The Color Yellow

Wren T. Brown as Virgil

"The Color Yellow" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons' twenty-first season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 21, 2010. In this episode, Lisa discovers that her ancestors from Florida helped a black slave named Virgil escape to freedom, but Milhouse has a piece of family history that shows Lisa's ancestors giving Virgil up in an act of cowardice.

The episode was written by Ian Maxtone-Graham and Billy Kimball and directed by Raymond S. Persi. It guest starred Wren T. Brown as Virgil. The episode was viewed by 6.08 million viewers and received mixed to positive reviews.

While working on a genealogy assignment, Lisa discovers a diary written by her great-great-great grandaunt, Eliza Simpson. She reads it, hoping to discover a Simpson in her family tree that was not an alcoholic, criminal, or sexual fetishist. At first she believes through reading the diary that, to her dismay, Eliza was a slaveowner, but she soon learns that she and her mother Mabel were part of the Underground Railroad in 1860. Eliza sneaks into a ball hosted by Colonel Burns (later said to be the father of Monty Burns, again making fun of his age) to meet a slave named Virgil, but as the two make their escape, they are spotted by a mounted patrol. Unfortunately, the diary is too disintegrated for Lisa to read on, and she cannot bear not knowing if Virgil escaped.

Lisa and Marge discover a cookbook at the local library written by Mabel, made decades after Eliza saved Virgil. In it is an anecdote that tells how Eliza and Virgil evaded capture by donning disguises at a traveling circus with a Krusty-type clown. They make it back to the Simpson household, but Eliza's father Hiram is suspicious of Virgil's presence. Virgil makes him 'wheel cakes' and Hiram swears to keep Virgil's whereabouts a secret. As the story continues on it becomes like The Color Purple.