10 Million Names Traces Enslaved White House Builder to His Living Descendants

Lineage ⬩ Legacy ⬩ Liberation

Research by American Ancestors’ initiative enlightens Calvert Ambush’s descendants, and anchors "American Story: The Hands That Built the White House – with Robin Roberts," airing nationwide on ABC News Live Monday, July 6 at 8:30 pm ET.

BOSTON, MA and Washington, DC Issued July 2, 2026.

ABC News Live premieres a half-hour feature special, “American Story: The Hands That Built the White House – with Robin Roberts,” revealing the story of the enslaved men, women, and children whose labor helped build the White House—the enduring symbol of American democracy—and whose names and contributions were long absent from the historical record. Research findings supporting the program were drawn from 10 Million Names, the American Ancestors® project working to recover the names of the estimated 10 million people who were enslaved in what is now the United States before emancipation in 1865. Following its broadcast debut on ABC News Live in a nationwide primetime simulcast on Monday, July 6, 2026, at 8:30 p.m. ET, the special is available to view on demand in the Hulu app’s ABC specials section, and on ABC’s 10 Million Names page at abcnews.com/US/10millionnames.

ABC’s “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts guides viewers through interviews, sitting down with the researchers and family members at the heart of one individual’s story. On camera, Roberts interviews Lindsay Fulton, Chief Research Officer at American Ancestors, who leads the research team behind 10 Million Names, and 10 Million Names scholar Vincent Brown, the Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and a member of the project’s Scholars’ Council. Together they provide the genealogical and historical context behind the discoveries. In a moving family history reveal, Roberts joins living descendants—Ashley Swain and her mother Jackie Smith Sullivan—as they are presented with newly traced family tree information connecting them to their ancestor, Calvert Ambush, and reaching back to his era uncovering his life’s story.

A first look at the story previews during a special July 4 edition of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” part of “Disney Celebrates America,” Disney Entertainment Television’s 24-hour multiplatform broadcast marking the nation’s 250th anniversary. In an exclusive report produced in collaboration with 10 Million Names, Roberts sits down with the first confirmed living descendants of an enslaved individual who helped build the White House—a genealogical breakthrough years in the making—ahead of the full half-hour special, which airs Monday, July 6, 2026, at 8:30 p.m. ET.

The research featured in the special reflects the ongoing mission of 10 Million Names: to find and restore the names of the enslaved, working hand in hand with descendants, researchers, and everyday individuals seeking answers to their own family history questions. While the story arrives during the nation’s 250th anniversary, the work it represents is not bound to a single milestone. 10 Million Names continues this research in parallel with families and communities across the country—long after America 250 has passed—because every name recovered restores a story that belongs to all Americans.