Black Woman Claims Thurmond As Illegitimate Father (for real) 12-14-03

[vhsiv]

Woman Claims Thurmond As Father
Proof Is Forthcoming, Black Retiree SaysBy Marilyn W. Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 14, 2003; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60363-2003Dec12.html

A 78-year-old retired Los Angeles schoolteacher said she is breaking a lifetime of silence to announce that she is the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of former U.S. senator James Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), once the nation's leading segregationist. In an interview, the woman said that Thurmond privately acknowledged her as his daughter and provided financial support since 1941.

Essie Mae Washington-Williams described her claims in a lengthy telephone interview last week, saying she protected Thurmond because of their mutual "deep respect" and her fears that disclosure would embarrass her and harm his political career. Thurmond, who died in June at age 100, said late in life through his office that Williams was a friend.

Williams, whose mother worked as a maid in the Thurmond family home as a teenager, has long been the subject of widespread speculation and has been pursued by journalists seeking her story for two decades. She always denied that she is Thurmond's daughter.

[...]

Essie Mae was born Oct. 12, 1925, to a 16-year-old, unmarried mother, Carrie Butler, who cleaned house in the Thurmonds' grand two-story home on the outskirts of Edgefield, S.C. Butler's neighbors along the unpaved road in the impoverished section of Edgefield helped feed and clothe the child, according to interviews with local residents. Strictly segregated, Edgefield still basked in Civil War pride. Virtually every white male had left town to join the rebel cause.

In 1925, Thurmond was 22 and living with his parents, Edgefield's most prominent citizens. He had a job as a teacher and high school coach, although he inexplicably left town to sell Florida real estate, according to a newspaper account. Upon his return, he set out to study law under the tutelage of his father, William, a failed political candidate who was Tillman's chief operative.
http://a.abclocal.go.com/images/kabc/kabc_121503_strom.jpg

[grinner]

kind of convenient that this comes out AFTER he is dead... hmm???

[BrowderChick]

She doesn't have to worry about upsetting his career now.

[vhsiv]

Yeah, she basically 'protected' him throughout his entire political career...

Does that make her responsible for all of the hateful legislation he passed during his career?

Sort of ironic that this comes out while 'Angels in America' is broadcasting...

...statutory rapist, segregationist, homophobe, Senator.

Virtues that built a strong America.

[Harveylives]

Originally posted by vhsiv
Yeah, she basically 'protected' him throughout his entire political career...

Does that make her responsible for all of the hateful legislation he passed during his career?

Sort of ironic that this comes out while 'Angels in America' is broadcasting...

...statutory rapist, segregationist, homophobe, Senator.

Virtues that built a strong America.


Let's be fair here, wait for evidence then crucify him. If its true, then muck up his name for all of the above reasons you stated.

[AgentSun]

i agree, one needs to examine the truth, when it comes out, before making assumptions.

[talyn3]

But the truth can be hard to find amongst all the dren somedays.

[Scarran Raptor]

methinks she wrote this with a manure spreader, if you catch my drift

[Third EYe]

I'm not a fan of Thurmond, if he were my father, I wouldn't want to admit it, ever.

[Judith]

Originally posted by Harveylives
Let's be fair here, wait for evidence then crucify him. If its true, then muck up his name for all of the above reasons you stated.

Lets not crucify her either. We DON'T know the whole story. If he was indeed her father, perhaps the absolute right thing to do would be to come forward and say it while he was alive. Perhaps that would have reduced his credibility in certain areas. But if he was her father...that's significant too. It's easy for us to say that she should have spoken up sooner. But if she is his daughter, she was in a relatively unique position.

[Antrobus]

I was amazed at the resemblance I saw between the two when they showed her and then showed a picture of him.

As for when and why she spoke now, well, that's her business. If she did have an agreement with Thurmond, then that's her business too. If she is his illegitimate daughter, she should not be bound to keep quiet just because of who Thurmond was.

As for waiting for details about Thurmonds "record". I think it's been out there for years for the public to examine! Whether you agree with Thurmond's politics or not, I think everyone would agree that it was not the mainstream - especially his run for presidency on a segregation platform!

[stellar]

History demands complete knowledge of persons in positions of power and notability. The same was true for Jefferson and likely many more of our this nation's founders.

There will be no doubt be a lot of rebuttals to this for both the right and wrong reasons. Some supporters will refute this because they don't want Thurmond's reputation tarnished by a child out of wedlock, adultery and statuatory rape. There will also be those who don't want his reputation tarnished by an affair with a black woman.

Maybe she just wants to break the silenec to say how loving a father he was before she herself passes on.

[JadedLegend3]

I'm totally again having trouble reading thread titles, because I thought it said "Woman Claims Thousand..." I thought, wow! LOL


Jacqui :love:

[Judith]

Originally posted by Antrobus


As for when and why she spoke now, well, that's her business. If she did have an agreement with Thurmond, then that's her business too. If she is his illegitimate daughter, she should not be bound to keep quiet just because of who Thurmond was.



Agreed. Neither should she have felt obligated to come forward to further the cause of civil rights. Yes, it's a noble cause. But she was forced to make a decision that most of us will never face, and we can't know her reasons for it. Perhaps she just didn't wish to spend the majority of her life in the public eye.

