Lori
02-26-2007, 10:31 AM
I thought this was an interesting story, especially in light of the apologizing for slavery discussion.
On a side note, I keep hearing this described as "ironic" and "an ironic discovery" in the news. I'm not seeing the irony. If Sharpton found out that his family had owned members of Thurmonds' family, that would be some irony. I'm not sure what adjective best describes this story, but "ironic" is not it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/26/nyregion/26sharpton.html?em&ex=1172638800&en=7a8cd5f73464a9ea&ei=5087%0A
Sharpton Learns His Forebears Were Thurmonds’ Slaves
By FERNANDA SANTOS
On the eve of the Civil War, in segregated Florida, a white man died in debt at age 40, leaving his wife, Julia Thurmond Sharpton, alone to raise their four children and to honor his financial obligations.
Determined to offer a helping hand, Mrs. Sharpton’s father-in-law, a plantation owner in South Carolina, gave her a gift: four slaves, two adults and two children, who would work to pay off the money owed.
In that transaction, the bloodlines of two emblematic figures of the next century, each representing an opposite side of America’s racial divide, intersected. Mrs. Sharpton was a first cousin, twice removed, of Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a longtime segregationist. And one of the slaves given to her, Coleman Sharpton, was the paternal great-grandfather of the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the most vocal and recognizable civil rights leaders of our time.
The connection, sealed in a slave contract signed in 1861, might have remained unknown had it not been for a Web site’s efforts to publicize its extensive collection of African-American genealogy records, a reporter’s curiosity and Mr. Sharpton’s willingness to let researchers dig into his family’s past, a topic he often avoids discussing in public.
The results of the investigation, pieced together from census documents, slave narratives and birth and marriage registries, were unveiled yesterday in The Daily News, with the front-page headline, “Shock of My Life!”
“In the story of the Thurmonds and the Sharptons is the story of the shame and the glory of America,” Mr. Sharpton said at a news conference at the office of The Daily News yesterday, with the older of his two daughters, Dominique, standing behind him.
“The shame is that people were owned as property, and the shame is that I’m the heir of those who were property to the Thurmond family,” he said. “The glory is that Strom Thurmond ran for president in 1948 on a segregationist ticket; I ran in ’04 on a ticket for racial justice, and that shows what America can become, if you’re determined to beat” discrimination.
Mr. Sharpton said he had not heard from the Thurmonds and had no immediate plans of contacting them. “This is not family,” he said firmly. “This is property.”
While news of Mr. Sharpton’s link to Mr. Thurmond might have tickled the public’s curiosity, its impact was tame when compared with the shock of four years ago, when Essie Mae Washington-Williams, the daughter of the Thurmond family’s black maid, stepped forward to acknowledge that she was the senator’s daughter.
Ms. Washington-Williams, as well as Mr. Thurmond’s other daughter and two sons, did not return phone calls last night.
Mr. Sharpton was born in Brooklyn on Oct. 3, 1954, the son of Alfred Charles Sharpton and Ada Richards. His parents divorced before he turned 10; he and his father have since had a distant relationship, he said yesterday.
Ancestry.com approached The Daily News last month seeking to publicize its African-American ancestry database, which it says contains 55 million historical documents. A reporter asked Mr. Sharpton if he would agree to have the Web site’s researchers look into his family history. Mr. Sharpton said he had never considered investigating his lineage and did not know that his father’s side of the family had roots in South Carolina.
The researchers tracked three generations of Mr. Sharpton’s ancestors to the pre-Civil War era, eventually uncovering the slave contract, also known as indenture, in the Liberty County Courthouse in Bristol, Fla., about an hour west of Tallahassee.
The contract registered the ownership transfer of Coleman Sharpton, along with a woman and two boys, presumably his wife and sons, to Julia Thurmond Sharpton.
The familiar middle name spurred Megan Smolenyak, the Web site’s chief family historian, to “play six degrees of separation,” she said, reviewing Mrs. Sharpton’s own past and establishing a blood connection between her and Senator Thurmond.
Coleman Sharpton took his surname from his owners, as was common practice among slaves, Ms. Smolenyak said. After emancipation, he worked as a wood hauler, at least until age 65, as recorded in the 1900 census.
“I cannot redo what happened to my great-grandfather, but I can make him say that I’m glad my great-grandson redeemed what happened,” Mr. Sharpton said.
“I would hope that this story will make America deal with the pains of its past and present, the continued fight for social equity,” he added. “But I also would hope that it would encourage obligation of many of us in the African-American community that have ourselves not lived up to the dreams and hopes of those who suffered before us.”
