[Videographer] Harris Kids interview take one.

[clack board clacks]

Say it.

You say it.

Oh my gosh.

[Videographer] Parker Kids interview, take one.

The day that we found out

that we was changing our last names

was the same day we found out

that we was making a documentary about it.

♪ A one two three ♪

[jazzy music]

To me, what’s in a name is your origin,

where you come from,

where you’ve been, where you going, legacy.

My name is Adolphus Parker III.

It was my grandfather’s name and my dad’s name so,

and I was pretty proud to be the third.

My name was Sedoria Nyla Pickens-Parker.

I’m gonna do it again.

My parents mixed two names to get mine.

My mother’s two best friends, Senora

and Gloria except for an N it’s a D so it’s different.

[Adolphus] That’s Matt at our wedding.

He was three then. Yeah, he was three.

[Adolphus] Even though Matt’s my biological son,

he does not have my last name.

He’s 42 now.

Doesn’t seem like it’s been 40 years.

Since it’s 39 years since we took that marriage,

so we finally getting his name changed to Parker.

So it’s gonna be kind of a, kind of a great,

a big deal I guess after all this time, so.

The name that not only he deserves but you deserve.

My name is Samuel Matthew Harris.

My name will be changed to Samuel Matthew Parker.

I finally get the connection to my dad in heaven, that name.

After I die, there is no more Parkers.

So that’s why it’s important for me

to have Matthew last name changed to Parker.

I know you’re a good painter,

but I don’t want you to make no mistake on my table.

I’m actually happy about the way my kids are handling it.

They’ve got a good spirit about things all the time,

but they’re eager and excited to have it done too.

My name is Ashleigh Calyn Harris.

My name will soon be Ashleigh Calyn Parker.

My name is Cameron Allen Harris.

My name will soon be Cameron Allen Parker.

Having the same last name as our Papa, it connects us.

Like it makes us closer than we already were.

Right.

Parker definitely sounds different

like I’m so used to Harris, I’ve been using it all my life.

Your signature would change too.

You’d have to change it on my jerseys.

How would we change our names on our phones?

I wonder what would happen if like somebody

with a hyphenated last name marry somebody

with another hyphenated last name.

Like what would their last name be?

Would it be four names?

Would you end up being like,

Oh, we gotta choose one name.

Having a different name from your father is strange.

When I was a teenager, friends come over

and say, Hey, why is your dad’s last name

different than yours?

I don’t really know how to explain how his name…

Well, my dad’s name came to be Harris instead of Parker.

I mean there was a lot that had went with it.

This is hard.

I think it’s harder for me to explain it

because it didn’t like the situation,

it didn’t involve me at all ’cause I wasn’t alive.

At the time I met Parker,

we were both in the National Guard.

I was separated from my first husband.

I call him by his last name Parker,

because his name on his uniform was Parker.

I used to see you walk through the armory,

you know like that little switch thing you got

that the way you walk.

His reputation did precede him.

At the time, he was a player player.

He chased me and he chased for a while

and finally I let him catch me.

40 something years later, here we are.

The oldest picture is this one right here in 1980,

and this last one here is us out on the dance floor.

We were getting down.

At the time that I got pregnant,

I didn’t tell Parker that the baby was his,

but my son had to have my first husband’s name

on the birth certificate

because we were still legally married.

When Matt was born, he was so light.

I was wondering, this can’t be my kid, he’s too light.

I said, well, whose baby is this?

Yeah, he did because the first thing I told him,

he’s not yours.

And she says, my baby, it didn’t matter to me

because I was gonna take care of Matt

like he was my own son anyway.

My biggest regret is waiting three years

instead of telling him right off the bat

that Matt was his son.

I was afraid to let him know

because I thought he would take off.

I thought he would run.

I thought he would leave us.

I felt guilty because he would ask me

and I would tell him no.

Little did I know he’s been there for him and for us

since the beginning.

I realized Matt was my son for sure

when he was about three.

