Girl 1: My name is Desiree Iund.

There's probably only five people like me in my school.

Just because of the color of our skin, they treat us different.

Woman 1: The fact that Desiree's father has been absent from her life basically since birth, there hasn't been a lot of, of African American influence around for her.

Desiree: I would like to meet people on my dad's side of the family to know if they are like me or if I'm like them.

Woman 1: I'm taking her on this journey so she can understand herself and know her value through exploring her ancestry.

We are the Iunds.

This is our Generations Project.

♪♪ ♪♪ [plane engine roars] [indistinct PA announcement] John F. Kennedy: Let the word go forth from this time and place, that the torch has been passed to a new generation.

PJ: I really never thought that finding out about your ancestry could change you the way it's changed me.

♪♪ Desiree: There was a girl in my class who said that her friend was talking mean about me.

And she was saying that she hated Black people, and she asked if she liked me because I'm the only one like this in my class.

And her friend said no.

- Desiree, it's really important to her for her own self-esteem and her validation, to be accepted and loved for who she is.

Half Caucasian, half African American.

Desiree: I guess I met my dad when I was really little, but I don't remember him at all.

He's not in my life.

I would like to meet people on my dad's side of the family to know if they are like me or if I am like them.

Amber: I had contacted immediate family members of Desiree's father's to participate on this journey.

But someone has asked them not to participate.

And unfortunately, they won't be helping us.

So, our journey's gonna be a little bit different.

We're going to focus on the time periods that her family lived and learn about other heroes and historical figures that can instill her with some pride and some self-esteem, to be able to relate and gain a better sense of self identity as an African American child living in the United States today.

Desiree: At the end of my journey, I am going to have a party.

And I'm going to invite some friends and family so that they will know what I've been doing so far and how I've felt in school.

Amber: I'm hoping that having her go through some of these experiences will help her open her heart to me again so that we can reconnect and have that mother-daughter relationship that I feel is, is diminishing as she goes through these struggles.

I really am, am hoping that this Generations Project experience will give us what we need as a family so that I can release personal guilt, she can love herself, and we can move on.

♪♪ [street din] [door bell rings] You have amazing ancestors on my side of the family.

So, I brought this to show you because I don't think you've seen it before.

You see that picture?

- Mm-hm.

Who does he look like?

Dasiree: Grandpa.

Amber: Isn't it amazing how much they look alike?

Desiree: Mm-hm.

- This was your, I believe, great-great-grandfather George Iund, that was born in France.

In 1836.

And he was a really, really brave soldier.

Now look at something else that I noticed.

This picture of Grammy, if you take off her hair, you look exactly like your Grandma Gail.

She's so beautiful.

So you have a really, really rich history on both sides.

Look at this, Desiree.

This is called a pedigree chart.

So, it shows my mom, Grandma and Grandpa, then it shows Great-Grandma and Grandpa Iund, and it shows Great-Grandma and Grandpa Skinner.

See, there's Delia Street.

That's who I named you after, was your, your Great-Grandma Delia.

Now, you know on our journey here initially, we wanted to be able to find out the genealogy on your father's side.

Desiree: Mm-hm.

Amber: But because of the Civil War and slavery, the records are really, really hard to find unless you have help from a family member, which Mommy was really hoping I would be able to get help from your Thurston family.

- Mm-hm?

- Mama hasn't been able to find any help.

But we'll try our hardest to find someone in the Thurston family, okay?

- Mm.

- We'll do our very, very best.

You never know what can happen.

Maybe we could find out about some historical figures from the time.

So, let's see, who did you say?

You said Dr. King right?

Desiree: Mm-hm.

- Maybe we can do some research on him.

Okay, we'll get on the plane and go explore, does that sound good?

- Mm-hm.

- Okay.

♪♪ Desiree: Learning about African American history can help me because that's probably stuff that my ancestors did and they're part of history.

♪♪ Amber: And we also wanna use historians who can possibly share some aspect of that time period, maybe in the same region, so that Desiree can form an idea and an opinion of what their experience might have been like living at that time.

♪♪ Desiree: We went to the Abraham Lincoln Statue and I stood where Martin Luther King stood and he gave his "I Have A Dream" speech.

And so, that was really cool, because I didn't know that he did it in Washington D.C. - With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

...

When all of God's children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last.

Free at last.

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.

[cheering, applause] Desiree: I felt overwhelmed when I stood where Martin Luther King stood in the mall because my mom told me that people were lining up all throughout the mall and it was really, really crowded just to hear his speech.

[drumming] Amber: I was really excited to discover the drum circle at Meridian Park in D.C., and the tradition of African Americans playing drums goes back to the '50s there.

I really want Desiree to be able to go there and be a part of a crowd where she is the majority, not the minority.

