Racial activist and former fugitive Angela Davis was shocked to learn she is a Mayflower descendent on Tuesday’s episode of “Finding Your Roots” on PBS.
Davis is notorious for working with the Communist Party USA and the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and 70s. Her involvement in the armed takeover of a California courtroom resulted in four deaths and her placement on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
Now 79, Davis was the latest to appear on the PBS show where celebrities and public figures learn about their ancestry.
Near the end of the episode, after discussing multiple members of her family, the former Black Panther learned she descended from William Brewster, one of the 101 people who came to the colonies in 1620 aboard the Mayflower.
Angela Davis, who lived a life of radical activism, was overwhelmed at the thought of being descended from one of America’s founding settlers.
Henry Louis Gates Jr., the show’s host and director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University, shared a clip from the episode on Twitter.
“Our researchers discovered #AngelaDavis’s ancestors traveled to the US on the Mayflower and here is her reaction. #FindingYourRoots,” he tweeted.
“Do you know what you’re looking at? That is a list of the passengers on the Mayflower,” Gates asked Davis in the video.
“No, I can’t believe this,” Davis replied, laughing. “No, my ancestors did not come here on the Mayflower.”
She continued to protest while Gates confirmed the findings then responded, “Oof. That’s a little bit too much to deal with right now.”
“Would you ever in your wildest dreams think that you may have been descended from the people who laid the foundation of this country?” he asked.
“Never, never, never, never, never,” she said.
Activist Angela Davis arrives for the gala presentation of the film “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners”, based on her life, at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival, September 9, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Twitter users across the political spectrum expressed surprise or fascination at the revelation as well.
“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.”
NBC News anchor Andrea Mitchell wrote, “Love this historical find Professor Gates! And love your show on PBS.”
Davis has been a polarizing figure in American politics. Some students on the campus of UCLA took offense to this banner featuring former professor and avowed communist Angela Davis. (UCLA.edu)
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“It’s actually a beautiful reaction,” National Review Online senior writer Michael Brendan Dougherty tweeted.
“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,” he observed. “America is huge. Talk of divorce is senseless In light of this reality.”
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.