The revelation that made Sheryl Lee Ralph cry on ‘Finding Your Roots'

NBC News

31-03-2025

'Abbott Elementary' actor Sheryl Lee Ralph had an emotional reaction after learning her family history in the April 1 episode of 'Finding Your Roots."
Ralph's paternal side came from North Carolina. When the 'Finding Your Roots' team found evidence of her descendants, many were listed as being enslaved.
To Ralph's surprise, her great-great-grandfather on her direct paternal line — George Thomas Ralph — had his name listed in a North Carolina census before Emancipation in 1863, a sign that he was a free man, along with his mother, who was also listed.
'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,' host Henry Louis Gates Jr. said in the episode, which TODAY.com shared an exclusive clip of on Monday.
Ralph teared up when she learned about her ancestor. 'I come from good people, and I come from people who never gave up, and kept right on,' Ralph said, choked up. 'They plant the seeds that are still growing now.'
Ralph then laughed and looked up at host Gates. 'I'm a free man's child. Yes,' she said. 'Yeah, that's me. Sheryl Lee Ralph.'
The episode explains that George Thomas Ralph had signed an apprenticeship agreement with a white farmer. In exchange for his services as a farmer, George Thomas Ralph received food, shelter, and the necessary facets of living.
Gates explained that the apprenticeship document had a key line crossed out from the agreement that would have granted Sheryl Lee Ralph's great-great-grandfather the right to learn how to read, write and cipher.
Though he did not become educated during the apprenticeship, George Thomas Ralph acquired an education later in his life, an uncommon feat during the time.
The April 1 episode will feature more about Ralph's ancestry, plus spotlight historian Lonnie Bunch.