good evening, from los angeles, tonight with the conversation of the legendary, doctor jane goodell. drawn from never been seen footage after 50 year of the national archive. she offers an intimate portrait of dominance science con sense sus consensus. a conversation with dr. jane goode goodell, coming up in just a moment.

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ i am pleased and delighted and honored to have doctor jane goodell on our program. it is called jane, the project is directed by brett morgan.

before we start our conversation with doctor goodell, here now a scene from dr. jane. >> we check how animals behave? it had long been thought that we were the only creatures on earth. and here with basic -- >> this documentary is so wonderful and powerful. the story tells the families of

these animals. i want to start our conversation if i might by asking of your family. tell me about your mom and dad. >> my parents were afraid before the end of the war. my mother was amazing. i had tribute the way she raised me to help me do what i have done. from the beginning when i took it to bed with me. she came into my room and look as if you arewondering, how do they walk without legs. she ju she found books of animals and i learn to read more quickly.

when i was 10, i discovered "tarzan," the book. i had saved up money to buy it and i fell in love with lord of the jungle and he married the long jane, did he? [ laughter ] >> he did. absolutely. >> so anyway, i decided i am going to go to africa and live with wile animals and write books about them. everybody laughed and how will you get there, you don't have any money and you are just a girl. not my mother, he sashe said if want this, don't give up and take advantage of every opportunity. >> since you under score the point of others telling you you are just a girl, how much

determination to distinguish yourself and your work. >> i left for college and yes, i was just a geographic cover girl and things like that. as i never wanted to be a scientist and actually no men really doing what i was doing. i was going into a new sort of career. so i went on -- i came to films that we just watched it is s substantiated so the science kmupt h community had to accept what i was talking about. >> a funny story when you went

for a while and your family went to find you. tell me about it. >> it is a real funny story. we lived in london, not many animals there. >> cows and pigs and no factory farms. it was magic. i was given a job to help collect the hen's eggs. they would lay here eggs in little wooden houses, about six of them. and apparently, i began asking everybody, where does the egg come out, i could not see a hole like that and nobody told me. so what i do is seeing the hen was brown and she was the going into one of these hen houses and oh, she's going to lay an egg so i crawled after her. gawked in fear and she flew out. again, i must have felt it was unsafe and i went in the hen's house and waited and waited and

the family did not know where i was and they called the police. i was gone for more than four hours. yet when my mother saw the little girl rushing ancxieexcit. instead of getting mad at me, she was excited to hear my story. is that science? asking questions and finding out and not giving up and learning. a different kidnnd of mother mit have crushed my story. >> i am fascinated by your story. what did you learn from your mother and what did you take from the way your mother parenting you in to your own work that allowed you to be patient with these animals. there is a connection. >> i think the only real connection is she encouraged me.

i spent hours outside and i watched the birds and watched all sorts of animals and jumping spiders and spiders carrying the little eggs watching the birds and waiting for them to hatch babies. when i was invited to africa. i had to work to save up money. at that time, the crumbling remains of the british empire and the british authorities said, the young girl in the forest, absolutely not but in the end if she brings a companion so it was my mother that volunteered to come. she left england. she came with me to share an old

tent. i was in the hills everyday with spiders and snakes and scorpi s scorpions. the baboons were radiating the tents to find food. she was amazing, was she? >> i was so lucky and it was really sad she left before i saw that tool using. >> when she left and you just answered that. how far into your work did your mother live to see? >> oh, she left in the 2000s so she saw it all unfolding and she was there whecn i got my phd an a couple of honorary degrees and one journalist says to her, are you proud of your daughter and she looked at him and she said, what would you say if i said no. [ laughter ] >> i like your mom even more now.

