Finding Your Roots

LEMMONS

"PRIMUS IS A NATIVE OF MARYLAND, THE SON OF A NATIVE AFRICAN, JIM LEMONS. HE RETAINED THE NAME OF 'LEMONS' THINKING HE MIGHT SOMEDAY SEE SOMEONE WHO KNEW HIS FATHER'S FAMILY IN AFRICA." WE JUST WENT BACK TO AFRICA. IT'S SO INTERESTING. WOW.

GATES

YOU CAN SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT ABOUT PRIMUS GOING BACK, BUT PRIMUS WAS AN AFRICAN. HE WAS A HOMEBOY. HE WANTED TO TELL THIS STORY.

LEMMONS

TO CONNECT TO HIS FATHER'S FAMILY.

GATES

YEAH. IN 1879, DESPITE ALL THE ROMANTICIZATION GOING ON ABOUT THE GOOD OLD DAYS ON THE PLANTATION HE GOES, "YOU KNOW WHAT, I'M AN AFRICAN. ONE GENERATION AWAY AND I KEPT THAT NAME BECAUSE I'M PROUD OF BEING AFRICAN." THAT IS A REMARKABLE TWIST OF THIS STORY.

LEMMONS

I WONDER WHAT HIS NAME REALLY WAS.

GATES

WE CAN'T ANSWER KASI'S QUESTION. ACCORDING TO SCHOLARS, "LEMONS" IS NOT RECOGNIZABLY AN AFRICAN NAME, THOUGH IT COULD BE A PHONETIC RENDERING OF AN AFRICAN WORD THAT HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED OVER TIME AND IS NOW LOST TO US. WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT PRIMUS'S FATHER, KASI'S 3RD GREAT-GRANDFATHER, WAS LIKELY TRANSPORTED TO THE UNITED STATES FROM AFRICA AS A CHILD IN THE EARLY 1800s, JUST BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE WAS ABOLISHED IN 1808.

LEMMONS

SO HE CAME RELATIVELY RECENTLY.

GATES

YES. SO IN OTHER WORDS, PRIMUS COULD REACH OUT AND TOUCH AFRICA THROUGH HIS FATHER. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?

LEMMONS

IT'S GREAT. IT'S DEEPLY MOVING, YOU KNOW, AND REWARDING. I MEAN, TO KNOW, TO BE ABLE TO CONNECT AN AFRICAN, I MEAN THAT'S SO MONUMENTAL FOR ME. I MEAN THAT'S MONUMENTAL FOR ME TO KNOW SOMETHING OF HIS NAME, YOU KNOW, UM,