[drumming] [drumming] Desiree: It was powerful because you could hear the beat of the drums, you could feel it vibrating all throughout you and you just wanted to get in there and be a part of it.

Amber: One of the most traditional forms of culture for the African Americans is the institution of their church.

I have found a Methodist church that is so incredibly beautiful and we're gonna have Desiree participate in that choir setting.

Woman 2: Nice to meet you.

Woman 3: Hi, Desiree.

- And welcome to Asbury.

♪♪ We are very happy to have you and we hope you will enjoy your visit.

♪♪ Choir: ♪ Woke up this morning ♪ ♪ With my mind staying on Jesus ♪ ♪ Hallelu-- hallelu-- hallelujah ♪ ♪♪ Desiree: It surprised me because they didn't tell me that they were going to have a choir there to sing with.

♪♪ Choir: ♪ Hallelu-- hallelu-- hallelujah ♪ Desiree: They tried to welcome me and make friends with me so that I felt good, that I could actually have that experience and go there.

♪♪ Amber: I thought it'd be fun for Desi to be able to check out a traditionally African American school.

So, I brought her to Howard University today to meet with Ethelbert Miller, who is a renowned scholar and poet.

Ethelbert: When I came here, I wanted to be a politician.

But then I walked around in this campus, and guess what happened to me?

- What?

- One day somebody said, Hey, Des, wanna go to a poetry reading?

I said, What's that?

[chuckles] And I walked across campus, and I went into an auditorium and there was a man by the name of Sterling Brown.

And he was reading poetry.

And I didn't know how great a poet he was, but I listened to him read his poems and he told lies between the poem, stories that he'd made up, and I was just entranced.

And I said that's what I wanted to do.

Now, I'm gonna read you a very famous Langston Hughes poem.

And maybe we can read it together, okay?

Langston Hughes.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers.

Ethelbert and Desiree: "I've known rivers "ancient as the world "and older than the flow of human blood "in human veins.

"My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

"I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

"I built my hut near the Congo "and it lulled me to sleep.

"I looked upon the Nile "and raised the pyramids above it.

"I heard the singing of the Mississippi "when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, "and I've seen its muddy bosom "turn all golden in the sunset.

"I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers."

♪♪ Have you written any poems?

- No.

- You know how you would start?

What do you think we write a poem about?

Something you told me today.

- [indistinct] - No.

Oh, no.

The chocolate poem.

- Oh?

Ethelbert: What you could do, just make a list of all the things that you like that are made of chocolate.

That'll be your chocolate poem.

♪♪ Desiree: He challenged me to do a, a poem and I've been trying it, and it's actually harder than you'd think it is.

[chuckles] I would like to write a poem about chocolate like he said.

[chuckles] ♪♪ Amber: I wanted to take Desiree to Busboys and Poets, at Ethelbert's request.

And as we went there, Desiree surprised me.

Man 1: And in the spirit of free expression, we have a wonderful new poet.

Please give your warmest round of applause for Miss Desiree Iund.

[cheers and applause] Desiree: Strawberries are like red dragons flying in the sky.

Bananas are like yellow swings swinging up high in the sky.

Pineapples are like mansions for people very small.

Mangos are like orange bouncy balls bouncing high.

Apples are golden and someday you will meet someone very sweet.

Chocolate is like you and me.

Darker the better, lighter the sweeter.

[cheers and applause] Man 1: Let's give it up for Desiree Iund.

[applause continues] Amber: When Desi got up there and, and got on stage and had the courage to read her poem in a room full of people, I was so proud of her, to accept a challenge from Ethelbert, to try to express herself and, and talk about the things that she loves.

♪♪ I know she is really struggling today being here.

Knowing that they're all so close and, um, not feeling a part of the family.

♪♪ Desiree, it's really important to her to be accepted and loved for who she is, half Caucasian, half African American.

I'm taking her on this journey so she can understand herself and know her value through exploring her ancestry.

♪♪ I'm going to take Desiree into this library to see if we can't find the information for an expert historian in the Orange County Virginia area.

Desiree's Thurston family is from Orange County, and from what I know, they've been there for a couple hundred years.

Somebody has to have information about her ancestors, and I hope to take her there and be able to have her make this connection.

Let's look up the African American History Society in Orange.

Let's see if they have something there.

♪♪ Here's a name here, Ruth Long.

Let's, um, call her and see if she's available to meet with us.

Does that sound good?

♪♪ Woman 3: Hello?

Desiree: Hello, is this Miss Long?

Ruth: Yes.

Desiree: I'm Desiree Iund from Utah, and I am looking for some information on my family who lives in Orange, Virginia.

Do you think that you could help me?

Ruth: I would be happy to.

♪♪ Desiree: I went to Virginia one time when I was one, but I did not remember.

