Emmy award winner Sheryl Lee Ralph, who starred in “Abbott Elementary,” reacted emotionally to the April 1 episode of ‘Finding Your Roots’ with Henry Louis Gates Jr. As it happens, numerous members of her paternal ancestry were identified as slaves, were tracked to North Carolina, and she was shocked to discover that a census taken before emancipation in 1863 showed her great-great-grandfather, George Thomas Ralph, and his mother as free.
Gates Jr. shared, “He became a farmer. Raised a family. And perhaps most impressively, somehow found a way to obtain an education in his old age, despite having been denied one as a child.”
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After learning about her ancestors, Ralph started crying. “I come from good people, and I come from people who never gave up, and kept right on,” Ralph remarked. “They plant the seeds that are still growing now.”
Then Ralph chuckled and turned to face host Gates. “I’m a free man’s child. Yes,” she remarked. “Yeah, that’s me. Sheryl Lee Ralph.”
A white farmer and George Thomas Ralph had an apprenticeship contract, as the episode describes. George Thomas Ralph was compensated for his labor as a farmer with food, housing, and other necessities of life. “I come from good people, and I come from people who never gave up, and kept right on.”
According to Gates, a crucial clause that would have given Sheryl Lee Ralph’s great-great-grandfather the right to acquire reading, writing, and ciphering skills was removed from the apprenticeship agreement.
George Thomas Ralph did not receive an education during the apprenticeship, but he did later in life, which was unusual at that time.
More of Ralph’s heritage will be covered in the April 1 show, which will also include historian Lonnie Bunch.
