This may be no surprise to you but I am not into Oprah’s celebrity at & all of the ubiquitous + & – rage about her is annoying & not always news worthy to me.
Anyway I stumbled upon an interesting article about some new projects that O is launched this week that have me intrigued. One is a new book (released today) by Henry Louis Gates Jr. titled “Finding Oprah’s Roots” which the publisher describes as:
“Finding Oprah’s Roots will not only endow readers with a new appreciation for the key contributions made by history’s unsung but also equip them with the tools to connect to pivotal figures in their own past. A roadmap through the intricacies of public documents and online databases, the book also highlights genetic testing resources that can make it possible to know one’s distant tribal roots in Africa.
For Oprah, the path back to the past was emotion-filled and profoundly illuminating, connecting the narrative of her family to the larger American narrative and “anchoring” her in a way not previously possible. For the reader, Finding Oprah’s Roots offers the possibility of an equally rewarding experience.” (I am not reading it! Sorry.)
The 2nd project is a PBS special titled “Oprah’s Roots” airing tomorrow. PBS says:
“OPRAH’S ROOTS offers many new insights into how one of the world’s most famous people emerged from an exceptional family. It includes an account of how Elmore Winfrey, Oprah’s paternal grandfather, was courageously involved in the Civil Rights movement. The program tracks down the two Civil Rights workers whom Elmore once housed and worked alongside, returning with them to Mississippi where 40 years earlier they led voter registration and desegregation efforts.
OPRAH’S ROOTS also uncovers Winfrey’s maternal great-grandmother Amanda Winters’ remarkable achievements in the field of education. The program features an interview with a surprising distant cousin of Winfrey’s, Mavis Staples, of the the renowned gospel music family, showing how their family trees intersect four generations back.
The story of Winfrey’s great-great-grandfather Constantine Winfrey, a former slave, is one of amazing success amid the difficult and dangerous years after Emancipation and Reconstruction….”
I think this special will be a great kick off to excellent Black history programs scheduled on PBS for Black History month!
I wish that I had the energy, resources & know how to research my past my great grandparents whom I know little about. I think that I will vicariously live through Oprah tomorrow as I tune in & share her journey through the past & take pride in knowing that we all come from “SOMEBODY” good bad & indifferent.
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OPRAH WINFREY: Digging Up Roots
By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices
The billionaire media maven is the subject of two major projects, to debut next week, tracing her lineage in an unflinchingly revealing style; On Jan. 23, the new book ‘Finding Oprah’s Roots’ will arrive in bookstores via Crown Publishers, and on Jan. 24, ‘Oprah’s Roots’ will premiere on PBS (check local listings).
Both projects were spearheaded by prominent African American scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr (one of the founders of Black Voices). The acclaimed Harvard University professor assembled an elite team of historians and geneticists, to shed fascinating light on Winfrey’s family background and simultaneously offers a user-friendly methodology for tracing one’s own family tree through both mediums.
Last year, when the four-part ‘African American Lives’ premiered on PBS in February, the series was hailed by critics and attracted millions of viewers., who were especially drawn to the powerfully moving discussions between Gates and Winfrey, which revealed the struggles and accomplishments of her ancestors.
“Our first African American Lives series made for riveting viewing and was a life-changing experience for each of the participants, myself included,” said Gates. “Now, with an in-depth focus exclusively on my friend Oprah Winfrey, we bring to life in even greater detail the remarkably rich and always inspiring stories of her ancestors.”
The new program features a wealth of previously unseen material, including portions of Gates’ original ‘African American Lives’ interview with Winfrey and new revelations about her family history.
Winfrey, who was just named the richest woman in show business by ‘Forbes’ magazine, fully cooperated with Gates on both projects.
A major discovery includes tracing her DNA all the way back to the Kpelle people of Liberia, the tribe of her first female African ancestor sold into slavery. Other points of her history include how her great-great grandfather Constantine Winfrey, born a slave but determined to teach himself to read, and wily enough to strike a bargain with a white landowner; how her great-grandmother Amanda Bullocks, the self-educated sole female trustee of her community’s first school and how her grandfather Elmore, who defied the local sheriff-and the Ku Klux Klan-by harboring Civil Rights workers.
But all that glitters isn’t gold.
In ‘Finding…’ documents are unveiled about how a relative of Winfrey’s shot and killed his own brother over a custody battle in 1931. The tome also offers accounts of her tumultuous adolescence which included molestation, promiscuity and unexpected pregnancy. (Read More | AOL Black Voices)
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Factoid:
Alex Haley’s Roots Mini Series ran on ABC January 23rd – 30th 1977. (did you see it then???)
One of my favorite Incognito songs is titled “Roots” from their 100º & Rising Album (1995)
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Links to hit up:
See the trailer for “Oprah’s Roots“
Alex Haley’s Roots
The Anti Roots: Was AH’s Roots a Fraud?
aulelia / January 24, 2007
Oprah is a difficult character to read. I do think she is an inspiration for black women but sometimes I do get the impression that she is immensely arrogant especially after the whole Hermes thing.
