j.m. kennedy mayor.so he went from receiving death threats to being the mayor of the town by being the strong moral voice. so, yeah, it was -- that was one of the most fun parts of the research, was reading kennedy. >> host: got to take a quick break. be right back. >>> la var, let me ask you. one of the most awkward things when i set off to write this book was this -- i'd not met you. i knew you were out there. and my goal was to come up and approach you and i met your mom first, but it was a really difficult moment for me because it was like, what am i going to say? hi, my name is chris tomlinson. let's talk about why we have the same last name. or, yes, my great-great >> host: when you first came around, new mom approached hef me. she was like, there's a guy doing a book about the family history, and he wants to talk to you. i was like, who? who is he? and his name is chris tomlinson. i said, okay, he's a white guy. i'm like, okay. she was like, yeah, his family owned your family back in the slave day