It begins with Tracy's grandmother, Alice Ponder.

Alice was a powerful figure in Tracy's upbringing, providing him with love, support, and a sense of family continuity.

Tracy even knew Alice's mother, Viola.

But Alice's father, a man named Carmen Ponder, was another matter.

It seemed that Carmen had abandoned his family when Alice was a child, and disappeared.

At least that was what Tracy believed.

The truth, however, was more complicated.

In the archives of Savannah, Georgia, we found Viola and Carmen's divorce file and saw that Tracy didn't know everything about his grandmother's parents.

My grandmother was my girl.

Would you please read the transcribed section.

"Carmen Ponder versus Viola Ponder.

Dear Viola, please be advised that on July 29th, 1955, the plaintiff in the above styled case filed suit for a total divorce against you, alleging desertion."

Yes.

Your great-grandfather, Carmen, filed for divorce.

Did you know that?

He filed for divorce?

He filed for divorce, yeah.

He said his wife deserted him?

Yes, he said that she deserted him.

Viola?

Yes.

It's a surprise, huh?

Wow.

When Carmen filed for divorce, he and Viola had been separated for almost 20 years.

They'd married when they both were very young, but if Carmen's words are to be believed, it seems the breakup still pained him.

"When my name is Carmen Ponder.

My wife and I lived together until on/or about the 1st of May, 1937.

My wife left me at said time and we have not been living together since.

I did not give her any cause to leave me, but on the contrary, she was living with another man and finally left Savannah with him.

I have not condoned her acts of desertion and not forgiven her for leaving me."

Your great-grandmother took up with another man and split.

What's it like to read that?

It's horrible.

Well, she was 15 when they got married and he was 22.

So, what do you think happened?

Nobody is ready to get married at 15.

You're a child.

Yeah, you know.

I think she might have just outgrew the marriage.

Yeah, fell in love with another guy, fell out of love.

You know how that goes.

Wow.

Explains a lot.

We now began to look at Carmen's roots and soon uncovered another shocking surprise.

Carmen's mother, Daisy Wright, was married to a man named Julius Ponder, but when we compared Tracy's DNA to that of Julius's known descendants, we didn't find any matches.

Meaning that Julius was not Carmen's biological father, and though we couldn't determine who was, we know something about him.

Based on Tracy's genetic profile, Carmen's father was a Jewish man, and Tracy himself is 5% Ashkenazi.

How does that make you feel?

I'm a brother on the street, man, you know.

I'm all about jive, man, and to find out that my great-great-grandfather was Jewish- A hundred percent Jewish.

It's like getting knocked out.

Not in a bad way, but I just, I don't mind that.

I just wanna know how my great-great-grandmother got pregnant.

Right.

Was it love?

Was it rape?

I mean, what was it?

Right.

Well, we don't know.

I'm gonna think about it in a good way.

Yeah?

I'm gonna, in my mind, gonna say he loved her.

Well, let's hope that was true.

Now I wanna show you something else.

Please turn the page.

That is your great-grandfather, Carmen.

It's Carmen, I know.

Now if he don't look like he's half white, I ain't from Piedmont, West Virginia.

He is definitely half white.

Look at his nose, it don't look like mines.

Look at his color.

Absolutely.

Look at that hair.

Look at those features.

Wow.

I wonder what he would say now, if he saw his family.

- Yeah.

- His empire.

Yeah.

I wonder what he would say now.