Last autumn, a genealogical television show I watch stirred up some controversy. It seems that a celebrity whose ancestors were being traced refused to reveal that he has a slave owner in his lineage. Instead, the actor opted to shut his eyes to his ancestor’s existence, silence the echoes of the past, and revise his family history as he saw fit.
As an amateur genealogist, I was appalled. In my humble opinion, every person’s story should be told; and those stories should be as truthful and unbiased as possible. Each of us who has dug deep enough into our family roots has unearthed a skeleton or two or three… It is inevitable. We all have the good, the bad, and the downright “ugly” ancestors. It is what it is.
