With dignity, not fanfare (Thurmond's biracial daughter earned her spot on monument)

With little fanfare, Essie Mae Washington Williams, accompanied by her daughter, returned three months ago to her roots in Edgefield County. According to a front-page article in the weekly Edgefield Advertiser ... she visited the grave of her late father, U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, and paid calls on relatives and friends of both her parents.

Last week, her name was added to that of the four other Thurmond children on the senator's monument on the State House grounds in Columbia.

What also should be recorded for posterity is what a remarkable woman Williams is in her own right.

From the day last year when Williams decided to confirm a long-standing rumor that the nation's oldest and longest-serving senator had a biracial child, she has been a model of decorum.

The retired schoolteacher decided to go public only after the senator's retirement and death at age 100. Her words have always been measured and gracious, and she has told her story without rancor.

Williams hasn't refused the spotlight, but she has chosen her appearances and her words carefully. She has been so impressive that the legislature's endorsement of the proposal to add her name to the Thurmond monument was a foregone conclusion.

It was, of course, her due. But her fine character has made it a particularly satisfying event.

Essie Mae has a lot of class but let's set the record straight about a couple of things.

First of all, for those of us who lived and grew up in this state, especially those like me who live minutes from Edgefield ... Essie Mae was no secret. Strom never denied she was his child.

When Essie Mae was growing up - Strom always took care of her monetarily, and always looked out for her. When she enrolled at S.C. State, Strom paid her way - tuition, books, housing, food ... she had a car and was one of the few African-Americans to have a car, especially females, at S.C. State in those days.

Strom and his wife made regular visits to S.C. State where Essie would be brought into the President's office and they would spend parlor time together ... Strom always wanting to make sure she was being treated like royalty.

Strom never denied her existence and that she was his offspring. He was far too classy to do something like that. What he didn't do was turn it into a public specitical not because he feared anything ... but because he did not want Essie Mae's life to turn into a circus. That was also the wishes of Essie Mae and her mother - Strom's former nanny.

Now, things were different back then. It is far too complicated to try to explain to people that did not grow up here and/or live here for any period of time. But Strom never sherked his responsibilities. Not once. And I for one and tired of seeing the liberal media vilify the man and attempt to make it look like he never acknowleged Essie Mae as his child. It is a lie. The man did more than acknowledge her ... he loved her. She knows it and so do those of us from this neck of the woods. That's all that really matters I guess.

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