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Kevin Bacon / Kyra Sedgwick
Year
2012
Language
ENGLISH
Duration
1h 0m
Rating
TVPG
Performers
Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick
Directed By
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Publication Information
PBS
Summary
What do Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick have in common? They are both famous actors and both descend from prominent American families that have been in this country since its inception. But they share something else, too: Both had ancestors who were early opponents of slavery. Bacon's Quaker ancestors repudiated slavery long before the rest of the country, in 1780. And Sedgwick's ancestor Theodore Sedgwick argued the freedom case of Elizabeth Freeman, also known as "Mumbet," in 1781 - which helped bring an end to slavery in Massachusetts. These facts — and many others — are revealed to Sedgwick and Bacon in this episode, revealing quite a bit about slavery in the North in the process.