00:18:46,800
and others match the ages
of his wife and children,

437
00:18:47,166 --> 00:18:52,333
allowing Ciara the chance at
least to glimpse a trace of her

438
00:18:52,333 --> 00:18:55,500
enslaved ancestors, and
reflect on all that they

439
00:18:55,500 --> 00:18:58,066
managed to survive.

440
00:18:58,533 --> 00:19:00,100
How do you think it was
possible for your

441
00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:02,700
third great-grandparents to
raise a family together?

442
00:19:02,700 --> 00:19:05,066
Knowing under slavery,
at this point,

443
00:19:05,066 --> 00:19:06,466
your wife could be raped.

444
00:19:06,466 --> 00:19:07,966
They and no way...

445
00:19:07,966 --> 00:19:08,933
CIARA: Mm-hmm.

446
00:19:08,933 --> 00:19:10,066
GATES: To protect your wife.

447
00:19:10,066 --> 00:19:11,866
Your kids could be
snatched away and sold.

448
00:19:11,866 --> 00:19:13,600
What do you think that does
to a person, to a family?

449
00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:15,066
CIARA: Mm. Breaks you.

450
00:19:15,066 --> 00:19:16,133
GATES: Yeah.

451
00:19:16,133 --> 00:19:17,066
CIARA: Breaks you.

452
00:19:17,066 --> 00:19:18,033
GATES: Yeah.

453
00:19:18,033 --> 00:19:19,066
CIARA: It makes you scared.

454
00:19:19,066 --> 00:19:20,133
GATES: Constantly.

455
00:19:20,133 --> 00:19:21,866
CIARA: Yeah.
You never really get to live.

456
00:19:21,866 --> 00:19:22,966
GATES: Uh-huh.

457
00:19:22,966 --> 00:19:26,366
CIARA: It just makes you
also, like, appreciate.

458
00:19:27,233 --> 00:19:28,666
It makes you appreciate.

459
00:19:28,666 --> 00:19:30,033
Cause we didn't have
to go through this.

460
00:19:30,033 --> 00:19:31,200
GATES: No. Right?

461
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,166
CIARA: You know.
So I appreciate them.

462
00:19:35,733 --> 00:19:38,566
GATES: Much like Ciara,
Alanis Morissette also has

463
00:19:38,566 --> 00:19:42,133
ancestors who endured
the unspeakable...

464
00:19:42,733 --> 00:19:46,300
Her mother, Georgia Feuerstein,
was born in Hungary

465
00:19:46,300 --> 00:19:49,700
to parents who'd
survived the holocaust,

466
00:19:49,700 --> 00:19:54,366
an experience so traumatic that
the family actually kept its

467
00:19:54,366 --> 00:19:57,633
Jewish heritage a secret...

468
00:19:57,866 --> 00:20:00,900
MORISSETTE: I think I found
out that I was Jewish

469
00:20:00,900 --> 00:20:02,533
in my late 20s.

470
00:20:02,533 --> 00:20:03,500
GATES: Really?

471
00:20:03,500 --> 00:20:04,600
MORISSETTE: I didn't know. Yeah.

472
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:06,666
GATES: Why do you think
that no one told you?

473
00:20:06,666 --> 00:20:10,333
MORISSETTE: I think there was a
terror that is in their bones,

474
00:20:10,333 --> 00:20:12,966
and they were being protective
of us and just not wanting

475
00:20:12,966 --> 00:20:16,900
antisemitism, and so they were
doing it to protect us,

476
00:20:16,900 --> 00:20:19,566
sort of keeping us
in the dark around it.

477
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,633
GATES: The logic of this
decision is hard to debate.

478
00:20:24,633 --> 00:20:28,200
Hungary's persecution of its
Jewish population dates back

479
00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,133
to the middle ages,
but in the 20th century,

480
00:20:32,133 --> 00:20:35,766
it entered a terrifying
new phase...

481
00:20:36,066 --> 00:20:37,766
When World War II broke out,

482
00:20:37,766 --> 00:20:40,933
Hungary was allied
with Nazi Germany...

483
00:20:40,933 --> 00:20:43,566
many Jewish men were forced
into what were called

484
00:20:43,566 --> 00:20:45,100
"work battalions"...

485
00:20:45,100 --> 00:20:47,333
and were ultimately sent
to the Russian front,

486
00:20:47,333 --> 00:20:50,000
essentially as slave labor...

487
00:20:50,500 --> 00:20:54,933
Alanis' grandfather
Imre Feuerstein

488
00:20:54,933 --> 00:20:58,000
somehow managed to
avoid this fate.

489
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:03,033
But his two brothers, György
and Sándor, weren't so lucky.

490
00:21:03,966 --> 00:21:08,433
Alanis' relatives believe that
both men were forced into

491
00:21:08,433 --> 00:21:11,033
one of the work battalions...

492
00:21:11,900 --> 00:21:14,833
A memoir written by a
battalion member gives a

493
00:21:14,833 --> 00:21:18,300
sense of what they endured.

494
00:21:18,633 --> 00:21:20,433
MORISSETTE: "As soon as our
two wagons arrived packed with

495
00:21:20,433 --> 00:21:23,866
entirely broken people, the
guards started to beat them.

496
00:21:23,866 --> 00:21:26,233
They threw the helpless
patients from the wagons,

497
00:21:26,233 --> 00:21:27,733
made them line up with us

498
00:21:27,733 --> 00:21:30,133
and left us standing
there for hours.

499
00:21:30,133 --> 00:21:32,100
This was followed by
organized looting.

500
00:21:32,100 --> 00:21:34,966
They took almost everything we
still had left and chased us

501
00:21:34,966 --> 00:21:38,033
up the already
crowded lice-infested barn.

502
00:21:38,033 --> 00:21:40,600
The treatment and the food
were so horrible, however,

503
00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:44,566
that typhoid, fever, dysentery
and the brutality of the guards

504
00:21:44,566 --> 00:21:47,200
killed our comrades
one after the other."

505
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:48,600
Wow.

506
00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:50,400
GATES: You could see photos
of men in the labor services

507
00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:51,800
on your left there.

508
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:53,233
MORISSETTE: Wow.

509
00:21:53,233 --> 00:21:56,566
GATES: Alanis, this happened to
your grandfather's brothers,

510
00:21:56,566 --> 00:21:58,166
your mother's uncles.

511
00:21:58,166 --> 00:21:59,400
MORISSETTE: Mmm.

512
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,200
Yeah, I'm horrified
at the thought that...

513
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:03,733
at the thought of that.

514
00:22:03,733 --> 00:22:06,633
And having gone there a couple
of times and hearing stories

515
00:22:06,633 --> 00:22:09,066
from my mother sitting right
next to her in the home she

516
00:22:09,066 --> 00:22:13,600
grew up in, it's just,
it's unfathomable for me.

517
00:22:15,666 --> 00:22:18,066
GATES: The men who managed to
survive these work battalions

518
00:22:18,066 --> 00:22:23,666
returned home to be
confronted by a new terror.

519
00:22:23,666 --> 00:22:28,600
In March of 1944, Nazi Germany
took control of Hungary.

520
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,600
By war's end, more than half of
the country's Jewish population

521
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:37,400
had perished,
over 500,000 people.

522
00:22:38,100 --> 00:22:41,133
Alanis' family believed
that Imre's brothers

523
00:22:41,133 --> 00:22:43,000
were among the victims,

524
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,466
but they had no idea what had
actually happened to them...

525
00:22:47,466 --> 00:22:51,433
And in the archives of the
Red Cross, we saw that Imre

526
00:22:51,433 --> 00:22:55,366
himself made enquiries
after the war, hoping that his

527
00:22:55,366 --> 00:22:59,633
brother György might
somehow still be alive...

528
00:23:00,366 --> 00:23:02,133
MORISSETTE: So he
was looking for him?

529
00:23:02,133 --> 00:23:03,333
GATES: He was looking for him.

530
00:23:03,333 --> 00:23:04,766
MORISSETTE: Oh.

531
00:23:04,766 --> 00:23:07,633
GATES: In 1949, four years
after World War II ended,

532
00:23:07,633 --> 00:23:10,633
your grandfather
asked the Red Cross

533
00:23:10,633 --> 00:23:12,233
to look for his brother.

534
00:23:12,233 --> 00:23:14,233
MORISSETTE: Mmm.

535
00:23:14,233 --> 00:23:15,566
GATES: Did you know this?

