SC: Old Habits Die Hard
Quick – which state enslaved the ancestors of U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama?
Don’t know? Really?
Here’s a hint … it’s the same state that recently landed in hot water when one of its prominent Republican activists compared the First Lady to an escaped gorilla at a local zoo. It’s also the same state where GOP lawmakers enjoy passing racist leaflets around their State House offices.
Still stumped? Alright, but this is our last hint- it’s the same state where the Republicans’ gubernatorial front-runner is a member of a “whites only” country club and debutante society.
“Hmmmm … what is South Carolina, Alex?”
That’s correct! Now let’s see how much you wagered …
From the New York Times:
In 1850, the elderly master of a South Carolina estate took pen in hand and painstakingly divided up his possessions. Among the spinning wheels, scythes, tablecloths and cattle that he bequeathed to his far-flung heirs was a 6-year-old slave girl valued soon afterward at $475.
In his will, she is described simply as the “negro girl Melvinia.” After his death, she was torn away from the people and places she knew and shipped to Georgia. While she was still a teenager, a white man would father her first-born son under circumstances lost in the passage of time.
In the annals of American slavery, this painful story would be utterly unremarkable, save for one reason: This union, consummated some two years before the Civil War, marked the origins of a family line that would extend from rural Georgia, to Birmingham, Ala., to Chicago and, finally, to the White House.
Obama’s genealogy has been meticulously-documented, and the First Lady is five generations removed from the “negro girl Melvinia.”
Once again, way to go South Carolina.
Also, wonder if this subject will come up the next time Sic and Michelle sit down for a chat …
Comments
By RHETTBUTLER on October 8th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Now about the President’s lineage……wait a minute, that is Top Secret and we will never know the truth! However, I am sure the Sandlappers will have a part in it somewhere.
By Philip Branton on October 8th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Your right FITS……old habits R hard to kick. Just take this article…
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/oct/08/neptune-likely-to-park-locally/
Senator Grooms is smokin’ like “KING Neptune” will pimp all sorts of “Incentives” …. when in fact ….if he was HONEST with citizens about the METHANE MAGIC MOUNTAIN in Berkeley County that is being used to offer “GREEN ELECTRICAL TAX Kickbacks” the fine citizens would know all about new technology and private companies that would grow from the use of new technology that CLOSES Landfills forever…!!!! We wonder if FARMER HEATH HILL in Lexington County has had words with KNOTTS…!?!?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8290130.stm
I guess if OUR state’s newspapers would stop tryin to hide the FACTS about how SCE&G Brass are chasing BREAKERS then the fine SCE&G workers could start harnessing our trash’s ENERGY and CLOSE DOWN all our landfills in the STATE…!! I guess since Lonnie Carter does NOT care about the ENERGY right here in our state’s TRASH that he is pimpin’ METHANE to poach other businesses from NC too….!!! What a windfall of METHANE and tax scamming for Horry and Marlboro and Chesterfield COUNTIES…!?!?!
Someone in OUR state needs to be served COLD HARD GRITz….!!!!
By Cooter Brown on October 8th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Why in da hell does it supprize anie-one of Afrikan descent who libes in Amerika and hoos family haz libed in Amerika fer generashuns, dat day (o’ otha folks) is surprized t’ find out dat dey is actually da offspring ov slaves? Lik’ dat Refered Sharpleton years ago finded out dat hiz peoples mite hab been owned by Strom Thurmond’s familie… ghasp!
So Missus ‘Bama familie was enslaved in South Carolinie– culd hab been Conneticuit o’ Georgia o’ Maryland o’ Floridee o’ anie otha state. All ov th’ colonies had slaverie befo an’ afta th’ ’stablshmeint ov dese united States. So whut? Whar’s th’ embarassment hear? Aint no bodie neba read no historie?
Course she’s a descdint ov a slave. Most black folks ’round here is.
I’m da offspring ov a share-croppin’ alcoholic– big deal! I’m a makin’ my way in dis werld da best az I cain an’ I live in a little ol’ shak; not da derm white howse!
Hoo’s yer ancesters?
By Philip Branton on October 8th, 2009 at 7:40 am
WOW …fits….
We wonder if TUMPY really cares about the citizens in Horry County…!?!
Do they realize that Henry Brown and Vida Miller care more for the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan than them…??
http://www.thestate.com/local/story/975143.html?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted&qwxq=448324#Comments_Container
and this…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8290130.stm
Sic….WE REALLY ARE SLAVES…!!!!!
By Rick on October 8th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Obama’s genealogy has been meticulously-documented, and the First Lady is five generations removed from the “negro girl Melvinia.”
Ya mean the Obamas finally released some documentation?
Why would we believe the New York Times? Are we to be ashamed? Are we to feel guilt? Will 40 acres and a mule suffice to erase any vestiges of guilt?
As a friend once said…if his great grandpa had known, he would have picked his own damn cotton…..
Has nothing to do with me and I feel no guilt.
