The show, in which the Harvard professor uncovers the ancestral histories of notable people, will air at 8 p.m. Sunday on Cincinnati’s CET and 9 p.m. Monday on Dayton’s ThinkTV 16.
A 10-part series, the show will be shaking the family trees of everyone from Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson to evangelical minister Rick Warren and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
This past winter, a crew from the show came to Springfield to visit sites and interview Legend’s father and grandmother, Ron and Marjorie Stephens.
“No one to my knowledge,” Ron Stephens said, “had ever traced any of this stuff back.”
Stephens knew the family’s history only back to his grandparents.
“I understand it’s important to understand where you’re from,” he said, “but I wasn’t curious enough to investigate it.
“I had enough family history that I was able to feel secure about who I am. Some people don’t know who their fathers are.”
He and his Grammy-winning son were equally impressed by the revelation that their family tree contains freed slaves whose freedom had been contested in a court case.
The rest of the findings will be a surprise to Stephens.
“It’s going to be just as interesting for me to find out what they discovered,” he said.
Legend will be back on TV on May 24 as one of the judges on ABC’s new series, “Duets.”
In the new singing competition, he and the other judges set out across the country to find the perfect singing partners.
Contact this reporter at amcginn@coxohio.com.
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