Family Name

PBS Premiere: Sept. 15, 1998Check the broadcast schedule »

Filmmaker Interview

Family Name, the 1997 Sundance Freedom of Expression Award-winning film, follows filmmaker Macky Alston from New York to the South, as he unearths the history of his white slave-owning family, and explores the link to the black families that share his name. In this interview, Alston explains why talking with members of those families — whose ancestors were slaves owned by past generations of his family — was so important to him.