>> the thing about you that always fascinated me and following you over the years and learning more of your back story for this conversation and watching this documentary, um, you have always possessed a fear lessness which on the one hand does not surprise me. so often we see kids are fear less. the fear starts to take over and resides in us. why did that never set in for you? >> well, first of all, i felt i was meant to be there. >> yeah. >> there were moments when you know the tendency lost the fe s fears, the chimpanzees. i dug little holes on the ground

and i thought they would go in and they did. gradually, they lost that aggressive and accepted me. did you know an interesting thing, the only time that i felt fear of any animal was after i have my own baby so when an animal came before him, but now i have this little baby, now i have this irrational fear. it helps me understand why chimp mothers baehave the way they di sometimes. >> tell me about your son. at one point, you sent him to live with your mother. >> yes, when he had to go to school. >> yes. how did you feel about that separation? >> it was really, really nasty.

up until he was three. i was not away from him from a single night, not at all. every holiday, we were together and mom was part of the family and she's out to africa. it was not as bad as some people just sending their children off to boarding school. it was not like that. she was living in my home. >> i read some where of 1985 and 1986, you made a commitment to yourself that you would not stay anywhere more than three weeks at a time. >> it was not my commitment. i had to leave and trying to raise awareness about the chimps and rain forest and the place of the african-american people and if you want to try to save the environment. i began traveling around and

raising aweareness and learning what's going on in africa. that involves me traveling and it turned out that it was not allowing me to be more than three weeks consecutively anyway. it was not a plan to do that. >> it just happened that way. it was a plan, you know, i went to this conference and i learned about what was happening and i had my phd. it was not a decision. it just happened like a switch in my brain. >> yeah. >> um, -- i am curious though, what have you most learned there by being on the move and the way you have been? >> if i had a jolly good constitution which is something i got from my father. lau[ laughter ] i learned that i have been given

a gift which is communications and that's writing books and speaking to large audiences and fining to my amazement that they listen. finding all that was terrifying of my first talk and of the geograph geographic of washington. >> it is my first public tour. i was absolutely terrified. >> i can see why. >> i can do it. and so sometimes when i watch myself, you know, recording and i think how on earth did she do it? >> uh-huh. >> it is strange. >> why is it and i hope it is not a load of question. why is it that we humans find anima

animals at large so fascinating to watch and study. what is it about animals? >> i think it take us back to a time where we actually lived out in the forest and when animals were an important part of our lives, you know, the hunters and gathers. they live together. it is the same in the eastern religion. we are part of nature and the na fascination of animals taking us back in another way. animals, for example, dogs of unconditional love. >> two questions that i want to ask right now because of your last statement. let me ask you in this order. it takes us back. how taken back were you when you saw these documentary when some of these photos have not been seen for 50 years.

how did you process seeing all of this come to life? >> when i heard about it, i thought there is nothing new and they used the footage before and the same taken by hugo. when i saw it. i think brett morgan has done an amazing job. it makes me feel -- i am feeling what it was like to be out in the forest and those early days and the best days of my life so it is very moving. >> you know my life unraveling and shots of me and my baby and hugo. it was just special. >> yeah. the second thing i want to come back to dr. goodell. i want to ask something that's politically incorrect -- >> i like those. >> good, you like this with me,

we had this conversation in this country and i want to get your take on this. i think there is something to it. there are some people in this country, certainly this is the sentiment of not all and many people of color and certainly african-american moms who find it sometimes annoying is the nicest word that i can use wh use -- when it appears that certain human beings care more about animals and they care more about human beings. it is not just a political reality, it is a life and death reality where people will defend and fight for and protest and raise money for, all kinds of animals. they don't seem to have the same love or the respect for humanity and particularity humanity looks a little differently than they do. >> there is one. take it away. >> well, for me, you know, and i

have mentioned this. when i went to learn about the place of the chimps in africa. i learned a lot about what many african people were facing living around chimps. i flew over the barpark, i look down from the plane, it was a tiny island of completely bare hills and more people living there than the land could support. over used farmlands and trees on the steep slopes and streams getting filled up. people struggling to survive and that's when it hits me. if we don't help these people, there is no way we can save the chimps. that's when the institute began our program to help the people and not a bunch of arrogant white people. well, you made a mess and this is what we are going to do.

