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I found this on CNN. I don't know why, but I think it's hilarious.
Report: Sharpton's ancestors were slaves of Thurmond's
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Rev. Al Sharpton said Sunday he was "shocked" to learn that his ancestors were slaves owned by relations of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, who ran for president as a segregationist in 1948.
"In the story of the Thurmonds and the Sharptons is the story of the shame and the glory of America," said Sharpton, a civil rights activist who mounted his own presidential bid in 2004.
The New York Daily News reported Sunday that a team of genealogists from Ancestry.com had determined that in 1861, Sharpton's enslaved great-grandfather Coleman Sharpton, along with a woman believed to be his wife and two children, were given as a gift to Julia Thurmond to pay off the debts of Coleman's previous owner. Julia Thurmond's grandfather was also Strom Thurmond's great-great-grandfather.
Thurmond was South Carolina's governor when he split from the Democratic party and mounted a segregationist presidential campaign in 1948. He was elected to the Senate in 1954, jumped to the Republican Party in 1964 and served until shortly before his death in 2003 at age 100.
He later abandoned his opposition to civil rights, hiring black aides and nominating black candidates to government posts.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe...day/index.html
Report: Sharpton's ancestors were slaves of Thurmond's
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Rev. Al Sharpton said Sunday he was "shocked" to learn that his ancestors were slaves owned by relations of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, who ran for president as a segregationist in 1948.
"In the story of the Thurmonds and the Sharptons is the story of the shame and the glory of America," said Sharpton, a civil rights activist who mounted his own presidential bid in 2004.
The New York Daily News reported Sunday that a team of genealogists from Ancestry.com had determined that in 1861, Sharpton's enslaved great-grandfather Coleman Sharpton, along with a woman believed to be his wife and two children, were given as a gift to Julia Thurmond to pay off the debts of Coleman's previous owner. Julia Thurmond's grandfather was also Strom Thurmond's great-great-grandfather.
Thurmond was South Carolina's governor when he split from the Democratic party and mounted a segregationist presidential campaign in 1948. He was elected to the Senate in 1954, jumped to the Republican Party in 1964 and served until shortly before his death in 2003 at age 100.
He later abandoned his opposition to civil rights, hiring black aides and nominating black candidates to government posts.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe...day/index.html
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