So, I'm going again.

I'm going to meet Ruth Long because she is a historian and she might tell me about the history when my ancestors lived.

- Nice to meet you.

I'd like to tell you a little bit about where we live.

This house was a very old house.

Come on inside.

[door creaks] Back in those days, it was a civil war.

Most likely, this was the master's house, and there were slaves throughout the area here.

It's very interesting now that after all these many years, that my family lives here.

Desiree: It is very cool to be in the house that was built before the Civil War because there's a lot of history in this house.

Ruth: Well, ladies, this is the Shady Grove School.

Amber: Cool.

Desiree: Mm-hm!

Ruth: Now, this school basically looks just like it did when my husband went to school here.

And it was a two-room school, and they did not have electricity.

And as you see, there were no restrooms either.

Amber: [gasps] Desiree: It would have been cool to go to this school here, because then I wouldn't have been different than everybody else.

♪♪ Amber: I feel really heartbroken, and I know Desiree is really struggling today being here.

Knowing that they're all so close and, um, not feeling a part of the family.

But this morning, Miss Ruth called us again.

Good morning, Ruth, how are you?

Ruth: After I left you all last night, I, um, did some research.

- Oh, cool.

Ruth: And I believe that I may have found, um, one of Desiree's family members.

- [gasps] Really?

Ruth: Yes.

Her name is Joann Thurston Brock.

Amber: You know, Desiree is funny.

When she feels really deeply, she, uh, she wants to cry, but she's afraid of being hurt a little bit, so she, she really guards her emotions.

Hello?

Is this, is this Miss Joann?

Joann: Yes, it is.

- My name is Amber Iund.

How are you?

Joann: Hi, Amber, how are you?

- Fine, thank you.

We got your phone number from Miss Ruth, and my daughter is your relative.

Her name is Desiree.

Joann: Oh!

- And she's a Thurston.

Joann: Yeah, okay.

Hi, are you Desiree?

- Yeah.

Joann: Oh, I would love to see you, you sound so precious!

- Aw!

What do you say?

Joann: I would love to see you now!

I am so exci-- oh, I would love to see you.

- Aw.

- Okay.

- She's so sweet.

Joann: Yeah, come-- can you come now?

- Yeah!

- Sure.

- We'll pack up and we will be on our way.

- Thank you, Miss Joann.

Joann: Okay, sweetie, you be good, Desiree.

- Okay.

Joann: Bye bye.

- Bye.

- Bye bye.

So thankful for Ruth for finding Miss Joann.

That's gonna be incredible.

[sniffles] And I know she lives in Rhoadesville, so maybe she can take us on a little tour, and we can find the, the cemetery that I once saw so long ago.

Hopefully, Desi will be able to weather the storm emotionally and... and enjoy the adventure.

♪♪ Amber: Hi!

Joann: Hello!

Amber: Miss Joann!

Amber: Yes, how are you?

Joann: Oh, you are beautiful.

You are beautiful!

Can I have a hug?

Desiree: Mm-hm.

Amber: Yeah.

Joann: Bless your heart!

Amber: It's the family, hi!

Joann: It is so good to see-- look at those-- oh, look at those dimples.

How are you?

Amber: Good.

How are you?

Joann: I am so fine.

I am so happy to meet you.

- I'm so happy to see you.

- I'm happy to see you, both of you.

Okay, well, I wanna ask you a question.

I need to ask you first, then.

Uh, would this be her?

Amber: Oh my gosh, that's you.

This was at Lake Anna.

- Yeah, right!

- Have they had a reunion since then?

- We can't get family together.

- But how crazy that everybody was there this day?

Joann: Ev-everybody was there then.

This was the home place.

They grew up on this property.

This is your great-grandfather.

Um, John Reuben Thurston, so you can tell, this was years ago, look at that car.

[laughs] Amber: Can you believe that?

Desiree: Uh-huh.

Amber: I was telling her when I was here, when she was a baby, I just fell in love with this place.

I remember we stopped at a house that's right around here, that was on a bend in the road-- Joann: Mm-hm.

- --and behind the house were some graves.

Joann: Mm-hm!

- That's right here, isn't it?

Joann: I am gonna take you down the street.

- It's right down the street, isn't it?

- That was my father's home.

And the cemetery is right there, and I'm gonna take you to see your great-grandfather's... tombstone and... Amber: That's what I told you about.

That's the place.

- Um, yeah.

So, I'm gonna take you through there to see it.

- [chuckles] Joann: We only have one great-great uncle living and that's Uncle Henry.

You're gonna meet him today.

Amber: Really?

Joann: You're gonna meet him.

If I can get him out the bed.

Desiree: [chuckles] Joann: He would love to see you.

He would love to see you.

Amber: Is that amazing?

