Hollywood actor Edward Norton admitted he felt uncomfortable after knowing that he came from a family of slave owners.
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Edward Norton, who has starred in blockbusters ‘Fight Club‘ and ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery‘, will appear as a guest on the PBS show ‘Finding Your Roots‘ where he will open up about his family history.
Related – ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery‘ is worth investigating
Host Henry Louis Gates Jr., in the show, showed him a picture of a 55-year-old man, a 37-year-old woman and five girls aged 10, 9, 8, 6 and 4 and told them they were slaves.
“What’s it like to see that?” Gates Jr. asked Norton.
“The short answer is, these things are uncomfortable, and you should be uncomfortable with them. Everybody should be uncomfortable with it,” Norton replied. “It’s not a judgment on you and your own life but it’s a judgment on the history of this country.
“It needs to be acknowledged first and foremost, and then it needs to be contended with.”
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The picture does not confirm how they were related and whether it was from the United States.
His grandfather James Rouse was a businessman and founder of The Rouse Company. His great-grandfather was a Maryland-based attorney and businessman William Goldsmith Rouse.
Related – Ben Affleck ’embarrassed’ over slave-owning ancestors
Moreover, Willard Rouse II and Willard Rouse III were wealthy and dealt in real estate.
“When you go away from census counts and you personalize things, you’re talking about, possibly, a husband and wife with five girls—and these girls are slaves. Born into slavery,” Norton said, contextualizing the situation.
“Born into slavery and in slavery in perpetuity,” Gates Jr. added.
“Yeah. Again, when you read slave aged 8, you just, you want to die,” the actor said.
