S10.E07: The Brick Wall Falls [Dionne Warwick & actor Danielle Brooks]

[shapeshifter]

Episode premiered on PBS: 8 p.m. ET, Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Quote

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps musician Dionne Warwick & actor Danielle Brooks break down barriers imposed by the slave system to learn the names of their ancestors who endured unimaginable ordeals—but emerged to forge families that thrived.

Watch episode: https://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/watch/episodes/the-brick-wall-falls

[sempervivum]

This episolde was the same old, same old. Can Gates give the audience some credit, and not feel the need to repeat the same basic history lesson TWICE in the show. Really, once you tell the ignorant that the KKK was active after the Civil War, why repeat the same thing (including the same images) for the second guest story. 

The best thing they uncovered was the wonderful name Dolphin Duke.

That said, Dionne looks- and is- timeless and elegant. Can't believe she's 83; one of my favorite voices of all time.

[Suzn]

42 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

This episolde was the same old, same old. Can Gates give the audience some credit, and not feel the need to repeat the same basic history lesson TWICE in the show. Really, once you tell the ignorant that the KKK was active after the Civil War, why repeat the same thing (including the same images) for the second guest story. 

 

No kidding!  It's bad enough that this story has been repeated countless times, but to have two essentially same stories in one episode was just too much.  That each of them learned the names of enslaved ancestors was great for the guests, but there was no fresh story to be had for viewers.

It is very important history to be sure, but there is other important history and interesting stories of ancestors.  

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, sempervivum said:

Dionne looks- and is- timeless and elegant. Can't believe she's 83; one of my favorite voices of all time.

Dionne Warwick really is strong, as well as incredibly youthful. 

 

5 hours ago, sempervivum said:

The best thing they uncovered was the wonderful name Dolphin Duke.

Dolphin is a wonderful name. I wonder if it was a variant of the French "Dauphin" meaning the eldest son of the King?

Dionne also had an ancestor with the wonderful name of Nitcholas "Nitch" Drinkard who had a son named Hansom. 

Great names for anyone writing historical fiction from that place and time.

 

5 hours ago, sempervivum said:

This episolde was the same old, same old. Can Gates give the audience some credit, and not feel the need to repeat the same basic history lesson TWICE in the show. Really, once you tell the ignorant that the KKK was active after the Civil War, why repeat the same thing (including the same images) for the second guest story. 

4 hours ago, Suzn said:

No kidding!  It's bad enough that this story has been repeated countless times, but to have two essentially same stories in one episode was just too much.  That each of them learned the names of enslaved ancestors was great for the guests, but there was no fresh story to be had for viewers.

I felt this way too, but the details are fresh and this repetition serves to drive home that there are multitudes who had this experience and whose descendants today carry some effects of that experience.

Also, there are no doubt many first time viewers, especially viewers who only tuned in to see either Dionne Warwick because they loved her music or Danielle Brooks because they loved a role she created on screen.

I wonder if HLG Jr may also want to encourage viewers whose ancestors were in the slave holding areas at that time to get their DNA into the database in hopes of filling in some gaps and finding surprising mutual ancestors.

 

Here's Dionne Warwick's admixture graph:
(click to enlarge)

 

And here's Danielle Brooks' admixture graph:
(click to enlarge)

Edited February 14 by shapeshifter

[ProudMary]

32 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Dolphin is a wonderful name. I wonder if it was a variant of the French "Dauphin" meaning the eldest son of the King?

The ancestor's given name listed on Dionne's tree was Adolphus, with Dolphin in quotes as his nickname. 

I enjoyed the whole episode. I found it interesting--and devastating--that Dionne's ancestors lost their farm to the boll weevil infestation. That's a big deal historically and I don't recall hearing the boll weevil story being told on Finding Your Roots before this. It was one of the major causes of the Great Migration.

It was a good episode because Dionne and Danielle were so relaxed and genuine. Each had a nice rapport with Dr. Gates.

