"They moved to New York from Columbus, Georgia, during the Civil War, or as they call it here, the War of Northern Aggression. They came to New York in 1865. My great-grandfather had been captured by the Yankees and removed from the scene. My…

"My mother was actually an American citizen, but she was born in France, because my grandfather—her father—was named Alfred Rothschild. He was born in Columbus, Georgia, not too far from here. And the house that he was born in still remains…

"As far as I can tell from the genealogy records, [my mother's] family came from Holland in the mid-1850s and settled in the central London area in the Jewish district. My [maternal] grandfather was a cigar maker and also worked with…

Wallace's grandparents were well-established in the African American community of Atlanta. “Birdie Florence Wallace. Her maiden name was Birdie Crolley Wallace. C-r-o-l-l-e-y. Her father, my grandfather was a Methodist preacher. In fact, he was…