536
00:23:15,566 --> 00:23:16,833
MORISSETTE: I
did not know this.

537
00:23:16,833 --> 00:23:18,200
GATES: Can you imagine
what that was like for your

538
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:19,866
grandfather
carrying that burden?

539
00:23:19,866 --> 00:23:21,366
MORISSETTE: Not knowing
where your sibling is,

540
00:23:21,366 --> 00:23:22,600
if they're alive or dead?

541
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:24,400
GATES: Yeah.
Having no closure.

542
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:25,333
MORISSETTE: Yeah.

543
00:23:25,333 --> 00:23:26,333
GATES: No finality.

544
00:23:26,333 --> 00:23:28,666
MORISSETTE: No. God.

545
00:23:28,666 --> 00:23:31,733
GATES: As it turns out, Imre's
efforts to find his brother

546
00:23:31,733 --> 00:23:34,300
were doomed from the start.

547
00:23:34,300 --> 00:23:38,366
In Yad Vashem, the World
Holocaust Remembrance Center,

548
00:23:38,366 --> 00:23:42,266
we found testimonials that
were submitted on behalf of

549
00:23:42,266 --> 00:23:45,900
György and Sándor by a
woman who knew them both.

550
00:23:46,700 --> 00:23:50,166
Testimonials of this kind
are considered to be symbolic

551
00:23:50,166 --> 00:23:54,366
tombstones for people whose
deaths were not documented

552
00:23:54,366 --> 00:23:56,900
during the holocaust..

553
00:23:57,233 --> 00:23:59,066
Would you please read
the transcribed sections?

554
00:23:59,066 --> 00:24:00,100
MORISSETTE: Yes.

555
00:24:00,100 --> 00:24:01,333
GATES: Starting on your left.

556
00:24:01,333 --> 00:24:03,966
MORISSETTE: "Family name,
Feuerstein. First name, Gyorgy.

557
00:24:03,966 --> 00:24:06,133
Circumstances of death,

558
00:24:06,133 --> 00:24:09,133
he was in a slave labor
army sent to Russia.

559
00:24:10,566 --> 00:24:13,500
Family named, Feuerstein.
First name, Sandor.

560
00:24:13,500 --> 00:24:14,966
Circumstances of death,

561
00:24:14,966 --> 00:24:17,566
he was in a slave labor
army sent to Russia."

562
00:24:17,566 --> 00:24:19,333
Wow.

563
00:24:19,333 --> 00:24:20,633
GATES: Have you ever
seen those before?

564
00:24:20,633 --> 00:24:24,166
MORISSETTE: No. Wow.

565
00:24:24,666 --> 00:24:27,133
GATES: I mean, it's one thing
to have a family rumor that

566
00:24:27,133 --> 00:24:30,000
they disappeared, but now we
know why they disappeared.

567
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,333
MORISSETTE: Yeah. No, my
mother and my grandmother,

568
00:24:32,333 --> 00:24:33,966
we didn't get into this.

569
00:24:33,966 --> 00:24:35,733
GATES: Will you tell
your kids this story?

570
00:24:35,733 --> 00:24:36,666
MORISSETTE: Oh, yes.

571
00:24:36,666 --> 00:24:37,566
GATES: Yeah.

572
00:24:37,566 --> 00:24:38,966
MORISSETTE: Yeah.

573
00:24:38,966 --> 00:24:41,800
GATES: Although Alanis' family
had survived the war, they

574
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,000
soon faced another ordeal.

575
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,633
Following the defeat of
Hitler's Germany, Hungary was

576
00:24:47,633 --> 00:24:52,333
occupied by the Soviet Union,
and monstrous genocide was

577
00:24:52,333 --> 00:24:56,066
replaced by the tyranny
of the communist state.

578
00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:00,100
When Hungarian patriots
rebelled in 1956,

579
00:25:00,100 --> 00:25:01,833
they were quickly crushed.

580
00:25:01,833 --> 00:25:04,666
Soviet tanks
filled the streets...

581
00:25:04,666 --> 00:25:08,333
thousands died and more
than 10,000 were wounded.

582
00:25:08,733 --> 00:25:13,300
Amidst the chaos, Alanis's
grandfather Imre decided that

583
00:25:13,300 --> 00:25:17,633
his family needed to flee,
regardless of the risk.

584
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,633
Alanis' mother was just
six years old at the time,

585
00:25:21,633 --> 00:25:26,300
but she still harbors harrowing
memories of that journey.

586
00:25:26,866 --> 00:25:28,400
MORISSETTE: I mean, there were
some stories that she would

587
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,966
say where they were escaping
and going through fields where

588
00:25:31,966 --> 00:25:34,366
they would shoot up flares

589
00:25:34,366 --> 00:25:36,400
to see if there were
people escaping.

590
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,066
They'd have to drop down.

591
00:25:38,066 --> 00:25:40,666
And I remember my grandmother
having dropped down on one

592
00:25:40,666 --> 00:25:43,000
occasion, and my mom
was next to her,

593
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,433
and my grandmother
said to my mom,

594
00:25:45,433 --> 00:25:47,133
"Go ahead. Just leave me here.

595
00:25:47,133 --> 00:25:48,400
Go ahead."

596
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:49,766
And my mom said,
"Are you kidding me?

597
00:25:49,766 --> 00:25:50,933
I'm not going anywhere."

598
00:25:50,933 --> 00:25:52,233
GATES: Right.

599
00:25:52,233 --> 00:25:53,600
MORISSETTE: So moments like
that, they were getting off a

600
00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,300
train and someone whispered to
them, "Get off the other side."

601
00:25:57,300 --> 00:25:59,200
And so they did.

602
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:00,766
And they got off the other
side and they looked back and

603
00:26:00,766 --> 00:26:02,500
everyone was being
executed on the...

604
00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:03,633
GATES: Wow.

605
00:26:03,633 --> 00:26:06,233
MORISSETTE: Stuff like that.
It's really intense.

606
00:26:06,533 --> 00:26:10,100
GATES: Against great odds,
Imre managed to get his wife

607
00:26:10,100 --> 00:26:12,433
and children out of Hungary,

608
00:26:12,433 --> 00:26:15,300
along with several members
of their extended family.

609
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:21,166
Eventually, they settled in
Ottawa, where Alanis grew up.

610
00:26:21,933 --> 00:26:25,100
But Alanis never knew her
remarkable grandfather,

611
00:26:25,100 --> 00:26:28,233
because Imre died
in a car accident

612
00:26:28,233 --> 00:26:30,700
just weeks following
her birth...

613
00:26:30,900 --> 00:26:34,000
a tragedy that Alanis,
understandably,

614
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,100
found painful to revisit...

615
00:26:38,300 --> 00:26:40,466
MORISSETTE: "An Ottawa man and
his mother-in-law were killed

616
00:26:40,466 --> 00:26:43,200
Tuesday afternoon when the car
in which they were traveling

617
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:45,100
crashed through a
Queens Bay median

618
00:26:45,100 --> 00:26:47,466
and hit an oncoming vehicle.

619
00:26:47,466 --> 00:26:50,733
Imre Feuerstein, 65, and
Katalin Gulyas, 69,

620
00:26:50,733 --> 00:26:52,700
died in the accident.

621
00:26:52,700 --> 00:26:55,966
Mr. Feuerstein's wife,
Nadinia, 51, suffered cuts

622
00:26:55,966 --> 00:26:58,600
and bruises in the mishap."

623
00:26:59,533 --> 00:27:02,333
Yeah.

624
00:27:04,433 --> 00:27:06,633
GATES: Your grandfather and
your great-grandmother both

625
00:27:06,633 --> 00:27:08,400
died in that car crash

626
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:10,500
just three months
after you were born.

627
00:27:10,500 --> 00:27:15,866
After he survived the
Holocaust, the Russians,

628
00:27:15,866 --> 00:27:18,266
and the loss of his brothers.

629
00:27:18,266 --> 00:27:24,200
MORISSETTE: Man...Yeah.

630
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,600
GATES: How did
your mother cope?

631
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:29,700
(sighs)

632
00:27:29,700 --> 00:27:31,700
MORISSETTE: I honestly
think that a beautiful

633
00:27:31,700 --> 00:27:35,133
disassociation muscle kicked
in for her, and she just went

634
00:27:35,133 --> 00:27:38,266
into, "I'm going to take
care of these babies."

