Independent Lens

Season 16

Episode 11: Little White Lie

Filmmaker Lacey Schwartz shares her journey of self-discovery. She grew up in a Jewish household believing, as her parents told her, that her dark complexion came from a dark-skinned Sicilian grandfather. Schoolmates doubted the story, but it wasn't until she was 18, when her parents abruptly split, that she learned the truth: her biological father was not her dad, but an African-American man with whom her mother had a longterm affair.