By Brandon on October 8th, 2009 at 10:28 am
One observation…would they not have already been enslaved upon arrival to our state?
By Dr. Love on October 8th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Where was Strom back then? That boy got around.
Trust me, I’m a doctor!
By CNSYD on October 8th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
The state of SC did not enslave anyone. FITS you are really way off here. They were slaves the moment an African war load captured them in West Africa. They were slaves when they were sold to brokers of British, Dutch or dare we say it New England descent. They were slaves when they boarded the British, Dutch or New England ship to come to the New World. They were slaves when they landed on US soil. They were slaves when they were sold at an auction. Just because the auction MAY have been in SC and the buyer was a SC plantation owner doesn’t make the state of SC the owner any more than the state of SC owns your house or your car just because they are located in SC.
By Joseph Reynolds on October 8th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
It is just as likely that she also has ancestors that were slaves in New Jersey, maryland and most of the “union” states that also allowed slavery at various points, up and until 1863..or even later.
That is the part of the story that will conveniently get edited out by our Harvard professor and his researchers.
By Trey on October 8th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
More specifically she was from Singleton’s Crossroads, SC.
By Brandon on October 8th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
One last thought…what is sadder, people who would enslave others, or, people who would allow themselves to be enslaved?
By ohara on October 8th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Well she wasn’t descended from slaves who were held in New Jersey or Maryland or Georgia, it was here in good ol’ SC. One of her grandmothers in the great-great category was a 7 year old slave who was sold among plantation owners between Georgia & SC. Nice. That in itself would have been an unpleasant & cruel geographical distinction if we didn’t have idiot politicians who, 160 years later, keep recallin’ the “good ol’ days” with comments about everything from watermelons to gorillas in the zoo, and top it with the the ghost of Strom Thurmond.
It doesn’t matter WHO put them on a ship in the Ivory Coast and sent them here, it’s what we did AFTER they got here. Someone in SC & the rest of the states made money off them-the only reason the US imported slaves is because the growers would go bankrupt if they had to pay for labor to work the fields.
The only reason the Irish starved during the famine is because Irish land owners sold their crops to England. It’s happened a hundred times over everywhere else. But the slavery legacy-not so nice. Raping women & selling their children? Hits hard, even though it was almost 200 years ago. And let’s face it, when it came to the Constitution & the Bill of Rights, the founding fathers & the rest of the country were absolutely gutless on the slavery issue. It’s hard to reconcile with our national heritage & conscience as “freedom-loving” immigrants. As a developing nation we didn’t have the market on depravity, but at times we sure excelled at it.
By Rick on October 8th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Good question Brandon, we’re finding out slowly as we trade freedom for comfort and security. And not much security.
By Rick on October 8th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Gee ohara, tell me how you really feel. Go boy go……
The problem Ohara, is that during those periods of history, slavery was a way of life for all sides of the issue. That white boy that bought that slave on the Ivory Coast didn’t go into the bush and capture them, thats a result of private enterprise by a stronger tribe. And America wasn’t the only country that trafficed in human cargo….Seeing that slavery goes back to the beginnings of mankind, I’d say we’ve done pretty well considering that slavery is still alive and well in Africa and the Middle East, not to mention the far East, South America and on and on and on….So ya want to feel all pissed off about the history of this nation, feel free….it’s all a part of how far we as a people have progressed.
By Mr. Dart on October 8th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
And in related “news”, an ancestor of mine fought for the Union and died in the notorious Confederate POW camp in Salisbury, NC. Why in the world would South Carolinians in 2009 be held responsible for slavery in the middle of the 19th Century. This “way to go South Carolina stuff” is truly bizarre.
Since you know Mr. Obama’s history I’m sure you’re aware that his mother’s ancestors were slave owners. So… Way To Go, Barack! Makes about as much sense as your slap.
By me on October 8th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
she should be happy, if that hadnt happened she’d still be in africa having sex with goats to cure aids.
By CNSYD on October 8th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
ohara, (or are you really the ghost of Thaddeus Stevens?), the growers would go bankrupt without slave labor? Who was buying the cotton and demanding lower prices? The mills in the North and in England. What do you call what was going on in the upstate of SC in the first half of the 20th century wherein WHITE textile mill workers were virtual slaves who lived in mill houses and got their goods from company stores? If you even said the word “union” you were on the street which meant that you now had no place to live. Also have you ever heard of brown lung? Now who owned a lot of these mills? Northerners.
By CNSYD on October 8th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
BTW, $475 in 1850 is the equivalent of $12,148.19 in 2008. Does that sound like an investment you would mistreat and/or destroy?
By Trey on October 8th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I don’t think we are so easily dismissed from the sins of our fathers. When you look at the pockets of SC where poverty still is persistent and nagging, those are the same areas where there were incredible numbers of people being owned by other people. You can see it in poverty rates, crime, school achievement ect. The “corridor of shame” is no accident and the sons of the fathers continue to pay for that ownership.
