Hidden in the Genes

Finding Your Roots is back! Tune in to our season premiere this week with actress and filmmaker Rebecca Hall and filmmaker Lee Daniels as Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the hidden stories of their family trees. Don’t miss Finding Your Roots on Tuesday, January 4 at 8/7c on @PBS!

The book “Passing", which Rebecca Hall has directed for film, helps her bring her grandfather's ethnicity into focus.

The 1910 census holds clues about the true ethnicity of Rebecca Hall’s grandfather, who had lived as a Native American Sioux chief named Norman Isaac Ewing.

Lee Daniels discovers the stunningly surprising familial ties between his great-grandmother, great-grandfather, and great-grandaunt.

How is this possible?!” Lee Daniels discovers he is DNA cousins with actor and human rights advocate Mia Farrow.

Despite being born into slavery, Rebecca Hall’s great-grandfather, John Ewing, went on to work at the U.S. Treasury, attend Howard University and befriend Frederick Douglass.

“That’s why they’re so damn uppity.” An 1850 census reveals clues about Lee Daniel’s grandmother’s fun-loving, musical family and why he has always felt a special connection to them.

A discovery about Lee Daniels’ grandmother’s fun-loving, musical family may explain why he has always felt a special connection to them.