On a side note, I keep hearing this described as "ironic" and "an ironic discovery" in the news. I'm not seeing the irony. If Sharpton found out that his family had owned members of Thurmonds' family, that would be some irony. I'm not sure what adjective best describes this story, but "ironic" is not it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/26/nyregion/26sharpton.html?em&ex=1172638800&en=7a8cd5f73464a9ea&ei=5087%0A
Sharpton Learns His Forebears Were Thurmonds’ Slaves
By FERNANDA SANTOS
On the eve of the Civil War, in segregated Florida, a white man died in debt at age 40, leaving his wife, Julia Thurmond Sharpton, alone to raise their four children and to honor his financial obligations.
Determined to offer a helping hand, Mrs. Sharpton’s father-in-law, a plantation owner in South Carolina, gave her a gift: four slaves, two adults and two children, who would work to pay off the money owed.
In that transaction, the bloodlines of two emblematic figures of the next century, each representing an opposite side of America’s racial divide, intersected. Mrs. Sharpton was a first cousin, twice removed, of Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a longtime segregationist. And one of the slaves given to her, Coleman Sharpton, was the paternal great-grandfather of the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the most vocal and recognizable civil rights leaders of our time.
The connection, sealed in a slave contract signed in 1861, might have remained unknown had it not been for a Web site’s efforts to publicize its extensive collection of African-American genealogy records, a reporter’s curiosity and Mr. Sharpton’s willingness to let researchers dig into his family’s past, a topic he often avoids discussing in public.
The results of the investigation, pieced together from census documents, slave narratives and birth and marriage registries, were unveiled yesterday in The Daily News, with the front-page headline, “Shock of My Life!”
“In the story of the Thurmonds and the Sharptons is the story of the shame and the glory of America,” Mr. Sharpton said at a news conference at the office of The Daily News yesterday, with the older of his two daughters, Dominique, standing behind him.
“The shame is that people were owned as property, and the shame is that I’m the heir of those who were property to the Thurmond family,” he said. “The glory is that Strom Thurmond ran for president in 1948 on a segregationist ticket; I ran in ’04 on a ticket for racial justice, and that shows what America can become, if you’re determined to beat” discrimination.
Mr. Sharpton said he had not heard from the Thurmonds and had no immediate plans of contacting them. “This is not family,” he said firmly. “This is property.”
While news of Mr. Sharpton’s link to Mr. Thurmond might have tickled the public’s curiosity, its impact was tame when compared with the shock of four years ago, when Essie Mae Washington-Williams, the daughter of the Thurmond family’s black maid, stepped forward to acknowledge that she was the senator’s daughter.
Ms. Washington-Williams, as well as Mr. Thurmond’s other daughter and two sons, did not return phone calls last night.
Mr. Sharpton was born in Brooklyn on Oct. 3, 1954, the son of Alfred Charles Sharpton and Ada Richards. His parents divorced before he turned 10; he and his father have since had a distant relationship, he said yesterday.
Ancestry.com approached The Daily News last month seeking to publicize its African-American ancestry database, which it says contains 55 million historical documents. A reporter asked Mr. Sharpton if he would agree to have the Web site’s researchers look into his family history. Mr. Sharpton said he had never considered investigating his lineage and did not know that his father’s side of the family had roots in South Carolina.
The researchers tracked three generations of Mr. Sharpton’s ancestors to the pre-Civil War era, eventually uncovering the slave contract, also known as indenture, in the Liberty County Courthouse in Bristol, Fla., about an hour west of Tallahassee.
The contract registered the ownership transfer of Coleman Sharpton, along with a woman and two boys, presumably his wife and sons, to Julia Thurmond Sharpton.
The familiar middle name spurred Megan Smolenyak, the Web site’s chief family historian, to “play six degrees of separation,” she said, reviewing Mrs. Sharpton’s own past and establishing a blood connection between her and Senator Thurmond.
Coleman Sharpton took his surname from his owners, as was common practice among slaves, Ms. Smolenyak said. After emancipation, he worked as a wood hauler, at least until age 65, as recorded in the 1900 census.
“I cannot redo what happened to my great-grandfather, but I can make him say that I’m glad my great-grandson redeemed what happened,” Mr. Sharpton said.
“I would hope that this story will make America deal with the pains of its past and present, the continued fight for social equity,” he added. “But I also would hope that it would encourage obligation of many of us in the African-American community that have ourselves not lived up to the dreams and hopes of those who suffered before us.”