[stellar]

Thurmond's family has confirmed that Essie Mae Washington-Williams is Strom Thurmond's child. He was unmarried and 22, living at home and her mother was 16. I can tell you that this probably wasn't statutory rape because in those days, in the south, the age of consent was very low (if it existed). People (women) routinely got married 13 yrs old and up. 22 and 16 would have been more than socially acceptable in the 20s. Inter-racial relationships would have not, especially in a family that was as prominent as his was.

He obviously was a different person back then. We really don't know what was in his heart. He could have very well loved this woman and just was forbidden from carrying on.

I'd like to think the best of Strom, at least back then.

[Harveylives]

Originally posted by Judith_Shakespeare
Lets not crucify her either. We DON'T know the whole story. If he was indeed her father, perhaps the absolute right thing to do would be to come forward and say it while he was alive. Perhaps that would have reduced his credibility in certain areas. But if he was her father...that's significant too. It's easy for us to say that she should have spoken up sooner. But if she is his daughter, she was in a relatively unique position.


I should have added that to my post. I don't want anybody crucified until the whole truth comes out.

[Antrobus]

What a difficult situation Ms Washington-Williams has been in for all these years - or so it would seem. It will be interesting to here her speak of her situation - if she ever chooses to.

[vhsiv]

Perhaps that would have reduced his credibility in certain areas.Racist Politician, career homophobe and hypocrite ≠ credible human being

[Antrobus]

One wonders if she kept quiet for her own sake - and not his. We all saw how Anita Hill was skewered. Imagine what "they" would have done to this woman.

I agree that Thurmond was detrimental to this country in divisive ways. It was always impossible for me to fathom his racist and homophobic views. Now its even more difficult knowing that he fathered a mixed race child.

It relegates the mother of this woman to nothing more than a passing fancy of Thurmond's. No woman deserves that!

[Third EYe]

Anita Hill????????

vvvrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............................ ............

[stellar]

Gives the phrase "Have a Coke and a smile" a whole new meaning.

[AgentSun]

we cant judge who he was back then to be who he was when when we can judge. as steller said, times were different and it was the south. culture is not the same as it is now and one cannot hold that situation to the same standards that we hold today's politicians.

[stellar]

That was a horribly contructed sentence, Agent Sun. But, I agree with you in principle.

[SaraD]

Originally posted by AgentSun
we cant judge who he was back then to be who he was when when we can judge. as steller said, times were different and it was the south. culture is not the same as it is now and one cannot hold that situation to the same standards that we hold today's politicians.

I don't usually get involved in these discussions, but this bothers me.

There are crimes against humanity that cannot be so easily excused. Systematic exclusion from basic freedoms and civil rights, lynching, rape -- "it was the south" or "I was only following orders" do not come even close to excusing such behaviors. To suggest such a thing is disturbing in itself.

[stellar]

I think we were dicounting the statutory rape theory... that I was on board with in the begining of the thread. I don't think anyone can condone behavior we all recognize today as fundamentally corrupt, based on a time or a place. And I don't think anyone was.

Still, your point is quite valid. And, while infamous for it, it wasn't just the south... prolly not the Northwest, but certainly the Northeast.

[SaraD]

Originally posted by stellar
Still, your point is quite valid. And, while infamous for it, it wasn't just the south... prolly not the Northwest, but certainly the Northeast.

sure. I have ancestors who owned slaves in the mid 1700s in the Minisink Valley (near the Delaware Water Gap), and that was just as wrong as any other incident of slavery anywhere, any time.

As far As Strom Thurmon goes, his record speaks for itself, and what it says is (in my opinion) damning.

[Antrobus]

From a recent news conference:

"I am not bitter. I am not angry," she said during a news conference just blocks the Statehouse where a monument of Thurmond sits. "In fact, there is a great sense of peace that has come over me in the past year.

"I feel as though a great weight has been lifted. I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams, and at last I feel completely free."

[UTChick]

We live in the area where Essie lives - near Coatesville, PA. so, it made the newspapers really big around here. He quietly supported her & did privately acknowledge her as his daughter. It seems a lot of the people in the area did know about it, but out of respect to her, didn't pursue it. The question was asked "why come out now?" to a friend, but he declined to answer it, saying that it's her place to give a reason, not his.

I'm not standing in judgement of the man - he quite obviously lived a different life & it's not in my place to say right or wrong in the end. I need more information before I can even solidy my opinions. I certainly disagree w/ Thurmond's position on most things. Hopefully, people will learn & change as they grow older. Maybe that's why he lived to be 100. It took him that long to learn from his mistakes!!

[Mrelia]

Perhaps part of her silence is that she did not want to ruin his career, in part, because she did receive some support from her.

Until recently (since this goes back to the 20's), even had she come forward, there were no DNA tests to verify her claim. Why rock the boat & risk all sorts of retaliation. I'm not just talking from the segregationist side or from his family, she'd quite likely have faced some pretty harsh treatment from members of the African-American community, too. I've spoken with a couple of older bi-racial people who had an awful time finding people who'd accept them without regard to their ancestry. People can be mean.

It must also have been very difficult to maintain her silence. Now that the her father is dead, she can't harm him directly. So I think she just wanted to get her "secret" out in the open & not have to hide anymore.

[Mrelia]

Sorry if my last post wanders a bit, I tend to see things from a lot of different sides & it's hard to keep 'em seperate.