Rebecca Hall on “Finding Your Roots”
It was revealed that her great-great-grandfather, John William Ewing, was born into slavery in Tennessee in 1858.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the hidden stories of Rebecca Hall’s family tree and discovers her African American heritage.
For Rebecca Hall, directing Passing was partly an autobiographical endeavor, as she has lived much of her life thinking of herself as a white British woman and not as a woman of color.
Hall went on Finding Your Roots to learn more about her African American heritage. It was revealed that her great-great-grandfather, John William Ewing, was born into slavery in Tennessee in 1858. He went on to work at the United States Department of the Treasury, attend Howard University, and befriend Frederick Douglass.
In his obituary, he is described as a man who led with his blackness: “Mr. Ewing was always interested in anything looking to the elevation of the [Black] race along moral and educational lines.”
Her grandfather Norman Isaac Ewing, on the other hand, crafted a public identity as a Native American musician. Her grandfather’s decision to pass erased a connection to Hall’s black ancestry that was not fully uncovered until this year.
Ewing was known as a Chief of the Dakota tribe who fought in Custer’s Last Stand. Hall became visibly emotional when Dr. Gates confirmed that Ewing was, in fact, part mulatto, and had fabricated his Native American ancestry to avoid becoming the target of racism.
Rebecca Hall comes to Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to uncover family secrets held by her maternal grandfather in this clip from PBS’ Finding Your Roots.
Hall’s directorial debut, Passing, which she also wrote and produced, was adapted from the celebrated 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen. The film tells the story of two Black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Ruth Negga), who can “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the color line during the height of the Harlem Renaissance in late 1920s New York.
Also: Take a look at this conversation between Rebecca Hall and Chaz Ebert, where she talks about and her film, colorism, and honoring her black history, youtu.be/eV0IVQw9jUs.
Rebecca Hall is featured in Season 8, Episode 1: Hidden in the Genes. The exciting season premiere also features Lee Daniels, who discovers he is DNA cousins with actor and human rights advocate Mia Farrow.
Watch full episodes of Finding Your Roots at PBS.org/FindingYourRoots.