I like the prospect of this idea but I don’t think it should be so self-centred to be called ”Finding Oprah’s Roots”.
What do you think of her?
daez / January 25, 2007
(sigh)..I have a Love/hate relationship with her..I can’t help but love her for the wonderful contributions she makes, but I get so disgusted by her arrogance at times I could vomit.. Then again who wouldn’t be arrogant with her celebrity? And nobody complains about white folks who are arrogant with all that dough who are arrogant…
Her “Road Trip w/Gail” was really an eye opener for me…girlfriend showed her true colors! (LOL)… the thing I try to focus on is her positivity…if I just focus on that she’s got me hooked…
Oh and I’m jealous of her of course…who wouldn’t want that dough??..(ROFLOL!!!)…I ain’t gonna lie, If I ever got on her show I’d probably be acting just as stoopid as the rest of her audience…(((HUGS)))
….just me…daez
Bygbaby / January 25, 2007
I just get sick f people falling all over her like she descended from above or something but I also get tired of people trippin’ on her like I used to.
I watched the special tonight & that it was awesome. Yes it did focus on her but I looked at the big picture. She unlocked some really powerful stuff by having Henry Louis Gates dig into her past.
The special was important to me because it showed yet again how we were treated as property & how devalued we were but yet how financially were really are the backbone of this “Great Nation”.
I hope to like O get a DNA test to see where my people may have come from. In addition to being able to go to African one day, hopefully this year!
aulelia / January 25, 2007
what happened in this special? i wish UK tv would show something like this.
Bygbaby / January 25, 2007
Basically it dived into Oprah’s family lines & told the story of how she grew up under some pretty poor conditions in the south & north. It told the story on how she was molested as a child & how she over came all of that after living with her father who helped turn her life around after she started to spiral out of control as a teen.
Henry Louis Gates researched various records including US census documents & slave narratives to find out who Ophra’s slave ancestors were. They even found the man that owned her family & graves of some of her decedents. This piece was particularly powerful to me because it was like completing a full circle.
During the genealogy discovery phase it seemed as if they showed family link between the Staple family (the Staples Singers) they even interviewed Mavis but there was no distinct connection but was exciting.
There was also information presented that showed how Great or Great-Great Grand Father helped in the civil rights movement & how her family was instrument to helping the Black children in their area get an education.
There were many surprising facts that were phenomenal in regards to overall Black history, Black Civil Rights & even entrepreneurship.
After they discovered how Oprah’s family got to Mississippi they were able to track what slave port that they landed in which was in South Carolina (the America Rice capital, which is steeped with African skill & blood but this is another story).
From here they did DNA testing which linked O’s African lineage to Liberia, Africa. She was very surprised by this because she believed that she was of the Zulu. HLG’s informed her that there were no slaves that came to America via South America.
I can easily say that O is true to herself & her roots & is following the line of skills & know how that is embedded in her!
I wish that this programming was available to you because the big picture of the story is easily related to all Blacks in the Diaspora.
The DVD is available on the PBS website for only 24.99. Here is the link http://tinyurl.com/359w5q. I am sure that it will be on Amazon.com soon & less expensive.
Aulelia, you made me work, shit. LOL
aulelia / January 26, 2007
aww Bygbaby, thanks! that is so informative and interesting.
Why would O think that she was of the Zulu tribe tho? I find that peculiar seeing that most of the slave trade was all over the west coast with the exception of Brasil which Afro-Brasilians are mostly of Angolan descent.
Liberia – that is interesting. was it possible to find out what tribe she was from in Africa? My tribe is from the west of Tanzania, bordering with Uganda and Rwanda.
How hard would it be for an African-American descended from slavery to find their genealogy? I am guessing it would be very difficult. Although I heard this story about a pocket of AAmericans called the Gullahs or something and apparently they have their own african-based creole language…forget where in the States but I don’t think I am mistaken.
i’m linking u!
Stephen Bess / January 26, 2007
I agree with Daez. My feelings about Oprah are mixed. I am glad that she is interested in her family history and roots in Africa. That’s something that I hold dear. I think that we all should make some sort of effort to at least know the names of our great-grandparents. There are some who won’t take the time to know even that. We must honor the ancestors. Great post! Peace~
Bygbaby / January 26, 2007
Hey Aulelia, Stephen & Daez
The Gullah people are indeed very fascinating & true survivors of the African slave trade! They reside on the coast of South Carolina & on a small island off of the coast of & there are some in the state of Georgia.
They were left to rot & die on the island by white slave owners because the whites could not handle the mosquitoes & the rest is history.
A friend of mine who is studying to be a linguist did a paper on them last year & it was really interesting how she broke their language pattern down to the metaphysical & ties it to West African speech patterns.
There is actually a Gullah festival every year (I have not been to one yet), here is a link to it: http://www.gullahfestival.org/
Also here is a really god link to Wikipedia on the Gullah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah
In regards to being able to track your genealogy as a Black America (I hate the term Africa America can do a separate post just on this but…) I think that it is relatively hard to track your ancestry past your Great Great Grands because of lack of family history, migrations to the north & west & missing or hard to obtain documents.