635
00:27:38,266 --> 00:27:41,933
And just eventually
went back to work

636
00:27:41,933 --> 00:27:43,766
and didn't talk
about it very much.

637
00:27:43,766 --> 00:27:46,000
My grandmother was the person
who shared much more about

638
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:47,600
this with me eventually.

639
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:48,966
GATES: Wow.

640
00:27:48,966 --> 00:27:51,266
MORISSETTE: Because I
wouldn't let it go. Yeah.

641
00:27:52,866 --> 00:27:56,366
GATES: Imre had saved his
family by fleeing Hungary...

642
00:27:56,366 --> 00:27:59,633
but in so doing, he had
also cut off all connection

643
00:27:59,633 --> 00:28:02,066
to their deeper roots.

644
00:28:02,066 --> 00:28:05,766
In fact, Alanis knew nothing
about her mother's ancestry

645
00:28:05,766 --> 00:28:08,133
before World War II.

646
00:28:09,066 --> 00:28:13,900
We set out to change that,
and mapped Imre's line back to

647
00:28:13,900 --> 00:28:17,000
Alanis'
great-great-grandfather,

648
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,633
a man named Izrael Blumenkranz.

649
00:28:20,633 --> 00:28:24,400
Izrael was born around 1845,

650
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:26,666
likely in a town
called Drohobych,

651
00:28:26,666 --> 00:28:29,833
which was then in a part
of the Austrian empire

652
00:28:29,833 --> 00:28:34,166
known as Galicia, and
now is in Ukraine...

653
00:28:35,333 --> 00:28:36,633
MORISSETTE: Wow.

654
00:28:36,633 --> 00:28:39,533
GATES: So when you watch
the news, that's your people.

655
00:28:39,533 --> 00:28:41,066
MORISSETTE: It's interesting,
because when my mom watches

656
00:28:41,066 --> 00:28:43,133
the news, my immediate
thought was, you know,

657
00:28:43,133 --> 00:28:46,433
trigger re-trauma
with her escape.

658
00:28:46,433 --> 00:28:49,033
But now hearing this, it's
a whole other level of...

659
00:28:49,033 --> 00:28:51,066
GATES: Your
bloodline goes right there.

660
00:28:51,066 --> 00:28:53,633
MORISSETTE: Wow.

661
00:28:55,033 --> 00:28:56,766
GATES: Ukraine, of course,

662
00:28:56,766 --> 00:28:59,700
has been a site of
tragedy for generations,

663
00:28:59,700 --> 00:29:03,366
and many records of its Jewish
population have either been

664
00:29:03,366 --> 00:29:06,400
lost or willfully destroyed.

665
00:29:06,966 --> 00:29:10,066
For these reasons, doing
genealogy here can be

666
00:29:10,066 --> 00:29:13,100
extraordinarily difficult...

667
00:29:13,100 --> 00:29:15,500
But with Alanis,
we got lucky...

668
00:29:15,500 --> 00:29:18,833
we uncovered Izrael's death
record, which allowed us to

669
00:29:18,833 --> 00:29:24,100
add another branch to her
mother's family tree.

670
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,266
MORISSETTE: "Deceased
Izrael Blumankrantz.

671
00:29:27,266 --> 00:29:30,600
Date of death,
October 25th, 1894

672
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:32,933
in Drohobych.

673
00:29:32,933 --> 00:29:37,433
Date of funeral, October 25th,
1894 in Drohobych,

674
00:29:37,433 --> 00:29:41,100
parents, Eisig Blumankrantz
and Freuda Hardstein."

675
00:29:41,100 --> 00:29:42,833
GATES: Freuda Hardstein.

676
00:29:42,833 --> 00:29:45,933
So you just met another
layer of your ancestors.

677
00:29:45,933 --> 00:29:47,066
MORISSETTE: Wow.

678
00:29:47,066 --> 00:29:48,500
GATES: Your third great
grandparents,

679
00:29:48,500 --> 00:29:52,133
Eisig Blumankrantz,
and Freuda Hardstein

680
00:29:52,133 --> 00:29:56,400
were likely born in Galicia
in the early 1800s,

681
00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:58,066
over 200 years ago.

682
00:29:58,066 --> 00:30:00,066
MORISSETTE: What?

683
00:30:00,066 --> 00:30:02,733
GATES: So when you were 28, you
found that you were Jewish?

684
00:30:02,733 --> 00:30:04,066
MORISSETTE: Yes.

685
00:30:04,066 --> 00:30:05,266
GATES: But you had
no idea how Jewish.

686
00:30:05,266 --> 00:30:06,900
MORISSETTE: I had no
idea how super Jewish I am.

687
00:30:06,900 --> 00:30:08,633
GATES: And we
have a paper trail.

688
00:30:08,633 --> 00:30:12,966
200 years on two lines
on your mother's family.

689
00:30:12,966 --> 00:30:15,466
How does that make you feel?

690
00:30:15,466 --> 00:30:17,533
MORISSETTE: I feel welcomed
into a community that

691
00:30:17,533 --> 00:30:19,366
I always had a crush on.

692
00:30:19,366 --> 00:30:23,100
I've always had a crush on
Judaism and I would just

693
00:30:23,100 --> 00:30:25,500
show up at Passover and Seder.

694
00:30:25,500 --> 00:30:27,966
GATES: Yeah. Well.

695
00:30:27,966 --> 00:30:29,100
MORISSETTE: And
now I know why.

696
00:30:29,100 --> 00:30:31,400
GATES: Now you know why.
It was like come on home.

697
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:32,633
MORISSETTE: Yes.
Please Come home.

698
00:30:32,633 --> 00:30:34,766
Come home.

699
00:30:35,233 --> 00:30:38,133
GATES: We'd already explored
Ciara's paternal roots,

700
00:30:38,133 --> 00:30:41,633
tracing her father back
to South Carolina,

701
00:30:41,633 --> 00:30:45,666
a place Ciara had never
associated with her family.

702
00:30:46,633 --> 00:30:50,733
Now, turning to her mother's
ancestry, we uncovered a story

703
00:30:50,733 --> 00:30:53,766
that would prove
even more surprising.

704
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:58,100
It begins with Ciara's
great-grandparents:

705
00:30:58,100 --> 00:31:00,833
Louella and Willie Head.

706
00:31:01,866 --> 00:31:03,166
Do you know those names?

707
00:31:03,166 --> 00:31:07,566
CIARA: So, I feel like I
was around Grandma Louella.

708
00:31:07,566 --> 00:31:08,766
GATES: Hmm.

709
00:31:08,766 --> 00:31:10,333
CIARA: For a
little bit, maybe.

710
00:31:10,333 --> 00:31:12,433
But I was definitely
around Grandpa Willie.

711
00:31:12,433 --> 00:31:13,833
He used to live in our house.

712
00:31:13,833 --> 00:31:15,000
GATES: Oh, yeah.

713
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:16,766
CIARA: And, oh my gosh,
I, I'm not even...

714
00:31:16,766 --> 00:31:19,533
I haven't even thought about him
in this way until this moment.

715
00:31:19,533 --> 00:31:20,800
GATES: Wow.

716
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,133
CIARA: Because I got to, um,
you know, be around him for

717
00:31:23,133 --> 00:31:24,333
a few years.

718
00:31:24,333 --> 00:31:25,900
And he would chase
me around the house.

719
00:31:25,900 --> 00:31:27,633
You know?
And he was older.

720
00:31:27,633 --> 00:31:29,433
He'd be "Go!"
You know, just going after me.

721
00:31:29,433 --> 00:31:30,633
I can't remember
what he was, like,

722
00:31:30,633 --> 00:31:31,800
exactly what he was saying.

723
00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:33,166
But I just remember the
feeling of him, you know,

724
00:31:33,166 --> 00:31:35,000
going after me, "Ciara!"
You know? Um...

725
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,133
Yeah, that's amazing.

726
00:31:38,133 --> 00:31:40,933
'Cause I literally am just
reminded of how I actually

727
00:31:40,933 --> 00:31:42,200
got to spend time with him.

728
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:43,166
GATES: That's great.

729
00:31:43,166 --> 00:31:44,900
CIARA: Yeah.

730
00:31:44,900 --> 00:31:48,366
GATES: Willie would turn out to
be the lynchpin of this story.

