海角大神

What would you do if you found out your ancestors were slave owners?

Award-winning actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck is now publicly figuring out the answer for himself. His desire to omit this part of his family鈥檚 history is now making Mr. Affleck a high-profile example of how others might address truths regarding uncomfortable parts of their history.

In the course of appearing on the PBS documentary series 鈥淔inding Your Roots,鈥� Affleck discovered that distant relatives of the actor were slave-owners. For someone known for his humanitarian efforts in Africa, the revelation was one Affleck wanted to keep out of the spotlight.

The show鈥檚 host, Harvard Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., listened to Affleck鈥檚 concerns and agreed not to feature this part of Affleck鈥檚 history in the show. But because of the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack that occurred last year, the confidential e-mails came to light and were published by WikiLeaks earlier this week.

Affleck posted to his Facebook page an explanation for what happened. He said that when the discovery was made, he was 鈥渆mbarrassed鈥� to learn his family included a slave owner. But after the information became public, he said he second-guessed his decision to exclude the information. Affleck wrote:

Affleck is not the only celebrity featured on the show who has had slave-owning ancestors. Baseball star Derek Jeter,聽Ken Burns, and Anderson Cooper all discovered they had slave-owning relatives, and openly talked about it. Mr. Cooper, whose relative owned 12 slaves and was actually murdered by one of them, spoke about his desire to know more about the individual who killed his ancestor.

鈥淚 wish I knew more, I wish I knew the name of the slave,鈥� Cooper said on the show. 鈥淲hen you think about how many peoples鈥� names history just never remembers, and people whose stories are never told, it鈥檚 shameful. And I feel such a sense of shame over it, and at the same time it鈥檚 the history of this country.鈥�

The exact number of Americans descended from slave owners is unknown, but is guessed to be relatively small. Conservative talk-show host and film critic聽Michael Medved estimates that since more than 80 percent of the Southern white population did not own slaves, a small portion of current white Americans were directly descended from slave owners. It is the slave industry, and the subsequent laws, attitudes and actions that have shaped the lives of many Americans,聽Mr. Medved explained:

Some argue the aftermath of slavery still affects the US and undergirds tense race relations. After attempting to hide the truth of his own ancestry, Affleck suggests that his current situation may contribute to a closer look at America's history of slavery and the effects still seen today.

鈥淚 was embarrassed. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth,鈥� Affleck wrote on his Facebook page. 鈥淲hile I don't like that the guy is an ancestor, I am happy that aspect of our country's history is being talked about.鈥