Because we were viewed as property as you know, the census records of the 19th century did not even have names, just age & sex. Based on that there will be guess work involved with trying to track down who you came from.
@ Stephen, I am lucky enough to know that I am able to go back as far as my Great Great Grands but certainly could do a better job at learning more about them to better understand myself.
On a related note, I think that many will have a hard time tracking because of broken homes, missing fathers (dead, jailed, cracked out or just plain losers).
They were able to tie O to a certain tribe in Liberia but I cannot remember the name. As far as the Zulu thing goes, I think she was caught up in some bullshit that is obviously baseless
Aulelia, how were you able to track your lineage & how far removed from Africa are you generationally?
@ Daez, I saw portions of that road trip & O was acting like a fool & should have been bitch slapped by Gail. The only way I will be able to fully embrace O is if I got on her xmas show when she gives out all of her favorite things LOL.
daez / January 26, 2007
“@ Daez, I saw portions of that road trip & O was acting like a fool & should have been bitch slapped by Gail. The only way I will be able to fully embrace O is if I got on her xmas show when she gives out all of her favorite things LOL.”
Ya heard!! (ROFLOL!!)..there’s a controversy at LL right now because of this very thing! How the hell you gonna deny American Blacks the same benefits you give to Black Africans because they want “mp 3 players” (IF she said that..) and have such a decadent celebration of greed and every year and sometimes twice a year on your Christmas show??…I don’t get it…
EXCELLENT info on the Gullah Tafari (I LOVE your name dammit!) I’ll have to delve deeper into it because just reading what you wrote has me spellbound..(((HUGS)))…
….just me…daez
aulelia / January 26, 2007
@Bygbaby – I am actually an African girl myself. My parents jobs meant that I have lived in various European countries but I am from the East African nation of Tanzania and my tribe is called the Haya.
I do think O is a great role model BUT she does have an obsession with South Africa. South Africa is a fully Europeanised country — come to other parts! (she says as she shamelessly promotes East and West Africa). I am glad she opened a school there but I do think if she had done that in a country broken by civil war such as Cote d’Ivoire (which is calmer) that would have been good or a nation like Haiti. I think in general, there is a feeling of annoyance towards SA sometimes just because they do come into other other African countries and don’t employ natives of that country (but I am on another tangent there lol)
May I ask, why do you prefer Black American to AAmerican?
@Stephen Bess – thank you SO MUCH for that information on the Gullahs that you posted on my blog. I found it riveting.
Bygbaby / January 26, 2007
@ Daez – I heard about what she said about school kids hear & think that it is an interesting statement that means something deeper. I think after hearing that she could have said, well there seems to be no real value on education so hat can I do to turn that around.
Secondly, I think that all American kids are like their fucking parents & consume, consume, consume. My kids would say the same thing & we are in a middle class environment.
Playing devil’s advocate, my thing on the school in SA is she is still helping Black children that need it. She cannot save the world (maybe she can with her money LOL), so why trip. If she opened the same school in Philly, we would be talking shit about it in Detroit, Chicago, Houston etc, so basically a mutha fucka cannot win nor please all people.
@ Aulelia – Sounds like an interesting life of travel & experiences. Did/do you find life in Europe to be stressing culturally in regards to notbeing a minority?
I just refer to myself as Black, because no matter where I go, that is what I am. Some view Black as antiquated & self oppressing but I do not because i am self determined to be my own person& am a nation within myself (what that mean, I do not know).
I AM the Black Gold of the sun!
daez / January 26, 2007
@Aulelia…Like Bygbaby I am Black where ever I am…however I also refer to myself as African American because my roots are African…after my ancestors came to this country they were slaves, and I have a mixture of blood in me, but to look at me all you or anyone else will see is BLACK and that’s what EYE see and feel… in writing, I find myself switching back and forth for no particular reason…I’m not politically correct in any form or fashion nor do I try to be (LOL)….I guess I’m too old to try and change now but wouldn’t know what to change to…In my lifetime I’ve been a called Negro, colored, Black, African American, nigger, niggah– And this is by our own people!
@Bygbaby, I love the fact that O built that school in SA!! I agree if she did it in one city in the states the rest would be yappin’ and calling foul… we’re a greedy society, and people are raising a bunch of greedy little kids…I get that totally.
But don’t fuel the fire with “My favorite things” and then talk ish, because people look UP to her, young and old… admire her and see that she crawled out of molestation and poverty to become “O” who is the “queen of all media” and the most powerful woman in media…don’t excite the senses of the parents (like you and me) by making us want those things she gives away (which EYE wouldn’t have a clue about by the way, cuz I don’t roll like that) by bringing them to our attention…(LOL)…I’m a real simple woman, with very simple tastes…having a computer is a big deal to me, having DVR cable is HUGE…all that other stuff is out of my realm, I’m not financially nor technically interested enough…I could care LESS about labels and brands.. that is UNTIL I see it on Oprah…then my mouth starts watering…(ROFLOL!)… oh, temporarily by the way, it only lasts til the show goes off!
@Stephen…I gotta go check out your blog bro…(((HUGS)))
….just me…daez