The dramatic scene is undoubtedly from American history circa 1850. A young white gentleman, dressed in suit and high collar tied by a large scarf, tells a beautiful young African-American woman, wearing a cotton plantation dress, of his plan for them to run away together. He begs her to go with him north where they can live together happily in peace and freedom. The young woman looks kindly and deeply into his eyes yet says nothing. She is moved by his compassion, his care for her, his love. Their future is unknown, but the man is anxious to leave immediately, for it’s now or never. This is their only opportunity. Does the young couple leave or stay? Will they be victorious or doomed? Viewers are not let in on the tale’s ending but are encouraged to seek Ancestry.com to uncover similar hidden family stories, couplings that culminate through the decades and centuries to the people living today.
The seconds-long TV ad depicted a beautiful moment of truth between an American man and woman, a golden opportunity for them to escape a harsh reality in history when two people of different social ranks—and races—ought not be together during their lifetime. Watching the brief scene, I didn’t see anything upsetting or racist or evil. I saw a certain historic truth in the history of some American families. I was captivated by the bravery and compassion and presumed romantic love of a young man.
But this television commercial raised the ire of so many politically-correct Americans that it was pulled from the airwaves, never to be seen again. Why? According to Ancestry.com, the ad upset and angered too many Americans. Detractors had a lot of questions about the couple. They wanted to know if the woman were the man’s slave, if he were taking her not of her free will but for sinister motives, and then there’s the undertone of a romantic coupling of two races way back when.
Come on, Americans! This is the 21st century. We just lived to see a U.S. president who was racially black and white. Nowadays it is common to watch commercials featuring couples of various ethnicities, races and sexualities. Modern America is not shocking. But the past, even a couple centuries ago, still stings. When digging into American family roots, we cannot judge our ancestors. We ought to expect interesting and intriguing revelations that open our minds to the good, the bad and the ugly—for our entwined past is indeed a Western.
What was then was then
Investigating our deeply twisted American roots is bound to present mind-blowing truths and painful revelations. But it’s not like 20th century Americans haven’t watched soap operas or are naive to a Southern Gothic tale where the unspeakable comes to light. In fact, our collective TV and movie watching over the past century is probably the number one reason our society became more tolerant, present-day political polarization aside. We think nothing of watching a show about two gay guys, a talk show hosted by a lesbian or a black woman, or a kiss between two people of different races. In the early days of TV, all of those shows would have been banned in the South and some nationwide by a host of network sponsors, the good folks who brought us gelatin dessert, cigarettes and dish washing powder.
Americans can deal with fiction, like watching the epic Gone with the Wind or the North and South TV miniseries. But viewing a clip of real history from one’s family in 19th century America—the way we all know it was—and the reality of a mixed marriage or the slave era smacks too close to home and heart. That’s because given the point in time of human history, the era was not that long ago. To this day wounds remain buried in the American soul. The pain for some is felt in the mind, emotions and the genes. In his PBS series Finding Your Roots, historian and ancestral researcher Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. pointed out that practically all descendants of African-American slaves have European DNA. How could it be? The truth should set us free. Yet the reality of history has the power to hurt and anger descendants far removed in time but able to feel the anguish or shame of their ancestors.
Let Ancestry.com air the poignant nonfiction account of a scene in American history some two hundred years ago. Let the database company preserving historical records create a series of ads spotlighting our American past, featuring the many prejudices and injustices found in substantiated accounts: a young woman hung for witchcraft, an African-American child taken away from her family, a Native American forced to walk the Trail of Tears, a filthy child working in a factory, a poor immigrant confused by the rude cacophony of a city street, a man refusing to tell the government his political affiliation or beliefs, a young man arrested on Gay Street … You will discover—beneath some of America’s ugliest moments; the misjudgments of our ancestors; the racial, ethnic and sexual suppression; the outright sins of our fathers—lives intersecting in times of turmoil, and that despite their pain and their sorrow, their only hope was a better place and time for Americans living in the future.