Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The biracial daughter of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond more than once confronted her father over his racist politics, but cherished their relationship and ignored pleas from her family that she expose her parentage. "For all his bluster, for all his racist campaign posturing, I somehow couldn't dislike him the way I wanted to," writes Essie Mae Washington-Williams, 79, in "Dear Senator," an autobiography to be released next month. The daughter of the longtime champion of segregation and his family's black maid has refrained from speaking publicly since she revealed the secret of her birth. That was a...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- "I always thought I had a fairly normal childhood, until I found out my parents weren't who I thought they were." So begins the autobiography of Essie Mae Washington Williams, the daughter of longtime U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond and a 16-year-old black maid who worked at his family's home. Williams, now 79, came forward a year ago, after Thurmond's death, with the secret she had held for more than 70 years. Her upcoming book, "Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond," deals frankly with her relationship with the one-time segregationist who privately acknowledged...