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Angela Davis, a longtime radical affiliated with the Black Panthers and the Communist Party, found out her ancestry isn’t as simple as it seems. No, her ancestry held some major surprises for her.
“Do you know what you’re looking at? That is a list of the passengers on the Mayflower.”
— Henry Louis Gates Jr (@HenryLouisGates) February 22, 2023
Our researchers discovered #AngelaDavis’s ancestors traveled to the US on the Mayflower and here is her reaction. #FindingYourRoots pic.twitter.com/G2HhA9BSrT
Yes, I’d say her reaction was pretty spot on. Here she is, asking Henry Gates (of the Obama Gates beer fest fame) to help her find her ancestors. Given her extensive history of championing blacks and demanding reparations for slavery, it must have been one hell of a shock to find out that one of the very first settlers in American, William Brewster, who arrived here on the Mayflower was her grandfather.
I can just imagine her mind racing… my however many great grandfather was WHITE?? How do I deal with this?? Oh, but wait, there was more. Much more. It seems that multiple ancestors of hers were white. Some of whom fought in the American Revolution and then went on to become slave owners themselves.
“I find moments like this fascinating. I can trace all of my ancestors—two of whom are still living—to four ocean crossings between 1949 and 1952,” NPR producer Julian Hayda wrote. “To think that one’s roots can go back 400 years—with tens of thousands of people between slave ships and the Mayflower is astonishing.”
It is pretty fascinating isn’t it? Searching one’s history on both the paternal and maternal side is never without surprises. Who knew that my family would find out that, on the paternal side, at least three generations fought in the American Revolution, and that one of our ancestors was given a medal of commendation for NOT shooting General Washington?!! Or that General George Custer’s father-in-law rigged the system so that he billed my triple great grandfather’s widow for the entirety of the estate after he passed? As far as we know, we didn’t find anyone with a criminal history, but we haven’t searched ALL the family history either.
So yes, researching one’s ancestry can uncover surprises. In regards to Angela Davis, I’d say her entire world was upended on multiple levels.
Research found that the father of Davis’ mother was John Austin Darden, a white lawyer from Alabama who was considered a prominent and wealthy member of his community.
“He has my mother’s lips. It’s so funny, I can see her in him,” Davis said as they viewed a photo of Darden and compared the resemblances beside a photo of Bell, whose biological mother was Black.
“I guess I’m both glad but I’m also really angry … my mother may not have been the only one,” Davis added. “She may have siblings who are half Black. So this actually opens up so many other questions.”
Needless to say, she wasn’t a fan of finding out that her grandfather kept his white history from her mother and anyone else. Which is really kind of funny given that many people for multiple reasons, including racism, kept major secrets regarding their ancestry from their children and children’s children.
What’s also interesting about this is that Angela Davis herself has railed against historical secrecy.
It is essential to resist the depiction of history as the work of heroic individuals. – Davis.
We live in a society of an imposed forgetfulness, a society that depends on public amnesia. – Davis
As a black woman, my politics and political affiliation are bound up with and flow from participation in my people’s struggle for liberation, and with the fight of oppressed people all over the world against American imperialism. – Davis
Think about it from both perspectives. Almost certainly exploitation played its role. But someone who came on the Mayflower has a radical like Angela Davis as a descendant. America is huge. Talk of divorce is senseless In light of this reality.
— Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) February 22, 2023
And what about reparations? Now that Angela Davis knows about her ancestry, how will that work given she’s been a major proponent of the same? There’s quite a push around the country for reparations, California’s ludicrous proposal and others such as the latest in Tennessee.
Our ancestry, no matter who we are, is complex. It is never just black and white. Just as we can’t pick and choose our gender, we cannot pick and choose who our ancestors were, even though PBS tried to whitewash the truth with Ben Affleck’s episode. As to why Angela’s ancestors kept quiet about their background? Given her mother was fostered, it is highly possible she never knew.
Will these new revelations about her family history change Angela’s stances on defunding the police, defending her friend Jussie Smollett, promoting racism and gender identity at colleges, or demanding reparations? I doubt it.
According to Angela, all along we’ve been told that we are all supposed to feel guilty about everything that our white ancestors did, even our ancestors from 400 years ago. Except that now Angela’s OWN ancestry is partly white. However, will she handle dealing with the guilt now?
Feature Photo Credit: Quotidian Carceralities in the US and Occupied Palestine (Angela Davis) cc 2.0 via Flickr, cropped and modified
The funny thing is that the vast majority of so-called blacks in this country have white ancestors. The is almost entirely true of those blacks who have ancestors who were slaves.
Remember how some complained Barack Obama isn’t really “black”? His mother is white, and his father was Kenyan. Obama does not seem to have been the descendant of American slaves, but he certainly learned to act the part.
Here is a discussion directed at how stupid racism is, and Liberal Democrats and their ilk are just trying to worsen the stupidity.
Kim Hirsch says: This could not have happened to a more deserving person. Imagine an America-hating Marxist Black Panther finding out that she’s descended from a white Englishman who sailed on the Mayflower!
