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They say you can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been. So, where did you come from?
Sure, you came from your mom and dad. But where did they come from, and their parents, and their parents before them?
A few years back, scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. decided, with permission and the help of some experienced genealogy experts, to see what might lurk in the ancestry of a few prominent African-Americans. In his new book Finding Oprah’s Roots, he writes about Ms. Winfrey’s lineage, the search for his own background, and how you can assemble your family tree, too.
Chances are, you grew up hearing stories about your parents’ childhoods, their cousins and other extended family, grandparents you might never have known, family legends that were passed down for generations. Maybe you regret that you didn’t listen closer then but now you’re wondering. Despite slavery’s lack of record-keeping and a dearth of hard data, can you get to know your ancestors?
Since no information is too insignificant and nothing can be dismissed when searching for someone’s lineage, Gates and two renowned genealogists began to dig into Winfrey’s family. By interviewing Oprah herself, they found a thread that took them to courthouses and county records. Chats with Oprah’s father led them to other places that gave them more clues. A cousin added a huge wealth of information. Pre- and post-Reconstruction censuses led them to some safe assumptions about Oprah’s slave-born ancestors.
What they found was surprising.
By sleuthing out public documents and records from various government agencies, Gates says he learned what makes Oprah, Oprah. There were several teachers in her family over the years. One of her ancestors went from total illiteracy to complete fluency in a decade. There were landowners in her family when black landowners were extremely rare. And there was a forebear who showed incredible bravery in the face of racism at a time when courage could mean death.
But that’s not all. Gates says, when his own DNA was tested, he was surprised to learn that he was 50 percent white with at least one Irish ancestor. Using a painless swab from the inside of Oprah’s cheek, he and his team were able to tell where her family began and to which
African people she’s most likely related. The answer wasn’t the one Oprah was expecting.
When this book crossed my desk, I was expecting yet another effervescent tome about the Queen of Talk, but Finding Oprah’s Roots was a pleasant surprise. Going backward from today, readers are drawn into the fascinating, detailed search for Oprah’s ancestry, which makes one begin to wonder about one’s own lineage. The good news is, author Henry Louis Gates, Jr. offers easy-to-follow advice, encouragement, and tips on how you can play
Sherlock Holmes on your own heritage.
If you always wondered where you came from, your local bookstore or library is where you should head. Finding Oprah’s Roots will make you want to dig up your own roots this summer.
Oprah Winfrey, pictured above, learns some surprising facts about her ancestry after taking a DNA test.
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