#BlackTwitter Calls Out Ancestry.com For Allegedly Romanticizing Slavery

Ancestry.com is facing backlash after it aired a controversial and racially insensitive ad that romanticized the relationship between a Black woman and a white man during the North America era of slavery. 

On Thursday, social media went into a rage after Ancestry dropped an ad that depicted a white man trying to convince a Black woman to move to the North and get married in what appears to be during or before the American Civil War time period. The ad, which is titled “Inseparable,” was launched on Ancestry’s YouTube channel earlier in April. In the caption,  the two actors are described as lovers. 

“Abigail,” the man says as he shows her what appears to be a wedding ring. “We can escape to the North. There’s a place we can be together, across the border.”

It didn’t take long for social media to call the company out on its tone-deaf ad. Many criticized the website for portraying interracial relationships as romantic when in reality most Black Americans with white ancestry are a result of Blacks being raped. But let’s also mention, Black ancestry didn’t start in America, and slavery is not the only pivotal time in Black history. 

In true #BlackTwitter form, it made sure to give Ancestry a reality check and a history lesson.

Will you #BoycottAncestry?