Les Jones: Strom Thurmond's Mixed-Race Daughter

December 16, 2003

News > Strom Thurmond's Mixed-Race Daughter

Essie Mae Washington-Williams claims to be the daughter of segregationist Strom Thurmond and his parent's black maid. Washington-Williams has documents showing that Thurmond supported her financially over the years. She's ready to take a DNA test to prove paternity.

(Since I wrote a draft of this, Thurmond's family confirmed paternity.)

By then, Thurmond had been elected governor, a Democrat who was gaining national attention for his progressive policies, including funding for the education of black children and a tough stance against racial lynching.
After several years as a liberal governor, Thurmond did an about-face in 1948 and spearheaded a southern states' revolt against the national Democratic Party and its presidential nominee, Harry S. Truman. Thurmond became the Dixiecrat presidential candidate, espousing total racial segregation.

One reads similar accounts of Alabama's George Wallace. He started out sympathetic to blacks, but, having lost a 1958 election to a racist, Wallace swore to never again lose on the race issue. In both cases, it appears that a politician's racism was entirely motivated by a desire for political power rather than by any real prejudice. That doesn't excuse the racism, and I don't know what to think of it, but there it is.

Posted by lesjones

PunditFilter linked with Thurmond hypocrisy
PunditFilter linked with Thurmond hypocrisy

Comments

I'm a former Alabamian, so I'd like to speak for Wallace. By no means do I excuse his segregationist policies, nor his actions, but its important to note, and often forgotten by history, that in his later years he changed dramatically.

Years affter the Bremer shooting, he went to a black church unannounced one Sunday. He repented of his racist sins and begged forgiveness, in front of the congregation! As governor, he went on to appoint more blacks to Alabama state government than had been appointed in all of the state's history! You can argue too little, too late, but there you are. He did change.

Posted by: mike hollihan at December 16, 2003

As a Southerner of color I would like to say deathbed changes of heart such as Wallace's aren't worth ten cents. All one has to do is look at statistics regarding African-Americans in everything from health care to education to see the continuing harm of the segregationists' actions have caused. Furthermore, Thurmond never publicly claimed his daughter or repudiated his racist views.

I've posted an in-depth discussion of Ol' Strom's legacy at Silver Rights.

Posted by: Mac Diva at December 17, 2003

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