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| It's canon! Take that, racists! |
Lisa's class is given a project to do where they need to research their family tree. Lisa tries to look up past Simpsons, somehow forgetting completely about the Bouvier line, and finds nothing but criminals and drunks. Lisa goes to the attic to find more, and she does find it in a journal of one Eliza Simpson back in the 1860s. As she begins reading, she learns in shock that Eliza (who looks kinda like Lisa) was looking forward to owning a slave, but as she reads on she learns that she planned on liberating the slave so Lisa is relieved. As she continues reading, she learns that Eliza was able to help a slave named Virgil escape the service of one Colonel Burns and hides him with Eliza's family: her mother Mabel (Marge) and her father Hiram (Homer). Lisa believes it to be a happy ending and prepares her report.
After giving an emotional report in front of the entire school, most people applaud Lisa's effort, except for the less than impressed Milhouse, who reveals he has the journal of one Milford Van Houten from around the same time period. Milhouse reads that young Milford witnessed Burns questioning Hiram about Virgil's appearance, and is able to buy Hiram off with new shoes for him to reveal Virgil's location. Eliza runs in to stop the two, but Burns is able to talk Eliza back into her place. Milford sees this act of cowardice the day before he gets stricken blind. Lisa refuses to believe it, but later on she finds film footage of an 100 year old Eliza (who has since married Milford) admitted her only regret was not speaking up to save Virgil as a young girl. Lisa is devastated.
As Lisa continues to be depressed, Grampa reveals that Virgil turned out okay. He explains that as Colonel Burns and Hiram go out to retrieve Virgil, Mabel stops the two with a shotgun and promises to take Virgil north herself, able to disguise herself with help from Abraham Lincoln along the way. The two eventually reach Canada where their travels have brought them close together. Mabel divorces Hiram and she marries Virgil, keeping the Simpson name as Virgil didn't have a last name. Mabel eventually giving birth to an Abraham Simpson (named after Lincoln who helped them out), who is the great grandfather of the current Abe Simpson, thereby revealing that Bart, Lisa and Maggie are 1/64th black. Lisa once again feels pride in having a heroic Simpson in her lineage, though Marge wonders why its such a big deal anyway as her father was French and nobody cares about that.
Quick Review
In the attempt to be as progressive as possible, the episode ends up being particularly unfunny thanks to a lack of jokes and humor.
Final Score: 5.1
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