Finding Your Roots

(pages turning) -

Nas

Bill of sale, March 27, 1859. -

Henry

This is the bill of sale for your third great grandmother. A receipt for a human being. (exhales) Received of Benjamin Franklin Little, $830 being in full for the purchase of a Negro Slave named Pocahontas. They paid $830 for my great great great grandma? I got more than that in my pocket right now. Now Nas, when Pocahontas was purchased by Benjamin Franklin Little, she was about 14 or 15 years old. Whoa. 15 years old. Whoa. See this is painful now, this is like, to see that is like, that hurts. Yeah. Let's see what else we can find. Now that-- - Whoa! (laughing) Uh oh, we're starting to put faces to names. That is the Carlisle plantation in Richmond, and that is Benjamin Franklin Little. Take a look a that guy. That is the white man who owned your ancestors. This is the face my ancestors looked at every day. -

Henry

Every day. The eyes they looked at. -

Henry

The man they feared, the man they had to please. For six of your third great grandparents, Nas. Now I'm looking into their world. Now I can see where they walked, what they saw. Unfortunately, the house burned down in 1963, and today it's nothing but forest. But Nas, we ask-- you were going to say something, I'm sorry. No, I'm just thinking about buying that land. Oh good. (laughing) I was hoping you'd say that. (laughing) In 1865, Calvin and Pocahontas walked off the Carlisle plantation and began their new lives. Through court records, we discovered one way that they chose their newfound freedom. The following persons wish to be recognized as man and wife. And state that they have been living together as such before they were freed. That is Calvin and Pocahontas', in effect, their marriage license. That's amazing.