By ohara on October 8th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
By Mr. Dart on October 8th, 2009 at 2:25 pm:
“Since you know Mr. Obama’s history I’m sure you’re aware that his mother’s ancestors were slave owners. So… Way To Go, Barack! Makes about as much sense as your slap.”
—
That’s a nice theory, but right now, it’s not proven fact. Even the author, William Reitwiesner, claims that he is not sure if it holds up under scrutiny, and no independent genealogists can or will confirm it.
So far it looks doubtful, as Reitwiesner is the only one to date that has come to that conclusion. As far as Obama is concerned, he states that it is entirely possible, since his mothers distant relatives were in the south at the time of slavery.
By CNSYD on October 8th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
ohara, you have your head up your a$$. Your theme is all slave owners were in the South. Not so numb nuts. Check out the census data from the early part of the 19th century.
trey, you are as out to lunch as ohara. I bear no responsibility for what any of my ancestors did or did not do. Lets see. Suppose that if we shake your family tree and we have a murderer or rapist fall out. Then all their descendants are murderers and rapists. Also if any of your modern day clan commits murder or rape they can plead that it is not their fault because it is in their genes.
By ohara on October 8th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
By Rick on October 8th, 2009 at 2:19 pm:
“. . .Seeing that slavery goes back to the beginnings of mankind, I’d say we’ve done pretty well considering that slavery is still alive and well in Africa and the Middle East, not to mention the far East, South America and on and on and on….So ya want to feel all pissed off about the history of this nation, feel free….it’s all a part of how far we as a people have progressed.”
—
Not pissed off about the history of anything. Stating that there was duplicity in our profession of freedoms and protection of slavery (to the point where we had jokes made about it in Europe) while we were claiming freedom from tyranny from the Brits. It was a money deal, pure & simple. The founding fathers owned slaves, and no one wanted to give them up because of financial concerns.
Freedom for all, freedom from tax, except, ah, you see those dudes over there in leg irons, ah, not them. And not the 200+ that Washington owned, or any of Jefferson’s, or . . .”
While Jefferson, most notorious for hanging onto his slaves when Franklin & Washington had released theirs, continually debated himself on the morality of slave ownership, he still was too cheap to let go of his “investments.”
“As it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.” –Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes, 1820.
The US was late to the table on banning the slave trade, when you compare it to Europe & South America. The reason? Financial. This was less a black & white issue than an opportunistic venture, as you stated, when competing tribes sold their captives to slave traders. But the result was still the same-disenfranchised peoples who were used for financial gain by another class of people. How we treated slave labor in this country was appalling, but the reasons for it were clear. Denigration of an entire class of people justified the further tolerance & promotion of slavery.
Chronology of abolition
1761 Portugal abolishes slavery in mainland Portugal and in Portuguese possessions in India, but not Brazil or Africa,
France abolishes slavery (partly-abortively) in 1794
1807 Great Britain abolishes slave trade within and to the British Empire
1804 France re-legalizes slavery
1811 Spain abolishes slavery at home and in all colonies except Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo
1813 Argentina abolishes slavery
1821 Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela abolish slavery
1823 Chile abolishes slavery
1824 The Federal Republic of Central America abolishes slavery
1829 Mexico abolishes slavery
1831 Bolivia abolishes slavery
1833 British Empire abolishes slavery
1842 Uruguay abolishes slavery
1848 Slavery abolished in all French and Danish colonies
1854 Venezuela abolishes slavery
1863 Slavery abolished in Dutch colonies
1865 United States abolishes slavery
1869 Portugal abolishes slavery in the African colonies
1886 Cuba abolishes slavery
1888 Brazil abolishes slavery
By James the Foot Soldier on October 8th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Old habits die hard – sad but true. The blood is no longer on South Carolinian’s hands.
The new “plantation” owners are the democrats that keep significant portions of their base constituency enslaved in conditions WORSE than the old owners.
Case in point – President Obama’s stomping ground – the South Side of Chicago:
40 Black students killed since Candidate Hopey Changey was sworn in as President.
400 black students shot since Candidate Hopey Changey was elected.
Strong work President Hopey Changey – anyone up for another beer summit at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
By Skidmarks on October 9th, 2009 at 8:14 am
The focus should be that it is incredibly difficult to track down slave ancestry, and the First Lady is very fortunate to have identified her antecedents.
If you think that slavery is illegal in the United States, it isn’t. The Thirteenth Amendment states: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
It was not until 1868 and the passage of the amendment that private slavery was eliminated in Deleware.
By CNSYD on October 9th, 2009 at 9:18 am
ohara, you turn a blind eye to other views of the founding fathers. You think it was all race/slavery based. WRONG! When did women, including all white women, achieve the vote? In the present day Islamic nations, what are the rights of women? So are other places so much more enlightened than us? Among white men, who originally had the vote in this country? Only property owners. Why was that? What was the opinion of the founding fathers of the intelligence of the voters? Not high enough to allow them to directly elect their US Senators. So when they said, “all men are created equal” that is exactly what they meant and it had limitations. Was it wrong? No, because it fit the context of the times and was better than what they had before.