no, a team of people, they did not have phds between them but they are working here and education and help. they asked the people and the villagers around giambi, what can we do to help you, that's where we began and we can introduce management programs and introduce credits for women and scholarships to keep girls in school and family planning. it is been so successful of 52 regions and six other african countries. we don't separate, we help people and chimpanzees, our youth program, roots and shoots, it is not just an environmental program to young people from pre-school to university. it is a program where the young people themselves decide

together on three projects, one to help people and environment and animals. it is a funny thing, it is lucky that there are some people who want to help people and some people who want to help animals. and you started off and next it was time. maybe i can tell you quickly. the first place i set for african soils back in 1957 was cape town. it was beautiful. >> uh-huh. >> but then we had two days on shore from the ship and i went into a park and they took me into a hotel and all these seats of the doors and restaurants s was -- white people only. i was shocked. >> i was not brought up like that.

>> but, i wanted to leave. i could not understand it. my earliest memory after the end of world war 2 with the jews and corpses and skeletons coming out of the concentration camps and death camps, i learned from the beginning of the dark side of human nature. chimpanzees also have a dark side. we have so much love and goodness and compassion and so many people fighting to make things better in this planet. i am trying to concentrate on all the good things going on and wonderful people and the great projects and share those. if people lose hope, we might as well give up. there is so much doom and gloom, we need to have some shining lights to keep us going so we go on fighting for what's right.

>> you are one of those shiniin lights to be sure. >> as i am listening here, there is a lot that came to mind. is there something among all of that work and witness that brings you the greatest joy and the splflip side is after all t use that you have been done so well. what brings me the most joy is two things really. one is being by myself out in nature, preferably a forest, nature. >> i have this great spiritual of power and it gives me strengths. the other thing is being with my friends and having a glass of wine or a little glass of whiskey which is really good for the voice by the way. >> thanks for telling me, that's

what i have been missing out. [ laughter ] >> yes, you have, you have. >> just relaxing and talking. yes, you get gloomy but you bring it up again. the other question and i think what gives me the most is there is so much cruelty. i remember the holocaust, we said never again but it is happening again and again. that's why i am so passionate about our youth program, aiming for a critical mass of young people who understand that we need to break down the barriers between people of different nations and religion and between us and the natural world. who understands that life should not be about making money, just about obtaining power. it should be about family and friends and having enough to live on but not -- we need money

to live but we should not live for money. >> are you hopeful in the young people that you see and africa and around the world that the dream is possible? >> yes, it is. >> the young people of my greatest reason for hope, but the young people, what they are doing right now and 100 countries of the 150,000 groups of all ages choosing and we are listening to them. they are taking action and they know they're fwoing going to ma difference and they know it. every single day and every single one of us makes some kind of impact and we can choose what kind of impact we are going to make. >> that's quite a legacy. um, i can do this for hours, if only i had the time and if only she had the time. for you, you got a chance to go to the theaters starting october

20th to watch a documentary of her life and legacy ongoing, it is simply called "jane," it is beautifully done and shot. it is interesting to watch this documentary. again, i am honored to have this time with you thank you dr. goode goodell. >> i am honored as well. >> that's our show tonight, thank you for watching and as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavissmiley @pbs.org. >> hi, i am tavis smiley, join us next time for peter frampton, that's next time, we'll see you then. ♪

and by contributions by your pbs station from viewers like you, thank you. ♪

-today on "america's test kitchen," julia and bridget share the secrets to foolproof oatmeal cookies. adam reviews prep bowls with bridget. lisa reviews the best pie carriers, and elle makes julia outstanding ultra-nutty pecan bars. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen." "america's test kitchen" is brought to you by the following -- fisher & paykel. since 1934, fisher & paykel has been designing