Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China documents media entrepreneur Paula Williams Madison and her two brothers Elrick and Howard Williams' humble beginnings in Harlem with their Chinese-Jamaican mother.

They embark on a quest to discover their heritage while searching for clues about their long-lost grandfather, Samuel Lowe. Their emotional journey spans from Toronto to Jamaica to China, finally reuniting them with hundreds of Chinese relatives they never imagined existed.

For the official Finding Samuel Lowe website, please click here.
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For information on the book Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem by Paula Williams Madison, please click here.

An Afro-Chinese-Jamaican Harlem family seeks their Chinese grandfather who was forever separated from their mother - his 3-year-old half-Chinese, half-Jamaican daughter - in 1920. Samuel Lowe returned to China in 1933 with a Chinese wife and 6 children.

“[Finding Samuel Lowe] is Kong’s third documentary on the subject of Chinese in Jamaica, starting with The Chiney Shop and Half: The Story of a Chinese-Jamaican Son, which looks at the life of a biracial Jamaican sent to China. Samuel Lowe completes a remarkable trilogy that examines a little known diaspora.”

— Tony Wong, Toronto Star

Featuring
PAULA WILLIAMS MADISON
ELRICK WILLIAMS
HOWARD WILLIAMS
ANTHONY 'HARRY' HARRISON
OUIDA HARRISON
CHOW WOO LOWE
MINJUN LUO
ANTHONY 'TONY' LOWE
LORAINE LOWE
ANDREA LOWE
DR. KEITH LOWE
VINCENT CHANG
SETH GEORGE RAMOCAN
CAROL WONG

English and Hakka Chinese with English subtitles

NTSC, Color
Director's Cut approx. 88 mins. / Feature length approx. 58 mins

Visit the official website at www.findingsamuellowe.com

Former NBC broadcast executive and Afro-Jamaican entrepreneur Paula Madison recalls that her mother Nell Vera Lowe spoke of her sad childhood. Born in Jamaica in 1918 to a Chinese shopkeeper Samuel Lowe and a young Jamaican woman Albertha Campbell, Nell at three was separated from her father and never saw him again. After Nell died in 2006, Paula determined she would find the other descendants of her Chinese grandfather in China.

Having experienced poverty and hardship from growing up in a single-parent household in Harlem, Paula and her brother Elrick Williams built the family fortune, making them majority shareholders in The Africa Channel and owners of the WNBA Basketball Team The Los Angeles Sparks as well as other investments.

Embarking on a journey that would take her and brothers Elrick and Howard first to Toronto where they would be introduced to the Chinese-Jamaican community and remember clues to their family’s history, which in turn would lead them to Jamaica. There, they discover Samuel Lowe’s humble beginnings in Mocho, Clarendon and then his successful store in St. Ann’s Bay.

Having been told by their mother Nell that her father Samuel Lowe left Jamaica for China around 1934, never to return to Jamaica, through research and family connections, they trace their relatives to Shenzhen, China. A trip to China with their entire family culminates into an unforgettable family reunion.

At its heart, this is a story about familial love and devotion that transcends race, space, and time.