Sharpton Shocked by Link to Thurmond's Family

Talk about irony. The Reverend Al Sharpton, everyone's favorite rabblerouser, learned on Sunday that he is the descendant of a slave that was owned by relatives of the late Senator Strom Thurmond. Naturally, Sharpton found this revelation to be quite "shocking."He found out about his familial connection to Thurmond, a man who once staunchly defended segregation, through the Daily News, which had geneaologists trace Sharpton's roots.

Not only was Sharpton surprised by what the geneaologists discovered --"It was probably the most shocking thing in my life."--but the discovery also surprised some of Thurmond's relatives as well. It seems that no one in the family ever knew of a connection between their family and Sharpton's family. Like most families that may have owned slaves, Thurmond's family rarely discussed that part of their family history, preferring to dwell only on the good things about their family.

The shocking revelation surfaced after Ancestry.com contacted a reporter at the Daily News who had agreed to have his own family tree researched. The reporter in turn asked Sharpton if he wanted to have his family tree researched, and Sharpton said yes. Ancestry.com geneaologists, using various documents such as census, marriage, and death records, discovered that Sharpton's great-grandfather -- Coleman Sharpton -- was a slave owned by Julia Thurmond, whose grandfather was Strom Thurmond's great-great-grandfather. Coleman Sharpton was eventually freed from bondage.

In light of the fact that Strom Thurmond was a known segregationist, it is safe to say that Sharpton is probably not thrilled with the connection. The one meeting between the two men, which occurred in 1991, was an "awkward" one: "I was not happy to meet him because of what he he had done all his life," said Sharpton of the meeting.

As for the Thurmond family, aside from comments made by a distant relative, everyone else has declined to comment on this revelation

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Sharpton Shocked by Link to Thurmond's Family posted 8:16 am 2/16/07 on CNN.com