[PRgal]

7 hours ago, sempervivum said:

This episolde was the same old, same old. Can Gates give the audience some credit, and not feel the need to repeat the same basic history lesson TWICE in the show. Really, once you tell the ignorant that the KKK was active after the Civil War, why repeat the same thing (including the same images) for the second guest story. 

The best thing they uncovered was the wonderful name Dolphin Duke.

That said, Dionne looks- and is- timeless and elegant. Can't believe she's 83; one of my favorite voices of all time.

But almost EVERY African American with ancestors tracing back to when they were enslaved would have a similar story?  Are there any Black celebrities who are descendants of recent immigrants (former President Obama doesn't count)?  Them learning about their ancestors from whatever country their family's from would be different and fresh.  

[Driad]

The current USA was not the only place with slavery.  Have they had guests whose ancestors were enslaved in the Caribbean or South America?  Mentioning the available resources could be useful for people in that situation.

[One Imaginary Girl]

I think Carly Simon, via her grandmother, was descended from Cuban slaves.

[meep.meep]

There have been episodes with African guests such as Lupita Nyong'o.  Several of the hispanic American guests have had ancestors who were enslaved in the Caribbean.

[PRgal]

On 2/14/2024 at 9:00 PM, Driad said:

The current USA was not the only place with slavery.  Have they had guests whose ancestors were enslaved in the Caribbean or South America?  Mentioning the available resources could be useful for people in that situation.

That's true.  And I also notice the lack of diversity in US media for Black History Month.  I get that the majority of the population are descendants of those enslaved in the US, but Black communities are diverse.  Maybe it's just who has media power/voices.  Many people I know who have immigrant parents from African countries are, like many kids of Asian heritage, kind of pressured into certain industries like medicine or finance.  Because THAT kind of office job is "better" according to the parentals.  *le sigh*

[iMonrey]

On 2/14/2024 at 7:26 PM, PRgal said:

But almost EVERY African American with ancestors tracing back to when they were enslaved would have a similar story? 

I think the issue is that both Dionne and Danielle had essentially the same story. They should have been split up into two separate episodes and paired with celebs who had different backgrounds. 

[Lugal]

On 2/14/2024 at 7:00 PM, Driad said:

The current USA was not the only place with slavery.  Have they had guests whose ancestors were enslaved in the Caribbean or South America?  Mentioning the available resources could be useful for people in that situation.

A few seasons back they did Lena Waithe whose ancestors came from Barbados.

[kassa]

I think a big issue is that they work backwards - finding celebrities willing (or likely) to participate, and then working their family trees to find interesting stories. And statistically speaking, the barriers imposed by slavery and colonialism narrow the possibilities even further.  Spain appears to have kept/maintained better overall records in their colonies, so people with roots in Latin America appear to have better paper trails to follow than those in English/French colonies.

I don't have access to the UK version, but I wonder if they have better luck finding records for their celebs of African descent or are the roadblocks the same?

[PRgal]

42 minutes ago, kassa said:

I think a big issue is that they work backwards - finding celebrities willing (or likely) to participate, and then working their family trees to find interesting stories. And statistically speaking, the barriers imposed by slavery and colonialism narrow the possibilities even further.  Spain appears to have kept/maintained better overall records in their colonies, so people with roots in Latin America appear to have better paper trails to follow than those in English/French colonies.

I don't have access to the UK version, but I wonder if they have better luck finding records for their celebs of African descent or are the roadblocks the same?

I think it depends on which colony, too.  Hong Kong was colonized by the British, but relatively late, and in Chinese culture, kinship books have kept record for thousands of years.  I'm not sure if a small fishing village would have kept GOOD records (compared to, say, a family with a long history of working for the imperial government - many people in Hong Kong are children and grandchildren and maybe even refugees themselves from the post WWII era), even before Britain, however.  Of course, finding info about women, as I've said before, is DIFFICULT.