731
00:31:48,366 --> 00:31:50,933
He was born in may of 1905,

732
00:31:50,933 --> 00:31:54,866
and we found him in the
1910 census for Georgia,

733
00:31:54,866 --> 00:31:57,133
listed as a son of a couple

734
00:31:57,133 --> 00:32:00,233
named Nathan and Emily Head.

735
00:32:00,500 --> 00:32:04,700
But we soon began to wonder
if this census was correct.

736
00:32:06,366 --> 00:32:10,600
When we compared Ciara's
DNA profile to millions of

737
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:14,300
other profiles in publicly
available databases,

738
00:32:14,300 --> 00:32:17,300
we discovered that
she has multiple matches

739
00:32:17,300 --> 00:32:21,133
to people who are related to
her through Willie Head,

740
00:32:21,133 --> 00:32:24,333
and through Willie's
mother Emily.

741
00:32:24,966 --> 00:32:27,800
But, when we tried to connect
her to Nathan Head,

742
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,700
we noticed something unusual...

743
00:32:30,700 --> 00:32:32,466
Turn the page.

744
00:32:32,466 --> 00:32:34,100
CIARA: Wow, it says...

745
00:32:34,100 --> 00:32:35,166
GATES: How many
matches do you see?

746
00:32:35,166 --> 00:32:36,200
CIARA: Zero.

747
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:38,100
GATES: Zero.
Now I'm gonna explain what...

748
00:32:38,100 --> 00:32:39,566
CIARA: What you 'bout
to tell me right now?

749
00:32:39,566 --> 00:32:40,600
GATES: I'm gonna
explain what it means.

750
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:41,933
CIARA: Okay. Let's go.

751
00:32:41,933 --> 00:32:44,733
GATES: Nathan Head is not
your biological ancestor.

752
00:32:44,733 --> 00:32:46,166
CIARA: Hmm.

753
00:32:46,166 --> 00:32:49,066
GATES: That means that
Nathan is not Willie's father.

754
00:32:49,500 --> 00:32:53,866
Willie, unbeknownst probably to
Willie, had a different father.

755
00:32:53,866 --> 00:32:55,733
CIARA: Oh. Wow.

756
00:32:55,733 --> 00:32:58,000
GATES: Have you ever heard
any family stories about that?

757
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,733
CIARA: Mm-mmm. No.

758
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,666
GATES: We now had a
question in front of us...

759
00:33:04,666 --> 00:33:08,833
if Nathan Head wasn't
Willie's biological father,

760
00:33:08,833 --> 00:33:11,000
then who was?

761
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,566
There were no further
records to guide us.

762
00:33:13,566 --> 00:33:17,600
Our only hope was DNA.

763
00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:21,266
Our genetic genealogist,
CeCe Moore, noticed that while

764
00:33:21,266 --> 00:33:26,066
Ciara did not have any matches
to Nathan Head, she did match

765
00:33:26,066 --> 00:33:29,833
a number of individuals who
could only be related to her

766
00:33:29,833 --> 00:33:33,933
through the man who had
actually fathered Willie...

767
00:33:34,500 --> 00:33:39,000
and all of these people had
one thing in common:

768
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:40,866
they were white.

769
00:33:40,866 --> 00:33:44,633
Leading to an
inescapable conclusion.

770
00:33:44,633 --> 00:33:48,133
Your biological great-great-
grandfather was white.

771
00:33:48,133 --> 00:33:50,700
CIARA: Hmm, that's crazy.

772
00:33:50,700 --> 00:33:52,533
I think about, like,
my grandfather's hair.

773
00:33:52,533 --> 00:33:54,000
GATES: Mm-hmm.
Oh, yeah.

774
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:55,000
CIARA: You know?

775
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:56,333
GATES: He had "good hair"?

776
00:33:56,333 --> 00:33:57,833
CIARA: As he got older, it
got a little more, you know,

777
00:33:57,833 --> 00:33:59,133
little more coarse, but...

778
00:33:59,133 --> 00:34:02,366
Um, I look at some of his, you
know, the photos from, that

779
00:34:02,366 --> 00:34:03,600
I did get to see...

780
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:04,700
GATES: Right.

781
00:34:04,700 --> 00:34:06,033
CIARA: From when he was
younger with my grandma,

782
00:34:06,033 --> 00:34:07,400
and it was fine hair.

783
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:08,966
GATES: Yeah.
Now you know why. Yeah.

784
00:34:08,966 --> 00:34:11,033
CIARA: Yeah, that's amazing.

785
00:34:11,033 --> 00:34:13,866
GATES: It was one thing to know
that Willie's father was white,

786
00:34:13,866 --> 00:34:17,100
another to actually
find his name.

787
00:34:17,700 --> 00:34:20,300
Returning back to
the DNA databases,

788
00:34:20,300 --> 00:34:23,633
CeCe was able to do just that.

789
00:34:24,300 --> 00:34:26,833
By building family trees
for each of the matches

790
00:34:26,833 --> 00:34:28,233
that she found,

791
00:34:28,233 --> 00:34:32,000
connecting one of
them to Ciara's ancestors.

792
00:34:32,966 --> 00:34:34,766
So you wanna meet your
great-great-grandpa?

793
00:34:34,766 --> 00:34:35,966
CIARA: Yes.

794
00:34:35,966 --> 00:34:37,966
GATES: And this is a
fact beyond a doubt.

795
00:34:37,966 --> 00:34:39,066
Turn the page.

796
00:34:39,066 --> 00:34:40,700
CIARA: I'm ready.

797
00:34:40,700 --> 00:34:42,266
GATES: Would you please read
the name of the box directly

798
00:34:42,266 --> 00:34:45,566
above the name of your
great-grandfather Willie?

799
00:34:45,566 --> 00:34:47,800
CIARA: "Walker
Lafayette Head."

800
00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:52,166
GATES: You just met your
great-great-grandfather.

801
00:34:52,166 --> 00:34:53,466
CIARA: What's crazy is that

802
00:34:53,466 --> 00:34:54,833
they both had the
last name Head.

803
00:34:54,833 --> 00:34:56,166
GATES: Had the
same surname Head!

804
00:34:56,166 --> 00:34:57,266
CIARA: Wow.

805
00:34:57,266 --> 00:34:58,700
GATES: But they
weren't related.

806
00:34:58,700 --> 00:35:01,066
Walker was white and
Nathan and Willie were Black.

807
00:35:01,066 --> 00:35:02,866
CIARA: Wow.

808
00:35:02,866 --> 00:35:05,600
GATES: Even though Walker
and Nathan don't share a

809
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:08,133
biological connection,

810
00:35:08,133 --> 00:35:11,133
their lives were
intimately intertwined...

811
00:35:11,966 --> 00:35:17,566
in the 1870 census, we found
Walker as a five year old boy,

812
00:35:17,833 --> 00:35:20,366
living in the home
of his father,

813
00:35:20,366 --> 00:35:23,466
a white farmer named
Thomas Head...

814
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:29,033
The census also shows a Black
family living on the property...

815
00:35:29,033 --> 00:35:31,566
likely working
as sharecroppers.

816
00:35:31,566 --> 00:35:34,800
They have the same surname
as the white family

817
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:36,133
and one of them,

818
00:35:36,133 --> 00:35:39,433
a six year old boy,
was called Nathan.

819
00:35:40,866 --> 00:35:42,300
So that's Nathan Head,

820
00:35:42,300 --> 00:35:45,333
the man everyone believed
was Willie's father.

821
00:35:45,333 --> 00:35:46,600
CIARA: Ah.

822
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,533
GATES: He's listed along with
his parents, living in the

823
00:35:48,533 --> 00:35:51,966
household of the
white farmer Thomas Head.

824
00:35:51,966 --> 00:35:54,000
So that means that Walker
and Nathan grew up in the

825
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:55,600
same house together.

826
00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:56,833
CIARA: Wow.

827
00:35:56,833 --> 00:35:58,866
GATES: And at some point when
both men were about 40,

828
00:35:58,866 --> 00:36:02,166
Walker slept
with Nathan's wife.

829
00:36:02,166 --> 00:36:04,400
CIARA: Hmm.
Mm-mm-mm.

830
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:07,633
GATES: And conceived your
great-grandfather Willie.

831
00:36:07,633 --> 00:36:09,666
CIARA: Mm-mm-mm.

832
00:36:10,300 --> 00:36:12,033
GATES: We don't know anything
about the nature of the

833
00:36:12,033 --> 00:36:14,833
relationship
between Walker and Emily.

