Things turned deeply emotional for The Bear star Liza Colón-Zayas on the latest episode of Finding Your Roots. The episode was called Caribbean Roots. And for her, it lived up to the name in the most intense way.
Liza appeared alongside Delroy Lindo. Both have strong ties to the Caribbean. Host Henry Louis Gates Jr. guided them through family histories they had never fully known. Liza expected difficult truths. Still, what she learned hit harder than she imagined.
Gates revealed that her great grandmother, Maria Juliana Adolfo, had been enslaved. She was taken from Guadeloupe to Puerto Rico. She was forced to work in the home of a sugar planter. That alone was heavy. Then came more.
Liza learned that her great grandfather was born to Maria while she was enslaved. His father was Amadee Marrero. He was also believed to be enslaved at the time. The two were not married. Their son, Pablo Marrero Adolfo, was born into slavery and out of wedlock.
Gates gently asked her if she ever thought she would learn the name of an enslaved ancestor.
She said she thought she might. But hearing it still broke her heart. She said she was crying not because she was shocked. She was crying because now that person had a name. A real name. Someone who existed. Someone who mattered.
The revelation suddenly made sense of a family memory. Liza remembered her grandfather always went by the nickname Amadee. She now believes it was a tribute to the grandfather he never got to know. A quiet way of keeping him alive.
When asked how she would tell her mother, Liza tried to lighten the moment. She joked that she would show up with a bottle of coquito. Then she turned serious. She said her mother’s entire reality would be shaken.
It was a reminder of what Finding Your Roots does best. It does not just reveal history. It gives names back to people who were erased. And sometimes, that truth is overwhelming.
