CNN’s The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper is tackling a deeply American story of race, family, and reconciliation in its next episode. Airing Sunday, The Simril(l)s: A Family in Black and White finds correspondent Sara Sidner returning to York County, South Carolina, to document the remarkable story of a family split by the legacy of slavery.
The hour-long documentary focuses on the Simril(l) family, whose Black and white descendants share a common ancestor—and a painful, complicated history. The report examines the family’s past, including violent confrontations with Klansmen and a faction’s subsequent migration to Liberia in 1871. Now, generations later, the separate branches of the family are actively working to come together, confronting their shared history as they prepare for their 2025 reunion celebration.
Sidner’s report goes beyond a simple historical retelling. It documents the present-day efforts of the Simril(l)s to heal old wounds and find ways to connect and share resources. The episode is presented as a potential blueprint for how other families, and by extension the country, can begin to reckon with their own difficult pasts. It’s a heavy topic, but one that is grounded in the tangible actions of a single family attempting to write a new chapter.
The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper airs Sunday, June 15 at 8:00 PM ET on CNN.