834
00:36:14,833 --> 00:36:17,966
But as we looked into the
circumstances surrounding the

835
00:36:17,966 --> 00:36:22,233
birth of their child, we
noticed something curious...

836
00:36:23,066 --> 00:36:26,200
After growing up together
on the same farm,

837
00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:28,833
Walker and Nathan parted ways.

838
00:36:29,866 --> 00:36:33,066
By 1900, Nathan and
Emily were living in

839
00:36:33,066 --> 00:36:35,466
Monroe County, Georgia,

840
00:36:35,466 --> 00:36:37,900
while Walker was
living roughly 80 miles away

841
00:36:37,900 --> 00:36:40,233
in Butts County...

842
00:36:40,233 --> 00:36:43,000
we wondered how Emily
and Walker ever managed

843
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,466
to conceive a child...

844
00:36:45,666 --> 00:36:48,066
And found our answer
in a mortgage deed

845
00:36:48,066 --> 00:36:50,766
filed by Nathan Head

846
00:36:51,166 --> 00:36:54,200
it describes crops that he was
planting in Butts County

847
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:57,466
the year that his
wife became pregnant....

848
00:36:58,100 --> 00:37:02,366
So, Ciara, what that means is
that Nathan Head was farming

849
00:37:02,366 --> 00:37:04,833
in Butts County,
Georgia in 1904.

850
00:37:04,833 --> 00:37:06,533
CIARA: Wow.

851
00:37:06,533 --> 00:37:08,866
GATES: The same county where
Walker Head was living.

852
00:37:08,866 --> 00:37:10,666
So if you go back in time,
you see, you go,

853
00:37:10,666 --> 00:37:11,900
"Nathan, no, no,
no, don't go there."

854
00:37:11,900 --> 00:37:12,866
CIARA: Uh-uh.

855
00:37:12,866 --> 00:37:14,100
And Nathan said,
"I'm going there."

856
00:37:14,100 --> 00:37:15,200
GATES: Yeah.

857
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:17,266
He went there, and his
wife went somewhere else.

858
00:37:17,266 --> 00:37:18,500
CIARA: Oh.

859
00:37:18,500 --> 00:37:20,233
GATES: And you see the name
of the man whose land

860
00:37:20,233 --> 00:37:22,033
Nathan was farming?

861
00:37:22,033 --> 00:37:23,433
CIARA: "Lands of
Whit Torbitt."

862
00:37:23,433 --> 00:37:26,400
GATES: Whit Torbitt.
So we believe that Whit Torbitt

863
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:28,933
was a man named
Robert Whit Torbitt.

864
00:37:28,933 --> 00:37:32,866
And according to the 1900
census, his family owned land

865
00:37:32,866 --> 00:37:37,100
that was in close proximity to
the land owned by Walker Head,

866
00:37:37,100 --> 00:37:39,666
your white ancestor.

867
00:37:39,666 --> 00:37:45,300
So Nathan Head is renting land
from this white guy who lives

868
00:37:45,300 --> 00:37:48,466
right near Walker Head,

869
00:37:48,466 --> 00:37:52,433
who would conceive a
child with Nathan's wife...

870
00:37:52,433 --> 00:37:53,700
CIARA: Wow.

871
00:37:53,700 --> 00:37:55,433
GATES: And lead
eventually to you.

872
00:37:55,433 --> 00:37:56,433
CIARA: Wow.

873
00:37:56,433 --> 00:37:57,366
GATES: Isn't that amazing?

874
00:37:57,366 --> 00:37:58,900
CIARA: That's amazing.
That's crazy.

875
00:37:58,900 --> 00:38:00,333
GATES: So we can
only speculate, but...

876
00:38:00,333 --> 00:38:01,500
CIARA: Yeah.

877
00:38:01,500 --> 00:38:02,566
GATES: What's your, what do
you imagine the nature

878
00:38:02,566 --> 00:38:03,833
of the relationship?

879
00:38:03,833 --> 00:38:05,200
Do you think it
was consensual?

880
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,700
CIARA: Yeah. I do.

881
00:38:07,700 --> 00:38:09,700
I'd definitely like to believe
there's some connectivity

882
00:38:09,700 --> 00:38:10,933
that happened.

883
00:38:10,933 --> 00:38:13,700
GATES: People fall in love.
You can't control it.

884
00:38:13,700 --> 00:38:15,333
Desire is colorblind.

885
00:38:15,333 --> 00:38:17,333
CIARA: Oh, yeah.
I mean...

886
00:38:17,333 --> 00:38:18,266
GATES: You know?

887
00:38:18,266 --> 00:38:19,900
CIARA: Yeah, love is love.

888
00:38:19,900 --> 00:38:22,533
GATES: If Walker and
Emily were in love,

889
00:38:22,533 --> 00:38:25,600
that love had no future.

890
00:38:26,233 --> 00:38:30,000
Not only was inter-racial
marriage illegal in Georgia,

891
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:33,400
but both were already
married to other people.

892
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,166
Indeed Walker and his wife
had seven children together.

893
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:42,566
What's more, Walker himself was
not long for this world...

894
00:38:43,533 --> 00:38:45,833
This is the gravestone for
your great-great-grandfather.

895
00:38:45,833 --> 00:38:47,100
CIARA: Wow.

896
00:38:47,100 --> 00:38:48,700
GATES: That is where your
white great-great-grandfather

897
00:38:48,700 --> 00:38:49,966
is buried.

898
00:38:49,966 --> 00:38:51,633
CIARA: Hmm.

899
00:38:51,633 --> 00:38:54,333
GATES: He died on
September 25th, 1907,

900
00:38:54,333 --> 00:38:56,400
when he was just 43 years old.

901
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:57,733
At this time, his son,

902
00:38:57,733 --> 00:38:59,266
your great-great-
grandfather Willie...

903
00:38:59,266 --> 00:39:00,400
CIARA: Mm-hmm.

904
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:01,766
GATES: Who's now half
white and half black.

905
00:39:01,766 --> 00:39:02,933
CIARA: Mm-hmm.

906
00:39:02,933 --> 00:39:04,200
GATES: Was two and
a half years old.

907
00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:05,400
CIARA: Hmm.

908
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:07,566
GATES: Do you think he
ever knew who his father was?

909
00:39:07,566 --> 00:39:09,966
You think his mom
would've told him?

910
00:39:09,966 --> 00:39:13,700
Remember, she's living
with a Black man who was

911
00:39:13,700 --> 00:39:15,633
ostensibly his father.

912
00:39:15,633 --> 00:39:17,433
CIARA: I don't know.

913
00:39:17,433 --> 00:39:19,100
GATES: And he had seven white
half siblings because all of

914
00:39:19,100 --> 00:39:20,600
Walker's kids were
his half siblings.

915
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:21,666
CIARA: Yeah.

916
00:39:21,666 --> 00:39:23,333
GATES: I wonder if he knew.

917
00:39:23,333 --> 00:39:25,000
CIARA: He probably at some
point in time, you look up and

918
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:26,800
you go, hmm.

919
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:28,100
GATES: Mm-hmm.

920
00:39:28,100 --> 00:39:30,533
CIARA: And maybe you know, but
life just keeps on going on,

921
00:39:30,533 --> 00:39:31,766
I think, for them.

922
00:39:31,766 --> 00:39:33,966
GATES: Right. Yeah, 'cause
sometimes if you say something,

923
00:39:33,966 --> 00:39:35,266
your whole world's
gonna fall apart.

924
00:39:35,266 --> 00:39:36,733
CIARA: Yeah, it's a
whole big old thing.

925
00:39:36,733 --> 00:39:38,200
GATES: So what's it like
for you to learn this story?

926
00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:39,833
When you, when we,

927
00:39:39,833 --> 00:39:41,333
you walked in here
you had no idea...

928
00:39:41,333 --> 00:39:42,566
CIARA: No.

929
00:39:42,566 --> 00:39:43,700
GATES: What was
gonna be in that book.

930
00:39:43,700 --> 00:39:46,400
CIARA: No, I had no idea.
Um, I feel more clear.

931
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,033
I feel, um, like I
know myself even more.

932
00:39:49,033 --> 00:39:50,766
I know my roots even more.

933
00:39:50,766 --> 00:39:52,566
GATES: And isn't it incredible
to see what we can do

934
00:39:52,566 --> 00:39:54,166
now with science? DNA?

