She was born in 1925 after Thurmond, then 22, had an affair with a 16-year-old black maid who worked in his family’s Edgefield, S.C., home. She spent years as a schoolteacher in Los Angeles, keeping in touch with her famous father.
While Thurmond never publicly acknowledged his daughter, his family acknowledged her claim after she came forward. She later said Thurmond’s widow, Nancy, was “a very wonderful person” and called Strom Thurmond Jr. “very caring, and interested in what’s going on with me.”
February 5, 2013
"I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams, and at last I am completely free."
Said the mixed-raced daughter of one-time segregationist Strom Thurmond in 2003. She kept the secret — because "He trusted me, and I respected him" — at the age of 100. She inherited some of his longevity and lived to the age of 87.
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22 comments:
I didn't see anything in that story about the size of her butt.
It's been said that in the Nawth the African-American race is loved while the individual is disliked whereas here in the South the race is disliked but the individual is loved. I say there is but one race. The human race.
Good. Now that we love the African American, can we start to acknowledge the rights of atheists and humanists?
According to Wikipedia the Dixiecrats are considered "far right" Democrats, which seems retconned.
It's not good spanking material unless the ages are reversed.
The affair was no big deal. He was Democrat at the time.
I read her book when it just came out. Seems Thurmond didn't get married until after Essie Mae's mother, "she married first". Thurmond has done more for the blacks than the Dem politicians who paid lip service to get elected.
It was a very good book, right up there with Clarence Thomas's autobiography. There were struggles to survive, to thrive, but neither one viewed himself/herself a victim. Very inspiring.
Wasn't Strom Thurmond a KKK man?
Tells you alot about the KKK, right? Him and Byrd.
And yes, they were DEMOCRATs.
Tells you alot about them to.
I wonder if Thurmond thought "We need segregation or else I'll end up doing things like THIS!"
Interesting that Strom Thurmond's name is never in the media without mention that he once endorsed segregation.
In the same media Barack Obama's name is never associated with his drug use, or with his belief that the Constitution "just gets in the way" of what he wants to do.
I once worked with a fellow from Greenville, Mississippi. He said, "I was 18 before I knew a white girl had one of them things."
While Thurmond never publicly acknowledged his daughter, his family acknowledged her claim after she came forward.
A Southern gentleman to the end.
Jimbino said:
"Good. Now that we love the African American, can we start to acknowledge the rights of atheists and humanists?"
What rights are you asking for Jimbino? It can't be that you want the right to hold your own personal belifs or to express them, you obviously already have that, so the right you are still seeking must be the power to use force to silence Christians and other believers who dare to disagree with you.
Marxism Russia and China were atheist creations where many Christians were jailed or killed because they weren't atheists. So far the death toll from these atheist versions of the inquisition is somewhere around 100 million and counting.
She was always free, but now she feels able to tell her story.
Give the lady credit, she had class.
jimbino said...
Good. Now that we love the African American, can we start to acknowledge the rights of atheists and humanists?
When they stop acting like Lefty morons?
Abortion?....
Anyone?....
She was half or more Anglo-saxon. So why not let her have the rights of "white people?"
The division into white and black was always a trick on the uneducated white laboring men to make them feel they had something extra when they really were as enslaved as the African Americans were to the lowest payng jobs. It's all about education level. (see, Clarence Thomas.)
"Give the lady credit, she had class."
Agree. And don't make this about gotcha politics. She didn't.
Her life, how she chose to conduct it, the support she got from her black family members, her achievements as a teacher and her grace and dignity are the important things here.
Black History has millions of small, significant stories.
Could you imagine what it must of felt like to get fucked by Strom?
Gross.
And Kennedy, too natch.
Strom Thurmond could serve as a role model to any number of NBA players in how to properly care for an illegitimate child.
Strom called her mom "Brown Sugar," cause she danced so good.
I've read about her, but this is the first time I've seen a picture. She really did look a hell of a lot like her father.
Good. Now that we love the African American, can we start to acknowledge the rights of atheists and humanists?
[jaw drop]
You narcissistic *asshole*.
Wasn't Strom Thurmond a KKK man?
No, he was not. BTW, he made his name in South Carolina as a Roosevelt progressive, and while he was governor had dozens arrested for a prominent lynching. I'm not sure how much to blame him for the fact that the arrests resulted in nothing but acquittals.
Interesting that Strom Thurmond's name is never in the media without mention that he once endorsed segregation.
It wasn't just "segregation" - he ran against federal anti-lynching laws in 1948. He was a man of parts, really.
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