Truthdig - Ear to the Ground - Genealogists Uncover Al Sharpton-Strom Thurmond Connection

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Genealogists Uncover Al Sharpton-Strom Thurmond Connection

whdh.com

The Rev. Al Sharpton is descended from a slave once owned by Strom Thurmond’s family, according to genealogists working on behalf of The New York Daily News. Sharpton called the revelation “probably the most shocking thing in my life.”

AP:

Sharpton learned of his connection to Thurmond, once a prominent defender of segregation, last week through the Daily News, which asked genealogists to trace his roots.

“It was probably the most shocking thing in my life,” Sharpton said at a news conference Sunday, the same day the tabloid revealed the story.

Some of Thurmond’s relatives said the nexus also came as a surprise to them. Doris Strom Costner, a distant cousin who said she knew the late senator all her life, said Sunday she “never heard of such a thing.”

The revelations surfaced after Ancestry.com contacted a Daily News reporter who agreed to have his own family tree done. The intrigued reporter then turned around and asked Sharpton if he wanted to participate. Sharpton said he told the paper, “Go for it.”

The genealogists, who were not paid by the newspaper, uncovered the ancestral ties using a variety of documents that included census, marriage and death records.

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TAGS: al sharpton ancestry civil rights genealogy politics racism segregation slavery south strom thurmond

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By Sal Rial, February 26, 2007 at 10:14 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Why is Sharpton shocked? He knew he had slave ancestors. No ancestral connection was found between Thurmond and Sharpton, not even an owner/slave connection. One of Thurmond’s distant female cousins “owned” Sharpton’s ancestor. This is barely news. And why would Thurmond be laughing? Makes no sense.

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By Jeff Badura, February 26, 2007 at 6:58 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

this story is no surprise at all !! first of all, if we look at the skin tone of African-Americans you will see they are much lighter than the people are in Africa !! its safe to say almost all also have European blood in them too !!! America is a melting pot !! we all should realize this and try to get along !! the hatred that we have for each other is really hatred for ourselves because we are all related !! somin’ to think about

illgramaticus Knee o’kaun

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By James, February 26, 2007 at 6:50 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Not resting in peace….he’s having the last laugh.

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By Myra Lemson, February 26, 2007 at 4:28 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

I have a friend who says she saw in an AOL article on Sunday, Feb 25th, a story that said that Thurmond’s ancestor and Al Sharpton’s ancestor had an affair. She insisted that Al Sharpton is a descendant of this tryst.

I told her that all I could find was the fact that Strom Thurmond himself is the one who had the affair and had an illegitimate bi-racial daughter. She insists that Thurmond and Sharpton are related by blood. Nowhere can I see that! Did anyone else see the story in AOL yesterday?
HELP!

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By Quy Tran, February 26, 2007 at 1:48 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Is Strom resting in peace in his grave ? I don’t think so !

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