935
00:39:54,166 --> 00:39:55,400
CIARA: It's powerful.

936
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:57,766
GATES: 'Cause nobody
would've known the facts

937
00:39:57,766 --> 00:39:59,333
when that baby was born.

938
00:39:59,333 --> 00:40:00,700
CIARA: Oh, yeah, no.
Yeah, no, you...

939
00:40:00,700 --> 00:40:02,433
GATES: They could've guessed,
but no one would've known.

940
00:40:02,433 --> 00:40:03,400
CIARA: Yeah, no.

941
00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:04,600
GATES: But we know.

942
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:05,833
CIARA: Yeah.

943
00:40:06,900 --> 00:40:10,033
GATES: We'd already traced
Alanis Morissette's maternal

944
00:40:10,033 --> 00:40:13,800
roots back to long-vanished
Jewish communities

945
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:15,666
in eastern Europe....

946
00:40:15,666 --> 00:40:18,833
Now, turning to her
father's family tree,

947
00:40:18,833 --> 00:40:21,966
we found ourselves on
more familiar terrain:

948
00:40:23,633 --> 00:40:26,500
the small city of
Timmins, Canada,

949
00:40:26,500 --> 00:40:30,066
where Alanis' father
was born and raised...

950
00:40:30,366 --> 00:40:33,966
Alanis grew up in nearby
Ottawa, and feels a deep

951
00:40:33,966 --> 00:40:37,133
connection to this
part of the world...

952
00:40:37,133 --> 00:40:40,066
and that's not all she
shares with her father:

953
00:40:40,066 --> 00:40:44,400
the two are also bonded by
an artistic sensibility.

954
00:40:45,300 --> 00:40:46,633
MORISSETTE: Music
was everywhere.

955
00:40:46,633 --> 00:40:49,700
My father is utterly obsessed
with all music, and I was

956
00:40:49,700 --> 00:40:54,900
exposed to uh, Carol King and
Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan

957
00:40:54,900 --> 00:40:56,566
and all these
different writers..

958
00:40:56,566 --> 00:40:57,766
GATES: Hmm.

959
00:40:57,766 --> 00:41:00,466
MORISSETTE: He just really
has a profound respect for

960
00:41:00,466 --> 00:41:04,133
musicianship and lyricism and
just the whole idea of that

961
00:41:04,133 --> 00:41:07,533
being how one expresses.

962
00:41:07,533 --> 00:41:10,533
He's obsessed with those kinds
of music, that genre of music,

963
00:41:10,533 --> 00:41:11,933
of singer songwriter.

964
00:41:11,933 --> 00:41:13,566
So he was playing
it all the time.

965
00:41:13,566 --> 00:41:16,000
GATES: How come he
didn't become a musician?

966
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,533
MORISSETTE: He wanted to, I
don't think that that was

967
00:41:18,533 --> 00:41:22,000
one of the gifts that he
took off running with.

968
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:24,066
GATES: So you're fulfilling
your father's dreams?

969
00:41:24,066 --> 00:41:25,133
MORISSETTE: Yes.

970
00:41:25,133 --> 00:41:27,066
There is a
vicarious element for sure.

971
00:41:28,100 --> 00:41:31,766
GATES: As it turns out,
Alanis' family ties to music

972
00:41:31,766 --> 00:41:35,633
actually stretch
back generations,

973
00:41:35,633 --> 00:41:38,233
in a most
surprising way...

974
00:41:38,533 --> 00:41:41,800
The story begins with her
fourth great-grandfather,

975
00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,766
a man named James McConnell...

976
00:41:45,566 --> 00:41:49,066
James was likely born in
Nova Scotia, Canada

977
00:41:49,066 --> 00:41:51,800
around 1773...

978
00:41:52,666 --> 00:41:56,333
he eventually settled in Hull,
a town on the Ottawa River,

979
00:41:56,333 --> 00:41:59,166
where he had an
unusual occupation...

980
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,300
MORISSETTE: "Owners or
conductors of rafts,

981
00:42:02,300 --> 00:42:03,733
James McConnell."

982
00:42:03,733 --> 00:42:05,000
GATES: You know
what this means?

983
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:06,966
Your fourth great-grandfather
operated log rafts on the

984
00:42:06,966 --> 00:42:08,400
Ottawa River.

985
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:09,933
MORISSETTE: Oh.

986
00:42:09,933 --> 00:42:12,533
I briefly had a home, briefly
meaning probably ten years,

987
00:42:12,533 --> 00:42:15,900
that was on the Ottawa River
and looked into Hull.

988
00:42:15,900 --> 00:42:16,866
GATES: No kidding.

989
00:42:16,866 --> 00:42:18,100
MORISSETTE: Yeah.

990
00:42:18,100 --> 00:42:19,566
GATES: Wow.
So you were drawn back.

991
00:42:19,566 --> 00:42:21,700
MORISSETTE: Yes.

992
00:42:21,700 --> 00:42:24,366
GATES: James' rafts were used
to help guide newly cut

993
00:42:24,366 --> 00:42:26,633
timber downstream...

994
00:42:26,633 --> 00:42:30,300
it was an important job in his
region's lumber economy,

995
00:42:30,300 --> 00:42:33,233
but that's not what
makes him notable...

996
00:42:33,233 --> 00:42:37,600
indeed, our researchers might
have passed him by entirely

997
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:40,933
had his name not appeared
in a book called

998
00:42:40,933 --> 00:42:43,700
"Pioneers of the Upper Ottawa",

999
00:42:43,700 --> 00:42:48,766
written by a man named
Anson Gard in the year 1906.

1000
00:42:49,533 --> 00:42:52,133
Gard was a kind of
cultural historian,

1001
00:42:52,133 --> 00:42:54,100
what we might call
a folklorist, okay?

1002
00:42:54,100 --> 00:42:55,366
MORISSETTE: Yes.

1003
00:42:55,366 --> 00:42:57,300
GATES: He interviewed people
and collected local stories.

1004
00:42:57,300 --> 00:43:00,333
Would you please read the part
we've transcribed for you?

1005
00:43:00,333 --> 00:43:02,200
MORISSETTE: "A Hull
song of the long ago...

1006
00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:05,833
I one day chanced to hear an
'Old Come All Ye' being hummed

1007
00:43:05,833 --> 00:43:08,000
by a man who
lived in South Hull.

1008
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:11,200
'It is,' said he, 'a song
written many years ago by a

1009
00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:14,800
Hull school teacher on the
drowning of three young men.

1010
00:43:15,166 --> 00:43:17,566
I learned from Mr. James Moore,
the nephew of the

1011
00:43:17,566 --> 00:43:20,333
Benjamin Moore in the song,
that these four young men

1012
00:43:20,333 --> 00:43:22,766
proposed to do what
had never been done...

1013
00:43:22,766 --> 00:43:25,333
What had never been before
attempted, to run a boat or

1014
00:43:25,333 --> 00:43:28,433
canoe over the
Chaudière Falls.'"

1015
00:43:28,433 --> 00:43:30,500
GATES: This is a
story about a song,

1016
00:43:30,500 --> 00:43:32,600
and the song is
about your family.

1017
00:43:32,600 --> 00:43:34,866
MORISSETTE: What is happening?

1018
00:43:35,533 --> 00:43:39,500
GATES: The Chaudière Falls are
a set of cascading waterfalls

1019
00:43:39,500 --> 00:43:41,466
near Hull...

1020
00:43:41,466 --> 00:43:45,033
at their height, they're
over 100 feet tall,

1021
00:43:45,033 --> 00:43:47,600
an enormous drop...

1022
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:52,566
but in 1815, Alanis' fourth
great-grandfather James,

1023
00:43:52,566 --> 00:43:56,033
along with his brother in law
and two other men,

1024
00:43:56,033 --> 00:43:58,000
decided to ride over them,

1025
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:01,666
and they all ended up
in a folk song.

1026
00:44:01,666 --> 00:44:04,000
Can you imagine taking
a boat over those Falls?

1027
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:05,133
MORISSETTE: I can.

1028
00:44:05,133 --> 00:44:06,233
GATES: You're crazy, then.

1029
00:44:06,233 --> 00:44:07,266
MORISSETTE: Definitely, yes.

1030
00:44:07,266 --> 00:44:08,266
GATES: I could see it
runs in your family.

1031
00:44:08,266 --> 00:44:09,300
MORISSETTE: It is.

