Jerome Bettis, Next on Who Do You Think You Are?

2 Replies to “Jerome Bettis, Next on Who Do You Think You Are?”

1. I admire our ancestors that stood up with courage and determination against injustice and I’m sure it was frightening to do so. However, all immigrants, some, unfortunatley, forced by the greed of others, some others their own volition escaping persecution, some voluntarily into servidtude to better themselves. Very few left their family and birth country because life was good there. All faced death, disease and the unknown.
   We need to remember whatever color, race or creed all of our ancestors were courageous however they arrived.

2. I’m very disappointed that more wasn’t included! There were only two slaves to that household, his great-great great grandparents, and yes, then his gg grand father born to them, who was sold after the slave wife died at ten years old. But what were the occupation of the slave master? Why make us and Jerome think they were working that fiend as if it were a tobacco or cotton plantation? Again, the household only had his relatives, husband and wife, as the slaves listed. Slavery was the law then, even other blacks, as we learned on Blair Underwood’s episode who bought their relatives, and were listed as slaves too, but only to keep them together. I loved the part where Jerome’s gggrandfather fought that big bad corporation, the railroad, and won though. But, again what was the tragedy? That the young Abram being separated at 10 years old? I know it’s hard to imagine that, and it is a tragedy by today’s standards, but at that time, even whites had hard lives back then. Slavery was a very terrible thing, of course. But, because it was “law” then, there were “good slave owners” – I got that from my grandmother (a black woman). Some would buy slaves so they wouldn’t be abused, but be able to live a better life than with the brutal plantation owners who did work their slaves half to death, and raped. I may be wrong, but why didn’t anyone think of the owner only having 2 slaves who kept all til their deaths? Remember, it was the law back then, blacks had to be slaves, or else they wouldn’t be able to live there, and would be brutalized by greedy and lazy plantation owners, who had hundreds of slaves to work their huge farms for huge profits. Two slaves couldn’t have run a huge farm like that. Especially one being a woman, who was pregnant there too with Abram. Abram’s story was great, but again, why only 2 slaves, and making us think they were those typical slave owners? Which I doubt they were, not with only 2 slaves. :/ It could have been better, then leading us to believe the stereotype.