The Schadenfreude is delicious.
Kevin says: I watch “Finding Your Roots” on a regular basis. If there’s one thing true about this show … every person who has ever appeared on the show is surprised and/or shocked by something in their genealogical history. Family history is buried in the graves of our ancestors. We will all be forgotten (with the exception of a small percentage of historical notables) in a couple of generations. It happens quickly. With few exceptions, most every Black person that has ever appeared on this show has some percentage of Caucasian blood running through their veins.
I’m surprised VG isn’t blogging about last week’s episode where Joe Manganiello discovered he had Black ancestry (the opposite of what happened to Angela Davis) … and the phrase uttered by Henry Louis Gates (paraphrasing here) … “With 1% of Black ancestry, you’re now in the Black club. You can refer to yourself as Black.” Here’s also another interesting difference between the two episodes … In Joe Manganiello’s case, the producers informed Mr. Manganiello’s family of his Black ancestry BEFORE going any further and got his permission to air the discovery on Finding Your Roots. It appears in Ms. Davis’ case, that same “courtesy” was not given to her. I wonder why?
As for Ms. Davis, finding out that she has ancestry dating back to the Mayflower should do nothing to change her politics or advocacy for equality. Why should it? Just like when guests find out their ancestors served in the Confederate army, owned slaves, supported Hitler, had great+ grandparents that were imprisioned for some heinous crime, or some other “shocking” discovery. Isn’t it VG’s position that what happened in the past (slavery) shouldn’t be the responsibility of the present (reparation’s)? So why are you using that double standard to point out Ms. Davis’ history? I doubt her viewpoint will change; nor should it.
Oh yeah, I always forget … hypocrisy.
Pettifogger says: Except that Ms. Davis would hold others culpable based merely on their ancestry. Now we know she has some of the same.
GWB says: “With 1% of Black ancestry, you’re now in the Black club. You can refer to yourself as Black.”
So, we’re using the One Drop Rule?
Why should it?
Primarily because she has based so much of her advocacy on tribalism, and this shows she is part of a much broader tribe than she has claimed. She’s descended from those very same people she regularly smears, while claiming that my ancestry makes me irredeemably guilty. VG is pointing out her hypocrisy, Kevin.
Yes, VG writes regularly that the sins of the fathers should not be held against the sons. And this bit of information is another argument in favor of that position. Since Davis holds the opposite position, THAT is why it’s being pointed out here.
At least you didn’t type anything about TFG in that comment. I’m impressed at your self-control.
Scott says: GWB, once again, you’re using facts and logic, and that’s only going to confuse Kevin
Cameron says: Pointing out Angela’s beliefs is not hypocrisy, pizza cutter. But it’s nice to see that like most liberals, you’re cool with the one drop rule coming back. What’s next? “Segregation now, segregation forever?” You and your kind have always been cool with that.
Liz says: I’ve never watched the show, but after reading this I looked up Manganiello (I am half Italian, and a fan of his). It appears (from the interview) the revelations that followed indicated that he has no relationship to the people with that last name, and his grandfather was not who he thought it was. That’s a pretty big revelation.
Doesn’t have much to do with race, unless one is racist…
which of course the de facto “everything is racism” folks are.
Pettifogger says: She could hardly have been surprised to have white ancestry. From looking at her, I’m not surprised, though the Mayflower is an amusing twist.
GWB says: Angela Davis, a longtime radical affiliated with the Black Panthers and the Communist Party
You left off “a contributor to terrorism, and aiding and abetting murder.”
As to the surprises on that show…
One part of my family has always been up front about the … oddities in our history. There’s ne’er-do-wells, weird circumstances, people who were possibly running from authorities, and definitely one horse thief. And those stories got told over time (some of them, anyway). So, any surprise would be just a surprise.
The people who are truly shocked are those who have a great deal of pride built up in their family history. They’re the ones who found their own worth on the accident of their birth. And Angela Davis was one of those – so very proud of her Black ancestry. She never gave thought to how inter-related we all are as human beings. She wanted power and being tribal gave that to her. And now she has to worry – at least a little bit – about being shunned by that same tribe for not being pure enough.
GWB says: BTW, I do take pride in one thing: my family history is the story of America.
My son is [deep breath] English-Scottish-Irish-“Scots-Irish”-Welsh-French-Germany-“Pennsylvania Dutch”-Caribbean-African-Native American-Etc. (various and sundry possible others). That is American in my book. And I’ve always been proud to be an American.
Bruce says: Unilateral “race-baiting” is a bit of a fashion here in Australia.
As one of my old co-workers, a refugee from Viet Nam, correctly pointed out:
“Around here, we are ALL “boat-people””.
Cultured chap; spoke several languages, trained in Paris as a classical guitarist, pretty good with electronics.
One of my relatives came from Hong Kong in the early 1960’s. Married my mother’s cousin, (Anglo-Celtic blonde).
Their daughter is quite a character. Once, when some bozo referred to her as “Chinese”, she spat back: “I’m NOT Chinese, I’m AUSTRALIAN” (All of twelve years old at the time).
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