1032
00:44:09,300 --> 00:44:10,533
GATES: Just like that dude.

1033
00:44:10,533 --> 00:44:12,066
MORISSETTE: Metaphor-wise, I
always think of myself at

1034
00:44:12,066 --> 00:44:14,900
the front of a parade or a march

1035
00:44:14,900 --> 00:44:16,833
that I have the flag and
I'm at the front.

1036
00:44:16,833 --> 00:44:18,900
I'm the one willing to
get my head chopped off.

1037
00:44:18,900 --> 00:44:20,866
This is the quality that
I'm sensing from him...

1038
00:44:20,866 --> 00:44:23,100
GATES: Yeah well you
came by it honestly.

1039
00:44:24,066 --> 00:44:28,100
We don't know what motivated
James and his companions.

1040
00:44:28,100 --> 00:44:31,533
They may have been swept over
the falls as they attempted

1041
00:44:31,533 --> 00:44:34,133
to deliver timber nearby.

1042
00:44:34,133 --> 00:44:38,633
But according to this book,
it seems like

1043
00:44:38,633 --> 00:44:40,233
they wanted to do it

1044
00:44:40,233 --> 00:44:43,600
simply because it
hadn't been done before.

1045
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:47,366
And they paid a heavy
price for their courage.

1046
00:44:48,133 --> 00:44:50,100
MORISSETTE: "Intending to run
them or their course

1047
00:44:50,100 --> 00:44:51,600
they did pursue.

1048
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:53,266
Their boat ran
with swift motion,

1049
00:44:53,266 --> 00:44:55,233
and from it they were threw.

1050
00:44:55,233 --> 00:44:57,600
Benjamin Moore and
William Wright,

1051
00:44:57,600 --> 00:44:59,900
likewise, Asa Young,

1052
00:44:59,900 --> 00:45:02,133
those three young men
were drowned

1053
00:45:02,133 --> 00:45:03,966
and from their boat were flung.

1054
00:45:03,966 --> 00:45:06,166
But James McConnell
was preserved,

1055
00:45:06,166 --> 00:45:08,166
for he swam safe to shore

1056
00:45:08,166 --> 00:45:11,833
down by those islands where
the foaming waters roar."

1057
00:45:11,833 --> 00:45:14,466
GATES: So as a songwriter,
what do you think of the lyrics?

1058
00:45:14,466 --> 00:45:16,200
We got any...

1059
00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:17,766
MORISSETTE: Some
classic good stuff here.

1060
00:45:17,766 --> 00:45:19,466
GATES: They got legs here?
Can we do something with that?

1061
00:45:19,466 --> 00:45:20,766
MORISSETTE: Some high quality,
yes, I could work with this,

1062
00:45:20,766 --> 00:45:22,000
definitely.

1063
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:23,900
GATES: Yeah. What do you
think of this story?

1064
00:45:23,900 --> 00:45:25,300
This story actually happened.

1065
00:45:25,300 --> 00:45:26,600
MORISSETTE: Yeah.

1066
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:29,100
No, it's the whole idea, not
only of understanding that it

1067
00:45:29,100 --> 00:45:30,800
was Hull and that Ottawa River,

1068
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:32,633
which I have a
deep affinity for,

1069
00:45:32,633 --> 00:45:36,100
but the fact that they
were doing something

1070
00:45:36,100 --> 00:45:39,333
for the first time, you know,
there's such a high risk,

1071
00:45:39,333 --> 00:45:44,500
um, high sensation seeking
quality to the exploration too.

1072
00:45:44,833 --> 00:45:48,800
So that readiness to just
go for it I resonate with.

1073
00:45:49,700 --> 00:45:52,466
GATES: Though James had
survived the falls,

1074
00:45:52,466 --> 00:45:56,433
his brother-in-law
Benjamin Moore drowned...

1075
00:45:56,433 --> 00:46:00,066
and when James and his
wife Susan had a child the

1076
00:46:00,066 --> 00:46:04,333
following year, they named
him "Benjamin McConnell",

1077
00:46:04,333 --> 00:46:06,900
in honor of their
lost relative...

1078
00:46:07,700 --> 00:46:12,466
preserving his memory even
as the details of his death

1079
00:46:12,466 --> 00:46:15,366
faded down the generations.

1080
00:46:15,866 --> 00:46:17,266
MORISSETTE: Wow...

1081
00:46:17,266 --> 00:46:19,833
GATES: What's it been like
for you to learn this story?

1082
00:46:19,833 --> 00:46:21,900
MORISSETTE: Um...

1083
00:46:21,900 --> 00:46:25,966
It really invigorates my
curiosity to go even further

1084
00:46:25,966 --> 00:46:28,666
in the history of,
of what they were doing.

1085
00:46:29,066 --> 00:46:34,733
Feeling wise, um, the relief of
his having survived,

1086
00:46:34,733 --> 00:46:36,833
it's the felt sense.

1087
00:46:36,833 --> 00:46:41,533
And then um, just so much
intense stuff happened.

1088
00:46:41,533 --> 00:46:43,633
I just think about their
resilience and their ability

1089
00:46:43,633 --> 00:46:45,733
to keep going in the
face of tragedy

1090
00:46:45,733 --> 00:46:47,633
is pretty poignant for me.

1091
00:46:47,633 --> 00:46:49,466
GATES: Yeah.
Yeah, and admirable.

1092
00:46:49,466 --> 00:46:51,366
MORISSETTE: Yes, admirable.

1093
00:46:52,033 --> 00:46:55,466
GATES: We had one more
"poignant" story for Alanis...

1094
00:46:55,466 --> 00:46:58,466
Following her direct
paternal line, we traced the

1095
00:46:58,466 --> 00:47:01,866
Morissette family
back to Alanis'

1096
00:47:01,866 --> 00:47:03,966
eighth great-grandparents:

1097
00:47:03,966 --> 00:47:07,400
a couple named Jean Morisset
and Jeanne Choret...

1098
00:47:08,500 --> 00:47:12,433
The two married in
Quebec City in 1667.

1099
00:47:12,433 --> 00:47:16,433
And settled on a piece of land
that Jean owned on a nearby

1100
00:47:16,433 --> 00:47:21,400
island, building a house that
would stand the test of time.

1101
00:47:23,566 --> 00:47:26,800
That's their home.
That is your family home.

1102
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:28,100
MORISSETTE: No.

1103
00:47:28,100 --> 00:47:31,033
GATES: That is
Maison Morisset.

1104
00:47:33,900 --> 00:47:35,033
Look at that!

1105
00:47:35,033 --> 00:47:36,300
MORISSETTE: Oh my God.

1106
00:47:36,300 --> 00:47:37,766
GATES: This is where your
eighth great-grandparents

1107
00:47:37,766 --> 00:47:38,800
raised their family.

1108
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:39,900
MORISSETTE: Wow.
On this island?

1109
00:47:39,900 --> 00:47:40,866
GATES: Yeah.

1110
00:47:40,866 --> 00:47:41,900
MORISSETTE: Wow.

1111
00:47:41,900 --> 00:47:42,900
GATES: You're going to
go and check it out?

1112
00:47:42,900 --> 00:47:44,266
MORISSETTE: Heck yes.

1113
00:47:44,266 --> 00:47:46,300
Yep, with my
whole family in tow.

1114
00:47:46,300 --> 00:47:48,466
GATES: Yes, and we believe
that your ancestors spent

1115
00:47:48,466 --> 00:47:50,500
their entire married
lives in that house.

1116
00:47:50,500 --> 00:47:51,633
MORISSETTE: Wow.

1117
00:47:51,633 --> 00:47:52,533
GATES: Yeah.

1118
00:47:52,533 --> 00:47:53,966
MORISSETTE: Wow.

1119
00:47:53,966 --> 00:47:57,500
GATES: How many people can
look at their family home

1120
00:47:57,500 --> 00:47:59,733
from the 17th century?

1121
00:47:59,733 --> 00:48:01,266
MORISSETTE: It's amazing.

1122
00:48:01,266 --> 00:48:03,600
I want to turn
that into a T-shirt.

1123
00:48:04,733 --> 00:48:08,800
GATES: Jean Morrisset
died in Canada in 1699,

1124
00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:10,966
when he was 58-years-old.

1125
00:48:10,966 --> 00:48:15,166
He'd come a long way during
those years, as evidenced by

1126
00:48:15,166 --> 00:48:16,933
his baptismal record,

1127
00:48:16,933 --> 00:48:20,400
which we found in the
archives of Surgères...

