Anderson Traces His Family's Roots
COOPER: Well tonight I want to invite you on a journey with me. It's a very personal journey that I undertook for CNN's week long series, Roots: Our Journeys Home. The series premiered last night with interfering Bourdain exploring his past, tonight it's my turn. It's pretty big shift what we usually do at CNN, our job after is to tell other people stories. For the past year though I and several other CNN journalists have been digging deep into our own stories, tracing our roots. Our family trees reveal some remarkable secrets in connections with people, places, and moment and history. A lot of us never imagined. Here is my journey took me.</s>RIZZY HARRISON, ANDERSON COOPER'S COUSIN: Yes that's it.</s>COOPER: Oh wow. In the woods we found an old overgrown cemetery from another branch of my family. So this is Bull cemetery. Wow. This is incredible.</s>HARRISON: We've been in here in the long time.</s>COOPER: The Bulls married into the Cooper family back before the Civil War.</s>HARRISON: Now that's you're -- that's grandpa Burwell wife, the mother to William Preston Cooper.</s>COOPER: OK. So that's Burwell Cooper's wife.</s>HARRISON: Wife.</s>COOPER: Wow.</s>HARRISON: Watch for snakes.</s>COOPER: I grew up reading stories about the Bulls in my dad's book. People like my ancestor Jimball (ph). My dad's dad said that he never got over the habit of killing people but then he never killed any (inaudible) deserve it.</s>HARRISON: I'm pretty sure that's it was.</s>COOPER: Right. And he would kill man for costing (inaudible) in front of women.</s>HARRISON: Right. Rizzy also wanted to show me another cemetery. I've read about it in my dad's book but I never been there myself. We're trying to find the old Cooper family cemetery. It's here along the Mississippi Alabama border. It's deep in the woods that it's hard to find. It's near a house where my great grandfather William Preston Cooper used to live. We traveled along a dirt road for miles, of course of trees and canyons of (inaudible) before we finally find it. Relatives of mine have been working to try to clear the undergrowth and cut down trees just try to clear the cemetery but one of kind of amazing things about is this cemetery is so old and a lot of the headstones have disappeared or been just worn away by the elements. You can't see any names of people anymore. It's even hard to tell what's a headstone. Here, we find the grave of Burwell Cooper, my great, great grandfather. The third states of America. Who fought on the same battlefield during the Civil War as my other great, great grandfather Judson Kilpatrick. Burwell Cooper was shot in the right hand during the Civil War. He lost one of his fingers and he was partially paralyzed in his right arm. Records indicate that because of that paralysis he struggle the rest of his life to earn a living for his six kids. He died at the age of 54. His life was a far cry from Judson Kilpatrick's life who survived the war and went on to become U.S. Ambassador to Chile. There are a lot of people in my family fought for the confederacy nearly all will confer to actually own slaves except for one, Burwell Cooper's grandfather. I recently discovered that one of my ancestors did in fact on slaves, my great, great grandfather Burwell Boykin. He owned 12 slaves. In fact, he was killed by one of those slaves in 1860, one year before the Civil War begun. It's one thing to read about slavery in the history books, it's another to learn that a distant relative of mine took part of the evil.</s>HARRISON: Lovely. I'm so glad you came.</s>COOPER: Thank you. My dad and his family left Quitman During World War II and move to New Orleans. His mother, my grandmother Jenny Anderson worked in the Higgins huge factory and making landing craft for the war. She also sold ladies hats at Maison Blanche department store. Back in 2005 when I was in New Orleans, reporting in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, completely by coincidence, I stumbled across my dad's old high school had flooded during the storm. This is the school now. Back then, it was called Francis T. Nicholls Public High School. Francis T. Nicholls was a confederate general, Governor of Louisiana. One of the things I love about New Orleans is that it's the city that embraced its past even if that past is painful. They don't try to erase their history no matter what that history may be. In fact, Francis T. Nicholls' name is still on my dad's old high school, it's still etched in stone. His likeness is still etched above the front door. Francis T. Nicholls was most likely racist, definitely segregationist but they haven't removed his name from the school. Even though the school itself has been renamed, it's now the Frederick A. Douglas High School, named after the famous evolutionist. We were invited to take a look around. People who work at this school said they had old files but I couldn't imagine they've had any of my dads. Wow, that's nice. They showed me closets full of all records and posters dating all the way back to the 1940s.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They move back after war.</s>COOPER: I couldn't find anything that belongs to my dad. As I was leaving, the school nurse came outside with a surprise for me. My God, that's my dad.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) a report card but, not only that I cased up there, the file cabinets (inaudible).</s>COOPER: This is his photo.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That him. Yes, there you go.</s>COOPER: Oh my gosh, that's sweet of you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you.</s>COOPER: That's so nice. My dad's report card. It's crazy. Do you believe that they had my dad report card all the way going back to 1944. They just had it in the file somewhere in the back. That's awesome. (Inaudible) New Orleans in history, like, they don't throw away the history. They, you know, it's all here. It's all -- the past is very much alive in New Orleans. My dad worked as an actor for years, appearing on stage and T.V., even at a tiny bit part in a movie called the Seven Hills of Rome. We stayed up late on night when he was on T.V. when I was a kid.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey Mark..</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good luck tonight. I (inaudible) complete sellout. I'll be upfront leading the cheering (inaudible).</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks (inaudible).</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good bye.</s>COOPER: He then became a screen writer and wrote for magazines as well. My dad is buried in Staten Island, next to my brother who died in 1988. