Angela Davis Baffled at Ancestral Lineage After Discovering She's a Direct Descendant of This Pilgrim

Angela Davis is an eminent human rights activist who has poured in unfathomable efforts to ensure justice is delivered to the oppressed. Apart from educating people at a university level, she often rocks a platform with her moving and powerful speeches in a public setting. If there’s one thing you must know about Davis, it's that she’s a passionate seeker of truth. Last year, she appeared on an episode of Finding Your Roots to enlighten herself with knowledge of her heritage. However, she was shell-shocked about what she’d discovered concerning her lineage as per the team’s findings, which were uncovered on the show. 

PBS recalled a conversation between Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Davis as they discussed her roots on February 21, 2023. Do note that Davis herself had pondered over these questions for many years in the past. Nonetheless, it was time for some answers! Firstly, she wondered about the identity of her mother Sallye Bell’s parents. Sadly, the team wasn’t able to locate Bell’s mother, but they were able to successfully recognize Davis’s grandfather, John Austin Darden. 

As per their findings, Darden was a lawyer at the time. That would, in a way, explain Daivs’ penchant for truth and justice. Upon being shown a picture of him, she immediately noted, “He has my mother’s lips. It’s so funny, I can see her in him..” Darden reportedly had a much larger family that extended to four sons and two daughters. 

Now that her grandfather’s identity was successfully traced, the team found out who her great-grandfather was: Stephen Darden. Davis’ great-grandfather fought during the Revolutionary War. Davis was beyond touched by her great-grandfather’s identity but was soon met with conflicting emotions when she found out a little more about him. It came as a heartbreaking shock when she learned that Stephen was one of the many slave owners at the time. The surprise didn’t stop with her maternal great-grandfather. 

Davis’ grandmother was said to be involved in an interracial affair with a man named Murphy Jones. The plot twist? He was Benjamin Frank Davis’ biological father! This convoluted truth goes much deeper than it appears to be. Just as Davis digested these facts, she was hit with a more gruesome tale of her great-grandfather, Isom Spenser: he lived as a slave for many years. However, Davis’ rollercoaster of emotions had one silver lining, and it was that Spencer eventually won freedom for his nephews to be free of slavery. 

Lastly, she was said to be a direct descendant of William Brewster, a settler among the 101 aboard the Mayflower. Davis was taken aback while learning of this bombshell truth. She said in disbelief, “No, I can’t believe this…” She added in denial, “My ancestors did not come here on the Mayflower!” The episode concluded with Davis reflecting on the truth about where she came from. Despite the many difficult emotions she had to navigate through, she was glad to learn about the truth at nearly 80 years old.