1128
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:23,100
A town in France!

1129
00:48:23,100 --> 00:48:25,733
The record is dated 1641...

1130
00:48:25,733 --> 00:48:30,533
and it names Jean's parents,
adding another generation,

1131
00:48:30,533 --> 00:48:35,933
and an entirely new place,
to Alanis' family tree.

1132
00:48:38,166 --> 00:48:39,466
MORISSETTE: Oh my God.

1133
00:48:39,466 --> 00:48:40,666
GATES: Your ninth
great-grandparents.

1134
00:48:40,666 --> 00:48:42,400
MORISSETTE: How is
that even possible?

1135
00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:46,533
GATES: Paul Moricet and
Mathurine Guillois were likely

1136
00:48:46,533 --> 00:48:50,366
born in the early 1600s
when Shakespeare was alive.

1137
00:48:50,366 --> 00:48:51,800
MORISSETTE: Wow.

1138
00:48:51,800 --> 00:48:53,833
GATES: Likely in
Surgères as well.

1139
00:48:53,833 --> 00:48:55,166
MORISSETTE: Wow.

1140
00:48:55,166 --> 00:48:56,333
GATES: What's it
like to see that?

1141
00:48:56,333 --> 00:48:58,400
To know that you have such
deep roots in one place,

1142
00:48:58,400 --> 00:48:59,533
and there it is?

1143
00:48:59,533 --> 00:49:00,866
MORISSETTE: I can't
even believe it.

1144
00:49:00,866 --> 00:49:03,000
GATES: And think about this, in
a sense, you are who you are

1145
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:07,033
because Jean took a chance
and left that place,

1146
00:49:07,033 --> 00:49:08,200
and risked everything...

1147
00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:09,466
MORISSETTE: To
come over to Canada.

1148
00:49:09,466 --> 00:49:11,633
GATES: In the cold Arctic
wilderness of New France.

1149
00:49:11,633 --> 00:49:14,533
MORISSETTE: Wow. Wow.

1150
00:49:14,933 --> 00:49:17,533
GATES: Your father's family
has a classic Canadian story,

1151
00:49:17,533 --> 00:49:19,833
from settlers to lumberjacks.

1152
00:49:19,833 --> 00:49:21,366
MORISSETTE: Amazing.

1153
00:49:21,366 --> 00:49:26,333
I just want to go there
now and find out more.

1154
00:49:29,766 --> 00:49:33,300
GATES: The paper trail had run
out for each of my guests.

1155
00:49:33,300 --> 00:49:36,666
It was time to unfurl
their full family trees,

1156
00:49:36,666 --> 00:49:40,600
now filled with names
they'd never heard before...

1157
00:49:41,033 --> 00:49:42,833
You carry DNA from
all these people.

1158
00:49:42,833 --> 00:49:44,100
What does this mean to you?

1159
00:49:44,100 --> 00:49:47,000
To see all these people, you
know when you walked in here...

1160
00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:47,933
MORISSETTE: Yeah.

1161
00:49:47,933 --> 00:49:48,966
GATES: All these
people were lost...

1162
00:49:48,966 --> 00:49:50,000
MORISSETTE: I know.

1163
00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:51,033
GATES: And now they'll
never be lost again.

1164
00:49:51,033 --> 00:49:53,600
MORISSETTE: No, no I just, uh...

1165
00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:54,900
I feel here.

1166
00:49:54,900 --> 00:49:57,766
I've always had a challenge
around defining self, and this

1167
00:49:57,766 --> 00:50:02,500
helps flesh it out, and
it's such an invitation.

1168
00:50:02,500 --> 00:50:05,966
This is the dream family
rabbit hole for me to keep

1169
00:50:05,966 --> 00:50:09,466
going down, and I feel really
blessed right now that this

1170
00:50:09,466 --> 00:50:11,700
information that you founded

1171
00:50:11,700 --> 00:50:13,766
and provided it to
me is a great gift.

1172
00:50:13,766 --> 00:50:15,266
Thank you.

1173
00:50:15,266 --> 00:50:18,533
CIARA: I feel, um, I just
have a greater appreciation.

1174
00:50:18,533 --> 00:50:19,533
GATES: Mm-hmm.

1175
00:50:19,533 --> 00:50:21,466
CIARA: Honestly. Um, yeah,

1176
00:50:21,466 --> 00:50:23,233
I have a great appreciation
for American history.

1177
00:50:23,233 --> 00:50:25,200
And um, my history.

1178
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:26,266
GATES: Mm-hmm.

1179
00:50:26,266 --> 00:50:27,333
CIARA: Right?

1180
00:50:27,333 --> 00:50:30,000
And it feels good to
know myself even more.

1181
00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:31,100
GATES: Yeah.

1182
00:50:31,100 --> 00:50:33,933
CIARA: And um, history is
beautiful I think that's

1183
00:50:33,933 --> 00:50:35,333
what's so great is that even in

1184
00:50:35,333 --> 00:50:37,300
the not so pretty
parts of it all...

1185
00:50:37,300 --> 00:50:38,566
GATES: Mm-hmm.

1186
00:50:38,566 --> 00:50:39,666
CIARA: Those stories that,
like I say, for me, sometimes

1187
00:50:39,666 --> 00:50:40,733
feel uncomfortable...

1188
00:50:40,733 --> 00:50:41,633
GATES: Yeah.

1189
00:50:41,633 --> 00:50:42,966
CIARA: There's
beauty in all of it too.

1190
00:50:42,966 --> 00:50:43,966
GATES: There is.

1191
00:50:43,966 --> 00:50:45,833
CIARA: Right?
You can find beauty in it.

1192
00:50:45,833 --> 00:50:48,866
GATES: My time with my guests
was drawing to a close,

1193
00:50:48,866 --> 00:50:51,833
but there were
surprises still to come...

1194
00:50:51,833 --> 00:50:55,266
when we compared their DNA
to the DNA of others who have

1195
00:50:55,266 --> 00:50:59,366
been in the series, we found
a match for each of them,

1196
00:50:59,366 --> 00:51:03,266
evidence within their own
chromosomes of distant cousins

1197
00:51:03,266 --> 00:51:06,433
that they never
knew they had...

1198
00:51:06,733 --> 00:51:08,133
CIARA: What in the world?

1199
00:51:08,133 --> 00:51:09,600
GATES: That is
your DNA cousin.

1200
00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:12,166
CIARA: You are kidding me.

1201
00:51:12,166 --> 00:51:14,166
GATES: Ladies and gentlemen,
she is, she is looking at

1202
00:51:14,166 --> 00:51:17,400
former New York Yankees'
Derek Jeter.

1203
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:19,100
CIARA: That's crazy.

1204
00:51:19,100 --> 00:51:23,033
GATES: Ciara and Derek share a
long, identical stretch of DNA

1205
00:51:23,033 --> 00:51:25,833
on their 14th chromosomes,

1206
00:51:25,833 --> 00:51:30,166
DNA which we know Derek
inherited from his mother.

1207
00:51:30,166 --> 00:51:33,200
By contrast, Alanis'
connection to her cousin

1208
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:35,833
runs through her father...

1209
00:51:35,833 --> 00:51:40,533
his 15th chromosome ties
her to a longtime friend...

1210
00:51:42,666 --> 00:51:44,100
MORISSETTE: Oh!

1211
00:51:44,100 --> 00:51:46,066
GATES: Claire Danes.
Isn't that amazing?

1212
00:51:46,066 --> 00:51:47,800
MORISSETTE: Wow. Yeah, we've
worked together before.

1213
00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:48,700
GATES: Really?

1214
00:51:48,700 --> 00:51:50,000
MORISSETTE: I heart
her so much.

1215
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:52,266
Now I'm about to
explode into confetti.

1216
00:51:52,266 --> 00:51:54,600
(laughter)

1217
00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:56,100
GATES: That's great.

1218
00:51:56,100 --> 00:51:57,900
That's the end of our
journey with Ciara

1219
00:51:57,900 --> 00:52:00,600
and Alanis Morissette...

1220
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:03,966
join me next time when we
unlock the secrets of the past

1221
00:52:03,966 --> 00:52:05,500
for new guests

1222
00:52:05,500 --> 00:52:07,100
on another episode of

1223
00:52:07,100 --> 00:52:09,533
Finding Your Roots.