Skip to comments.
Michelle Obama's ancestors traced to Ulster slave owner
The Belfast Telegraph ^
| June 18, 2012
| Paul Melia
Posted on 06/18/2012 2:16:58 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
US First Lady Michelle Obama's ancestry can be traced to a slave owner from what is now Northern Ireland, who emigrated to America in the 1700s.
A new book claims that Andrew Shields, who fought against the British in the American War of Independence, was Mrs Obama's great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and his family were slave owners.
Her great-great-great-grandmother Melvinia was a slave who had children by Charles Shields, grandson of Andrew Shields. One of those children, Dolphus Shields, born in 1859, was Michelle Obama's direct ancestor.
The claims are made in American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama by Rachel L Swarns, a writer with the New York Times.
DNA technology was used to prove the link, and among the genealogists who helped trace Mrs Obama's roots was Megan Smolenyak, who discovered that President Obama's roots went back to Moneygall in Co Offaly.
While the book does not identify where the Shields came from, it was most likely Ulster as the family was Protestant and there was considerable Scots-Irish emigration to the American South at the time.
It traces dozens of white relatives of Michelle Obama, none of whom knew of their connection through slavery to the first lady. Most were shocked to learn the connection and hoped that the Shields-Melvinia relationship was not one of rape, but love.
You really don't like to face this kind of thing, said Joan Tribble, whose ancestors owned the first lady's relative.
To me, it's an obvious love story, another descendant, Aliene Shields, added, pointing out they had several children together.
Ms Smolenyak began the project just before Mr Obama was elected president and she said she hoped her discovery would please the first lady.
TOPICS: History; Politics; Science
KEYWORDS: genealogy; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; ireland; michelleobama; obama; theloveconnection
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-44 next last
So when slavery reparations are handed out, does she pay herself?
To: 2ndDivisionVet; fieldmarshaldj; GOPsterinMA; NFHale; Perdogg; sickoflibs; AuH2ORepublican; ...
Nice.
The children were given the guy’s name so that tells me he cared for them.
2
posted on
06/18/2012 2:34:00 AM PDT
by
Impy
(Don't call me red.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
While the book does not identify where the Shields came fromKinda like Hussein.
3
posted on
06/18/2012 2:43:22 AM PDT
by
Libloather
(The epitome of civility.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
Will there come a day when black people in the USA look around and realize they have not been slaves in over 100 years ?
Probably not. But if the do, who are they then going to blame?
4
posted on
06/18/2012 3:05:19 AM PDT
by
maine yankee
(I got my Governor at 'Marden's')
To: 2ndDivisionVet
Dolphus T Shields (left), Mrs Obama's ancestor, has a white father who links the First Lady (pictured far right as a baby) with slave-owning the decedents of slave owners who still live in the South. New York Times journalist Rachel L Swarns used DNA testing and historical documents to track down Mrs Obama's living white family members for her new book, 'American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html
5
posted on
06/18/2012 3:14:09 AM PDT
by
patriot08
(TEXAS GAL- born and bred and proud of it!)
To: patriot08
I’ve read accounts that Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Harding, Eisenhower and possibly other presidents had black ancestors.
6
posted on
06/18/2012 3:16:47 AM PDT
by
2ndDivisionVet
(Ich habe keinen Konig aber Gott)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
So when slavery reparations are handed out, does she pay herself? Apparently, she's already doing just that.
7
posted on
06/18/2012 3:17:56 AM PDT
by
Fresh Wind
('People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.' Richard M. Nixon)
8
posted on
06/18/2012 3:19:46 AM PDT
by
devolve
(------ ---- ---------toss_subhumans_in_Hannibal*s_wild_boar_pit----------- ---------------------)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
Worse ...
anti-whiute, racist hatred is genetic ... a mutation of the anti-black gene found in great, etc. grandpappy obrien.
Thus
It's a disease and more'n likely covered by obamacare.
8 weeks paid leave with job security when you return .. all that ... YOU know the routine, eh ?
9
posted on
06/18/2012 3:39:11 AM PDT
by
knarf
(I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
10
posted on
06/18/2012 3:52:53 AM PDT
by
JoeProBono
(A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
Baractric O’Bama, gosh and begorrah!
11
posted on
06/18/2012 3:59:06 AM PDT
by
Lonesome in Massachussets
(The Democratic Party strongly supports full civil rights for necro-Americans!)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
12
posted on
06/18/2012 4:16:48 AM PDT
by
BigCinBigD
(...Was that okay?)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
'To me, it's an obvious love story,' another descendant, Aliene Shields, added, pointing out they had several children together."Uh...I don't know how to break this to you, Aliene, but a slave had no legal right to give or deny consent.
13
posted on
06/18/2012 4:55:12 AM PDT
by
Savage Beast
(Going into debt is taking the canoe out with the tide and coming back against it.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
"Ive read accounts that Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Harding, Eisenhower and possibly other presidents had black ancestors."Queen Elizabeth does. Everybody probably does if you could trace your ancestry back far enough.
14
posted on
06/18/2012 5:13:17 AM PDT
by
Savage Beast
(Going into debt is taking the canoe out with the tide and coming back against it.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
Slavery is one of the mose horrifying evils ever devised by man or the devil. It exists and even flourishes in the world today.
If you want to help put an end to this evil, contact the American Anti-Slavery Group: http://www.iabolish.org/
15
posted on
06/18/2012 5:19:23 AM PDT
by
Savage Beast
(Going into debt is taking the canoe out with the tide and coming back against it.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet
Slavery is one of the mose horrifying evils ever devised by man or the devil. It exists and even flourishes in the world today.
If you want to help put an end to this evil, contact the American Anti-Slavery Group: http://www.iabolish.org/
16
posted on
06/18/2012 5:19:52 AM PDT
by
Savage Beast
(Going into debt is taking the canoe out with the tide and coming back against it.)
To: 2ndDivisionVet; All
It’s obvious from the baby photo that both parents are 1/4 white. Michelle would have expected to marry a person of similar admixture in the rules of the color caste system of American negroes. Or so they tell me.
17
posted on
06/18/2012 5:55:45 AM PDT
by
Havisham
To: 2ndDivisionVet
OK, so what? Lots of African-Americans have slave-owning white ancestors. Are we going to blame MO for being a rape baby, or even a love baby,
n times removed?
This is a ridiculous thing to be concerned with.
18
posted on
06/18/2012 6:36:30 AM PDT
by
Grut
To: 2ndDivisionVet
The dirty truth is that everyone, at some point in history, had ancestors who owned slaves.
19
posted on
06/18/2012 6:41:32 AM PDT
by
FreeAtlanta
(Liberty and Justice for ALL)
To: Grut
The gorilla in the room here is that they can track Michelle’s past history and her ancestry going back generations upon generations down to the gleam in her great great great grandaddy’s eye. And yet...
20
posted on
06/18/2012 7:19:09 AM PDT
by
Hatteras
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-44 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson