Ep 2. Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox, an Emmy-nominated actress, heads back through her roots in this episode of Who Do You Think You Are? This episode unveils the actress's family story and helps her go farther back in generations than she had before.

The episode starts with Laverne traveling to Mobile, Alabama, to one of her mother's sibling's house. There she discovers the story of her maternal great-grandparents and their impact on the lives of their children and grandchildren. Among the things she discovers is the fact that her great-great grandfather was a white man who owned land and enslaved her great-great grandmother. Laverne is really moved by this information. She talks about how people try to separate their blackness from their whiteness; but in reality, all in each of them exists together.

Next, Laverne heads to Georgia where she meets a cousin on her father's side who helps her find out more about her paternal great-grandfather. She discovers that her great-grandfather had been killed in a shoot-out with the police in the 1920s. Laverne talks about the pain of knowing this, given the fact that she works with PRIDE, an organization that fights for transgender people, who she says have the highest murder rates. She says that this fact bothers her, because it reveals that history repeats itself.

The episode moves on to a segment on Laverne's third great-grandmother, named Charity, who was an enslaved woman in the Southern United States in the late 1800s. Laverne goes to Maryland, where she finds evidence that Charity, a woman who was only property for her entire life, was able to buy land for her family so that they'd have economic security. The revelation of this story signifies the impact Black women had on their family lines, despite being enslaved and subservient. It also highlights the resilience of Black women in the face of oppression.

Another topic that comes up is Laverne's family's connection to their Native American heritage. Laverne has been always interesting to know more about her family's lineage that way. She decides to do a DNA test to determine the extent of that heritage. She discovers that she does indeed have Native American ancestry.

Finally, the episode wraps up with Laverne reflecting on the importance of these stories. She talks about the efforts of people to erase the histories of Black people and other marginalized groups; but uncovering these stories helps in piecing together, the reason why some families are as they are today. Laverne expresses gratitude for the people who've come before her- the ones who have shared the experience of being displaced from own their land and having no real kinship. By putting faces and stories to generations past, Laverne is able to gain insight into the people whose lives have made her own experiences possible.