♪♪ [door clicks, squeaks] ♪♪ Henry: Hi, baby.

Desiree: Hello.

Henry: How're you doin', honey?

[kisses] Ah!

Joann: She's your great-great niece.

She'll be your great-great-- Amber: Oh, I'm going to give you a hug.

I'm Amber.

[kisses] How are you?

- Pretty good.

Sittin'-- sittin' still, ain't moving much.

Hello!

Joann: Look at this right here.

Amber: Oh, that's cool.

- It's from Africa.

He bought me one, too.

Henry: I went to West Africa.

Amber: Oh, okay.

You went to West Africa.

Henry: Yeah.

Joann: He said he would love to go back again, but anyway, he brought the pillow back there.

Amber: Well, let's go!

- Oh, I'm-- oh, I'm ready to go.

I can't get much walkin' though, but-- All: [laugh] Henry: Girl, I'm trying, 'cause I'm glad to see both of you, but I'm glad, really glad, to see you, darlin'.

- Yay!

Henry: See, I'm getting old, now, somebody can keep this thing goin'.

♪♪ Amber: The private, uh, cemetery where the Thurstons lay is across from Uncle Henry's house.

You can see it from his backyard.

So, we decided to go and look at some of the headstones, to give Desi some, some idea of who her family is.

- This is Great-Grandfather.

That's John Ruben.

1915.

♪♪ Amber: And the fact that Uncle Henry made this connection with Desi and loved her, he wanted to go out there and share that moment with her.

And to see Desiree really connect with him was so... [emotional] overwhelming.

♪♪ ♪♪ Desiree: My Great-Uncle Henry gave me his pillow from West Africa that he got 21 years ago.

♪♪ Amber: You will take good care of that.

Desiree: Thank you.

- Yeah, you're okay, baby.

Mm.

And, uh, and don't you forget.

Always, you can come here, and we want you here.

And stay all you want to.

For free.

- Okay.

[giggles] Amber: 'Cause it's your family, right?

- Right, family, right.

Amber: Do you feel a part of their family now?

- Yeah, yeah.

Amber: You can give him a hug, it's okay.

- I mean you, too.

Amber: She's crying.

She's really thankful.

- Oh baby, oh, I'm so happy to see you.

I don't know what to do.

- [sniffles] [emotional] Thank you.

- [chuckles] Are you sad to leave?

Desiree: Yeah.

[sobs] ♪♪ Amber: Desiree cried today when we left Uncle Henry because she really loved him instantly.

They do have the same blood running through their veins.

♪♪ I can never thank Joann enough for her courage, and Uncle Henry for their generosity and their love and affection that they extended to my daughter today.

Thank you so much.

- Yeah.

- We just love you, so glad we got to see you.

- Yeah, I'm so glad you ca-- come in today.

I don't know what to do.

Amber: Do you wanna give him another love and a kiss?

Let's go.

- Yeah, baby.

[kisses] Oh, I'm so happy to see you.

- Happy to see you too.

- Yeah!

Amber: Thank you.

♪♪ Bye, Uncle Henry!

♪♪ Desiree: I couldn't believe that we'd actually go in and meet somebody on the other side of my family.

♪♪ I'm looking forward to tell people about my journey and that they can learn something new, and I'm very excited to have the party.

So-- So, I went to, um, Washington D.C., and this, um, I think it was a reverend, he let me into his church, and he taught me a song with the rest of a choir that they put together that was full of kids.

[giggles] And so, he taught me this song and it's called "Woke Up This Morning" and so, I'm going to teach it to you.

Okay, ready?

One, two, three!

All: ♪ Woke up this mornin' with my mind ♪ ♪ Staying on Jesus ♪ Man 2: She's blossomed, and, and the amazing thing is in such a short period of time.

And, uh, you see this, uh, of course, I've always thought she was a beautiful girl, and she has lots of talent and ability.

And, uh, and now, I see, uh, this confidence, uh, taking hold in her, and I think that she's going to be a wonderful thing to see in the future.

- Maybe for the first time, she really understands who she is... [children chattering] in more ways than one, and that's wonderful.

Desiree: I said I didn't like myself that much, and now I do because I found all that.

And now I know who I am.

Guests: ♪ Hallelu-- ♪ Amber: [emotional] She feels like my daughter again.

Guests: ♪ Hallelujah ♪ Amber: I feel like I'm her momma again, you know, like, she trusts me and she holds my hand again, and, you know, it's been a long time.

It's been a few years since she would do that.

So, to have her heal and come out of her shell and, and just show love, I hope that this experience will help her be able to extend herself to other people.

She can make friends.

You know, and, um, just continue to excel.

That's my dream for her.

Guests: ♪ Hallelujah ♪ [cheering and applause] Desiree: Yeah!

Cut!