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about them both and wonder what they would think of me, the person I've become. I thing about death is that after a while, you can't remember what a person sounded like, you forget all the little things that you once knew, the sound they made when they opened up for front door, the way they walk, the way they laugh.</s>WYATT EMORY COOPER, ANDERSON COOPER'S FATHER: My feelings about what I want my sons to be.</s>COOPER: A couple of months ago, Clock Tower Radio restored an interview that my father did back in 1975.</s>E. COOPER: My relationships with my sons which are both quite extraordinary, I mean my relationship with my sons is quite extraordinary.</s>COOPER: I listen to it in my office at work. It was the first time I've heard my father's voice since I was 10-years-old.</s>EMORY COOPER: They asked me questions (inaudible). How much does a stock (inaudible) because that's what we would like to be (inaudible).</s>COOPER: The thing about the past is, one can't help what the zip code one was born at, what country or family you're descended from. All you can do is learn the lessons of those who came before you, their stories, their mistakes and their successes. You can't choose what family you're born into.</s>E.COOPER: My sons are very aware that I have certain expectations.</s>COOPER: All you can do is choose how you want to live your own life.</s>E.COOPER: (Inaudible) live with honor and with dignity.</s>COOPER: I want to thank Rizzy Harrison and all my other relatives and cousins who helped me down -- when were down in Mississippi, also Susan Chana producer of the price together. She did a great job. I learned about Burwell, my great, great, great, great grandfather who own slaves when I took part in the PBS Series Finding Your Roots earlier at this year. Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates is the host and Executive Producer of that great program has been helping people trace their genealogies for more than a decade. (Inaudible) series African-American live. I spoke to him earlier today.</s>COOPER: Professor, you helped me research my family history for your show on PBS, Finding your Roots. You've been doing that show for years now and you're the one who actually revealed to me that my great, great, great, great grandfather not only own slaves but was actually killed by one of his slave.</s>HENRY LOUIS GATES, PROFESSOR, FLETCHER UNIVERSITY: Yeah, Anderson when people asked me, "What the most incredible genealogy story that you've uncovered?" I said, "Its Anderson Cooper's fourth grade grandfather, Burwell Boykin." And when you were on our show, we didn't know his name. You know, actually we found the story through a diary and the diary is in the Choctaw County, Alabama Library. And it was kept by a woman name Eleanor Finlay Campbell who was your ancestors' neighbor. And she said ...</s>COOPER: Wow.</s>GATES: ... that -- she told a story that Burwell had locked this slave -- his nickname was Sham in a cotton house overnight because he keep running away. And when he went to let him out the next morning your ancestor was carrying a hoe and this slave grab the hoe and beat your fourth grade grandfather to death. And so to make sure the story was true, we went to the county records and there it was Sandy Boykin (ph). Sandy Boykin (ph) was your ancestors' slave who was hanged for murder and that a thing. And there are black Boykins today.</s>COOPER: Are there really? So, there are relative, descendants of Sandy Boykin (ph) still alive today?</s>GATES: Oh yeah. Your ancestor owned 12 black Boykins. And they are -- they have plenty of descendants today. Now, they find out if you're related genetically. We have to -- as you know we've done your DNA, we have to match their DNA against your</s>DNA. COOPER: Well, I'm up for it.</s>GATES: OK. Well, I think after this program a whole bunch of Boykins are going to be, you know, trying to be e-mailing you.</s>COOPER: That's really fascinating. Well I mean I said, you know, during the broadcast that -- I mean its one thing to, you know, to read about the evils of slavery. To suddenly discover -- because, you know, I always believe that the Cooper side was always, you know, the farmers were -- they were too poor to actually own slaves.</s>GATES: And they were ...</s>COOPER: But then to learn that one of them did was really -- I mean, its a, you know, it's a very unsettling feeling.</s>GATES: But you know he was killed in 1860, in May of 1860, a year before the Civil War starts. And the Civil War, you have another amazing paradox. You have nine ancestors who fought for the confederacy. And then you have one super (inaudible) who was a general graduate of West Point who fought for the North. And you say in your show, they could have -- they almost met on the battlefield.</s>COOPER: For those who are able to trace their roots, it really does give you this sense of connection of rooting in a time and a place and -- I don't know I feel differently after having done the interview with you. I feel differently after having done this project with</s>CNN. GATES: Well, when I asked you -- as I asked all my guests on Finding Your Roots, if you could meet one ancestor, one ancestor to whom you've been introduce today, whom we've discuss today, who would it be and you shocked me by saying it would be your father. So, I want to ask you, what would you ask to your father Anderson if you could talk to him today?</s>COOPER: Wow. I haven't thought that far ahead. I mean -- what I, you know, for me my dad died when I was 10, and so the idea of being able to -- and first of all just to have heard his voice for (inaudible) was extraordinary thing but just to be able to ask him, you know, about what he thinks of me and what he think about all the things have gone since he died in our families life. And to just, you know, hear his voice and see his smile and have him talk to me again would be -- I mean, for me that would be an extraordinary thing. So, Mr. Gates thank you so much. Thank you so much for letting me participates in your program on TBS Finding Your Roots. It's on Tuesday nights at 9:00. It's an awesome show. I'm going to watch it this week as well. And I appreciate you've been on my program was well. Thank you.</s>GATES: Thank you. Be careful down there Anderson.</s>COOPER: Well, as we said Roots, Our Journeys Home continues all this week on CNN tomorrow morning at 6:00 Eastern. Don't miss Chris Cuomo's incredibly journey to his family's history, tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 Eastern. Jake Tapper will share what he found when he look into his past, a lot of surprise there as well. Just ahead, a reported sighting of Kim Jong-un, but is the mystery surrounding North Korea's leader really sold what really happened to him? We'll be right back.