It is always interesting and enjoyable to learn more about your family history and go back as far as you can to really discover your roots and where you actually came from. However, not everybody can say that they have had the most enjoyable experience, as there are actually some ancestors of some people, who were not the nicest around.
Ben Affleck is a Hollywood superstar
One such person, who got quite the disappointment when learning their ancestry, is the Hollywood superstar Ben Affleck, who was researching his family history for the show Finding Your Roots. Ben has since revealed how he was embarrassed to learn that one of his ancestors was a slave owner and begged the show producers not to include it.
Affleck took to Facebook to say, "After an exhaustive search of my ancestry for Finding Your Roots, it was discovered that one of my distant relatives was an owner of slaves. I didn't want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. I was embarrassed. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth."
Ben Affleck is a family man
It continued, "Skip decided what went into the show. I lobbied him the same way I lobby directors about what takes of mine I think they should use. This is the collaborative creative process. Skip agreed with me on the slave owner but made other choices I disagreed with. In the end, it's his show and I knew that going in. I'm proud to be his friend and proud to have participated."
The post concluded, "I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story. We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors and the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery. It is an examination well worth continuing. I am glad that my story, however indirectly, will contribute to that discussion. While I don't like that the guy is an ancestor, I am happy that aspect of our country's history is being talked about."
The search into his family history seems to suggest that the ancestor he was talking about was a man named James McGuire, who is related to Ben Affleck through his father's side. It is believed that James McGuire was the owner of eight slaves that he had working on his farm way back in the 1840s.
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