Posted on 03/02/2007 7:49:02 AM PST by dead
WASHINGTON: Many people know that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother from Kansas.
But an intriguing snippet of the Illinois senator's family history has received almost no attention until now: It appears that forebears of his white mother owned slaves, according to genealogical research and US census records.
The records - never addressed publicly by Senator Obama or his relatives - were noted in an ancestry report compiled by William Addams Reitwiesner, who works at the Library of Congress and researches genealogies in his spare time. The report, on Mr Reitwiesner's website, carries a disclaimer that it is a "first draft" - one likely to be examined more closely if the senator from Illinois is nominated.
According to the research, one of Senator Obama's great-great-great-great-grandfathers, George Washington Overall, owned two slaves who were recorded in the 1850 census in Nelson County, Kentucky. The same records show that one of Senator Obama's great-great-great-great-great-grandmothers, Mary Duvall, also owned two slaves.
The records show that Overall, then 30, owned a 15-year-old female and a 25-year-old male, while Mary Duvall, his mother-in-law, owned a 60-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman.
An Obama spokesman did not dispute the information and said that the senator's ancestors "are representative of America".
"While a relative owned slaves, another fought for the Union in the Civil War," campaign spokesman Bill Burton said on Thursday. "And it is a true measure of progress that the descendant of a slave owner would come to marry a student from Kenya and produce a son who would grow up to be a candidate for president."
It was unclear whether Senator Obama was aware of any slave-holding ancestors.
"You just can't casually throw some documents together and make a sophisticated analysis," said Tony Burroughs, author of Black Roots: A Beginners Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree.
Senator Obama faces a showdown this weekend in Alabama with Hillary Clinton for black votes. The former president Bill Clinton will make his first campaign appearance with his wife. Senator Obama is keynoting tomorrow's civil rights commemoration in Selma while the Clintons will be at a nearby church. All three will join a march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where state troopers police beat civil rights activists in 1965.
I was thinking the same thing. And so many people here are going to fall for any story that's being promoted by Hillary's people.
Diddn't I just read somewhere that Hilliereeee shouldn't be responsible for a thesis she wrote when she was just a young college student? OK for her but not for Obama?
Go Obama...we're pulling for you.
And the Clintons? Any word on the Clintons, especially Hillary Rodham? How many slaves did the own?
What? Mr Reitweiser? (Silence...)
Indeed, I agree.
It is as relevant as Mitt Romney's distant relatives practicing polygamy.
Looks like Camp Hildabeast strikes again.
Soooooooooooooooooo...
Does this mean both he and Al Sharpton will be required to pay reparations?
Am I the only one who thinks this ancestory stuff is about as stupid as it can be?
Give me the names of someones white great great grandparents who were living in a slaveholding state and I will produce, in short order, the names of their slave owning ancestors. While most white folks living in the south did not own slaves, they all had relations or ancestors who did.
What is much more interesting is the number of blacks and Indians with slave owning ancestors. I think that most people would be quite surprised with the results of that research.
Damn. I called this. Months ago, I said it was much more likely that his ancestors on his mothers side were slave owners than his ancestors on his father's side were slaves. I wonder if his ancestors on his father's side were involved in selling other Africans into slavery.
Gee, this could get interesting. What if Obama's ancestors were ALSO owned by Strom Thurmond's family!!??
Think of it - TWO race baiters from the same owner!!!
(Of course I am being sarcastic!! Were you REALLY wondering??)
I think curing the evil that Mohammad left was what the Crusades and Inquisition were really about. It was the Spanish Inquisition, right? Who ran Spain until they were forced back to Morocco?
WORD....to your master
BIG DAMN DEAL!
My family descended from SCALPERS, called Indians.
Hello! It's called HISTORY for a reason.
Dear MSM, can we, at least, stick to THIS CENTURY when we attack people running for office?
"For the record, I suspect lots of black people are."
For the record, I suspect there quite a few of us who are as well! So what !!!!
"So what !!!!"
Exactly.
Well, my great-great-great grandfather had 3 slaves who were sold in the disposition of his will.
And he was a Baptist preacher who established churches in North and South Carolina. I mean these were undoubtedly house servants.
It's like a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
"It is as relevant as Mitt Romney's distant relatives practicing polygamy.
Looks like Camp Hildabeast strikes again."
Politicians disgust me. Digging up dirt on their opponents wasn't good enough for them. Now they feel like they have to dig up dirt on their opponents' great-great-great-great grandparents and distant cousins several times removed.
Does this mean he 'owes' his constituents some "reparations"? Why haven't we heard Rev. Jesse screaming about this?
I'm standing by for my "Reparations" check....
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