Slavery’s descendants: America’s family secret

From Reuters

More than 100 U.S. leaders — lawmakers, presidents, governors and justices — have slaveholding ancestors, a Reuters examination found. Few are willing to talk about it.

WASHINGTON — As U.S. lawmakers commemorated the end of slavery by celebrating Juneteenth this month, many of them could have looked no further than their own family histories to find a more personal connection to what’s often called America’s “original sin.” 

In researching the genealogies of America’s political elite, a Reuters examination found that a fifth of members of Congress, living presidents, Supreme Court justices and governors are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people.

Among 536 members of the last sitting Congress, for example, Reuters determined at least 100 descend from slaveholders. Of that group, more than a quarter of the Senate — 28 members — can trace their families to at least one slaveholder.

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In addition, Reuters determined that President Joe Biden and every living former U.S. president — except Donald Trump — are direct descendants of slaveholders: Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and — through his white mother’s side — Barack Obama.

NBC has the full article.

Many struggle to deal with their family’s racism or connections to slavery.

More stories about the Black American experience.