In a breakthrough discovery, ABC News and American Ancestors, one of the nation’s largest genealogical organizations, found the first confirmed living descendants of an enslaved individual who helped build the White House.

“Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts spoke exclusively with Jackie Smith Sullivan and her daughter Ashley Swain as they learned Swain’s fourth great-grandfather, Calvert Ambush, helped build the North Portico of the White House in the summer of 1829. 

“There’s a piece of him that’s inside of me,” Swain said. “To understand whose blood is running through my veins, understand the connection that I have and how we got to where we are today, I think that is amazing.”

Watch “American Story: Hands that Built the White House with Robin Roberts” on Monday July 6, 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT on ABC News Live, next day on Disney + and Hulu

Researchers from American Ancestors’ 10 Million Names spent over two years searching through dozens of records across several states looking for names of enslaved individuals who worked on the White House who might have a traceable family line to people living today. Since 2023, ABC News has partnered with 10 Million Names to bring stories to life that illuminate the history and legacy of slavery in America using the power of genealogy research.

“This is needle in a haystack stuff,” said Yale professor Vincent Brown, a member of the 10 Million Names Scholars’ Council. “I mean, you’re looking for little property records, birth records in churches, deeds and bills of sale, anything with someone’s name on it, but those are scattered all over the place.”

The process of genealogy requires finding these kinds of documents for every person, in each descending generation, in order to build a family tree to the present.

Despite false hopes and dead ends, the team eventually identified Swain, a neuroscience Ph.D. and mother of three in Atlanta, marking a first-of-its-kind genealogical breakthrough. 

“We know that Calvert [Ambush] was one of the people who built the White House from this payroll record,” explained Fulton, who confirmed this is the first time a genealogical organization has been able to link a living descendant to an enslaved individual who worked on the White House.

After Swain and Smith Sullivan learned about Ambush, the mother and daughter visited the National Archives in Washington, D.C. where they met with Jesse Holland, an author and expert on enslaved labor.

“In this box, we have the receipts,” he said, showing them the authentic 197-year-old government payroll listing individuals who worked on the White House, including Ambush.

“The government rented these slaves from their white slave masters,” he explained. 

When asked how it felt to see Ambush’s name on the document, Swain replied, “Surreal … the fact that this is the original document, I almost don’t wanna touch it.”

Enslaved laborers also worked on the construction of the U.S. Capitol. Holland said enslaved people were involved in every aspect of both buildings, including splitting stones at nearby quarries, transporting them upriver and towing them to D.C., where they built roofs, walls and columns.

“I don’t think I ever imagined the historical context,” Swain said. “And how [Ambush’s] work, his hands, had just a place in all of these buildings.” 

Holland said the enslaved workers slept in tents by the National Mall during construction.

“It’s overwhelming … just to know that it was tents all down this mall,” Smith Sullivan said.

Between 1792 and 1829, more than 200 enslaved laborers helped build both structures, though experts believe it was many more. While enslaved people worked alongside European craftsmen, as well as some white wage laborers and free African American wage laborers, the enslaved workers’ wages went entirely to their masters. 

Swain’s ancestor, Calvert Ambush, did not stay enslaved his entire life. According to Bill of Sale and Deed of Trust records, Ambush’s uncle, John Freeman — who was formerly enslaved by Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison — took out a $620 loan to buy Ambush’s freedom in 1833.

A marriage license shows Ambush married Patsey Cryde in 1834 and the couple went on to have three children.

At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, then-First Lady Michelle Obama spoke the words, “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.”

In a recent interview, Robin Roberts told former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama about the discovery of Ambush’s descendants, and she asked them what people should understand about those who built the White House and the country.

“We’re standing on everybody’s shoulders to be here,” Michelle Obama responded.

“The whole notion that there are people who are more deserving of being here and enjoying the freedoms of this country, you know, that’s just not true,” she said.

“There were a lot of people with a lot of different backgrounds who have toiled and died and served to make this country what it is.”

ABC News’ Janina Huang and Jeremy Greenberg contributed to this report.