The kids they were playing,

it’s something about their arms.

The way that they built his arms is just like his sister,

just like my daughter’s arms.

And then I questioned her about it,

then I asked her, I said, You sure he is not my son?

And then she finally told me.

Do you have the crooked pinky like them?

Huh?

Is your pinky crooked like theirs?

Just like that.

Like they both, they both have it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Whenever you take a picture with me,

you can’t take a bad picture.

It’s impossible.

If I’m in it, you got a good picture.

I’m telling you, you look good.

I’ll make you look good, baby.

I’ll make you look good.

You are so pitiful. I know.

But that’s why I love you.

[Adolphus] I know, I know, you can’t help it.

It is just kind of amazing just to think about it,

how you became a Parker

because of a slave name.

But now he’s becoming a Parker because he wants to be.

Our ancestors, they didn’t have no choice.

Their name was given to them by their owners.

Whoever owned them, gave them their names.

♪ I see the sign ♪

♪ I see the sign ♪

♪ This sign of the judgment ♪ ♪ This sign of the judgment ♪

We have a space here at the Black Archives

called Heritage Hall.

We have all of the African American history list serves.

We have census reports, et cetera.

There was a naming tradition in enslaved communities

where people would name their children after family members.

They would often hold on to the first names.

They would ingrain that in the children from birth

what their name was, what their family name was,

and it often did not have a last name.

So when they would go to search for them,

they would have a way to find them.

So that’s why you see so many people named

after their parents and grandparents and uncles

because that was part of that tradition,

that naming tradition so that you could find your folks,

when you got freed and you were able to go search for them.

I admire you for trying to restore your family name

to your entire family.

Claim the name that has some significance to you

and to your history and not to the white person

who happened to own your papers at the time.

♪ This sun will shine ♪

♪ This sun will shine ♪

♪ This sun will shine ♪

♪ That’s sign of the judgment ♪

♪ That’s sign of the judgment ♪

I’m the last Parker on my side of the family tree.

We got four people down to get their name changed.

You guys wasn’t here.

I cut a log out of the back, out that tree.

It’s down back there.

The one that fell down? The on that fell?

The one that’s on the ground.

I cut the log, then I sliced this out.

Then I had to clean it down so it was smooth.

It means a lot that it’s just got the family name on it,

but also you know how it was made or where it came from.

Then also you guys having a hand in

in putting the lettering and stuff on it

so that way you got a more personal connection to it.

Looks good.

My responsibility in carrying on that name

would be to carry on a good reputation.

And what I mean by that is living a good life,

like all the Parkers I know, they’re all very loving people.

That’s something I would wanna continue.

I actually was listening to

when the kids were saying their names

and I was like, it’s got a ring to it.

I like the ring of Parker.

Yeah. It sounds good.

It does sound good.

One thing that I’m worried about is like the court thing.

I’m gonna feel like I’m going to jail for something

that I didn’t do.

[Judge] All rise.

Be seated.

I’m not nervous.

You may a step forward.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Judge.

I’d like the honor of taking my Dad’s last name.

[Judge] What would be the full name that you would like?

Samuel Matthew Parker.

Katrina Ray Parker.

Cameron Allen Harris, I mean Cameron Allen Parker.

Ashleigh Calyn Parker.

Look, finds it is proper and the premises

and the court will grant the petition for that.

Samuel Matthew Harris name is changed

to Samuel Matthew Parker, Katrina Ray Parker,

Cameron Allen Parker, Ashleigh Calyn Parker.

Congratulations to all of you.

[Woman] Thank you.

Y’all was scared? No.

Look at my, that’s still tearing up.

I actually was in my face. Come here.

You go ahead.

You can call your sister and jump.

[bright music]

My family’s everything to me.

That gives me purpose, that gives me a reason for being…

It meant the world to me for my grandkids especially

to be willing to have their name changed to my name.

But it means a whole lot to be able to carry

that family name on.

It’s a beautiful thing.

[subtle music]