It's hard not to anticipate sorrow when you read the words "child star." The pairing of words and their definition may be innocuous enough, but the history of child stars is anything but. Just last week, Jennette McCurdy recounted the horrors she experienced while working for Nickelodeon. Show business is a rough gig for anyone, but kids' fragile and developing brains have been proven to implode when inundated with fame and adulation reliably. That's why we have to appreciate the cases where being a child star doesn't destroy one's life.
In the video linked above, Comedy Hype's YouTube channel recounts the life and times of Ernest Fredric Morrison — or Ernie "Sunshine" Sammy Morrison — the first Black child star. In addition to breaking ground in representation, Morrison was at one point the highest paid Black actor, irrespective of age, in the business. Even though most child star stories end poorly, Morrison's is pretty uplifting stuff.
