to my ancestors you are not forgotten you are more than pictures your stories are invaluable without your sacrifices I would not exist teach me about your struggle resilience and determination I honor you and stand upon your shoulders with gratitude Terence [Music] Johnson the steps of my an cestors is a love letter to those who have paved the way a conversation between the present and the past has the world truly changed what impact have I had with the opportunities given to me am I honoring my ancestors with my actions history is not relegated to a book it resides within most black people we do not fully understand ourselves because we don't have strong connections to our ancestry the process is not easy for for us nor do we actually know how to start the process that is why I really want to go on this journey to find out where I'm from where is my homeland how did I get from there to where I am today this journey is not only about finding out about my ancestors but it's about finding more about myself what can my ancestors teach me how can I be a better Steward of the things that they've instilled within me how will this journey change me what will I find hopefully I it will leave me a better person a better me a new me a me that has a better sense of where I came from but why I am the way I am each one of these locations has a story to tell H some of these stores have parallel stores to my store some of these locations I've walked myself but I didn't know my ancestors had walked before me so it's very significant to go back to these places to honor the stores that are there and the uncovered stores that I didn't know um to actually put my feet on the ground that my ancestors walk and to make stores come alive to Showcase their stores to people that may have never come in contact with them but they're still significant and each one of these locations has a piece of this store to map how our journey went but also where our journey is going forward each episode will start with me writing which is part of my own journey and my own journaling and self-reflection so with each step it's a different piece of this letter that I'm writing to my ancestors and the more that I learn the more questions I get answered and the more things that I get to reflect about at the end at the conclusion of all the Epis Souls the letter will be complete you will get to see aspects of that finished letter but also that letter will then be turned into a song it will be a consistent musical background to all these episodes as well and so not only are we building this written reflection we also have something musical that's added as well because that was another way of communication for us is through our [Music] music