Clearance is given. A park ranger leads the group to the second floor. Abdul-Jabbar wears eyeglasses in retirement; his goatee is all gray. A New York native, he is here to celebrate his genealogy on the occasion of the century mark since his grandparents, Venus and Cyrus Alcindor, arrived stateside. They migrated from Belize, British Honduras, on a ship to the United States through Port of Mobile in Alabama. Cyrus had worked as a prisoner transporter in the Caribbean, and the couple uprooted in search of better economic prospects. Abdul-Jabbar takes a seat on a wooden bench in the front row of the Registry Room in the Great Hall. An American flag hangs above him on each side. Upon receiving his Ellis Island Family Heritage Award — a golden flame — he recounts his grandmother's train ride north to escape Jim Crow. She had little experience on trains while living in Trinidad. The trip from Mobile to Brooklyn took the immigrants three or four days to complete.