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WATCH: Tamera Mowry-Housley Gets Emotional Learning About Her Enslaved Ancestors

<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;tamera-mowry-housley-reveals-she-was-the-seashell-on-the-masked-singer-video&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>Tamera Mowry-Housley<&sol;strong><&sol;a> became quite emotional after learning of her enslaved ancestors in the latest episode of &&num;8216&semi;Finding Your Roots&period;&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mowry-Housley went into the show knowing very little of her family tree beyond that she is of mixed race with a Black mother from the Bahamas and a White father of European descent&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Tamera Mowry-Housley Tears Up Learning About Enslaved 9-Year-Old Ancestor<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’re going to see what you are&comma;” host Henry Louis Gates Jr&period; told the &&num;8216&semi;Sister&comma; Sister&&num;8217&semi; star&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>The actress learned about one ancestor on her mother&&num;8217&semi;s side&comma; Margaret Rolle&comma; born in 1825&period; She discovered Rolle was an enslaved field laborer in a country &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;driven by slavery&comma;” the show uncovered&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A mother-of-two&comma; Mowry-Housley was saddened to learn that Rolle&comma; then only nine years old&comma; had been listed as an enslaved person on official documents&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;You want to protect them&comma; you want them to keep that innocence&period; But for Margaret&comma; that did not exist&comma;” she told Gates Jr&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><amp-youtube data-videoid&equals;"ju0x7zLSBTo" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" dock&equals;"&num;dock-slot"><&sol;amp-youtube><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Although slavery had been abolished throughout the British Empire at the time&comma; Rolle&comma; like other formerly enslaved people&comma; was forced to work for the next four years for their former owners without any pay&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"">Therefore&comma; Rolle wasn’t entirely freed of slavery until she was around 13 years old&comma; Gates told Tamera&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Wow&comma;” the exasperated 44-year-old said&period; Gates then asked&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;What do you think Margaret would’ve made of you&quest;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<h5 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">RELATED&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;tamera-mowry-speaks-out-after-tia-mowry-files-for-divorce-from-cory-hardrict&sol;&quest;&lowbar;gl&equals;1&ast;1j3rej7&ast;&lowbar;up&ast;MQ&period;&period;&ast;&lowbar;ga&ast;MTU1MDM0MDM4Ni4xNjgwODg0MDU5&ast;&lowbar;ga&lowbar;V2HX8YP3XL&ast;MTY4MDg5MzYzMC4yLjAuMTY4MDg5MzYzMC4wLjAuMA&period;&period;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Tamera Mowry Speaks Out After Tia Mowry Files For Divorce From Cory Hardrict<&sol;a><&sol;h5>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">&&num;8220&semi;She&&num;8217&semi;d Be Proud&&num;8221&semi; To See Her Ancestors Now Mowry-Housely Emotionally Says<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Mowry-Housley initially flashes a smile before quickly appearing to hold back tears&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;She’d be proud&comma;” Mowry-Housley said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Oh&comma; no question&comma; she would be proud&comma;” Gates responded&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1644072363212824579" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Actress Ponders How Ancestor Coped With Slavery And How She Reacted Upon Gaining Freedom<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>She continued&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;But you just feel &lpar;sad that&rpar; she had to go through that as a child&comma;” the actor adds&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I wonder what she went through to escape her current situation&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The 44-year-old mother-of-two then contemplated how Rolle might&&num;8217&semi;ve coped with slavery&period; As well as how she reacted upon finally gaining her freedom&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Then&comma; to finally be free &&num;8230&semi; &lpar;I wonder&rpar; what that felt like&comma; that first breath&comma;” she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"">Mowry-Housley learned that her family&&num;8217&semi;s ancestors were tied to a significant historical event&period; Several of Margaret Rolle’s family members were likely owned by a British baron named John Rolle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Enslaved people rebelled against John Rolle in 1830 in an event known as Pompey&&num;8217&semi;s Revolt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1642210300526034944" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"">While they didn&&num;8217&semi;t necessarily earn their freedom&comma; they did make a place in history by &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;providing inspiration and hope for generations&comma;” Gates said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;That’s beautiful&comma;” she replied&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Tamera Says Ancestor Revelations Showed Her &&num;8220&semi;The Strength &lpar;Of&rpar; Picking Up And Carrying On&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"">Gates then asks her how these revelations change the way Mowry-Housley sees herself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;You know when you always say&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;I got it from my mama&quest;’ Well&comma; I definitely see that line of strength picking up and carrying on&period; That’s what I get out of all of this&comma;” she says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Furthermore&comma; the actress also learned that another one of her ancestors — William Brewster — was an English religious leader who became one of the Mayflower passengers in 1620&period; This prompted Mowry-Housley to reflect on her mixed-race heritage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"endmark">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This is what’s crazy about being biracial&period; 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Matthew McNulty

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