Clarice also had Jewish ancestry , through her father Louis Cohen . During the Tulsa race riot , her family offered shelter to African-Americans who had been burned out of their homes . The Cohen family was targeted by the Ku Klux Klan as a result . Later , Clarice was rejected by Ivy League schools that assumed she was Jewish . Deeply afraid of persecution , Clarice changed the family 's name from Cohen ( her father 's last name ) to Gates ( her mother 's maiden name ) . She kept her family 's Jewish ancestry a deep secret . Mary-Claire King was a university student when she accidentally discovered her Jewish ancestry
Tulsa race riot
Tulsa race riot
Mary-Claire King