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OF EDITORIALS
December 25, 2003
All in the family
Strom Thurmond was one of the most highly regarded
segregationists in America. His advocacy of racial separation
was so unyielding that in 1948 he was endorsed by the Dixiecrats
to bolt the Democratic Party and run for president of the United
States. Thurmond was defeated by Harry Truman, but in 1955 he
joined the U.S. Senate where he served for 48 years until his
death this year at 100 years of age.
Thurmond mellowed in his later years and even hired African-Americans
on his staff. However, it is well to reflect on his earlier views
as enunciated in the platform of the States’ Rights Party,
commonly called the Dixiecrats. The platform states in part: “We
stand for the segregation of the races, and racial integrity of
each race; the constitutional right to choose one’s associates;
to accept private employment without governmental interference,
and to earn one’s living in any lawful way. We oppose the
elimination of segregation in employment…”
Despite these strong views in support of segregation, Thurmond
fathered a daughter by his family’s black maid in 1925 when
he was only 22. His daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams stunned
America when she announced recently that Thurmond was her father.
She had maintained a secret relationship with Thurmond since she
was 16. Their relationship was not a very well kept secret, so
Mrs. Williams decided to go public and tell the true story once
her father could no longer be politically damaged by the disclosure.
Mrs. Williams’ announcement tore the veil from an aspect
of American life that for too long has been shrouded in hypocrisy.
Despite the danger, the legal sanctions and the social opprobrium,
intimate relations between the races have occurred in America
for centuries. In most states of the South such relations could
not be solemnized because of laws against racially mixed marriages.
The U.S. Supreme Court finally condemned such laws as unconstitutional
in 1967, only 36 years ago.
The status of the white male in the South was so exalted that
it would be easy to condemn any relationship with a black woman
as predatory. Undoubtedly that would be the case more often than
not. Nonetheless, it is more interesting to review those cases
that diverge from rank abuse.
Take the case of an Irish planter in Georgia who fathered two
sons with a slave. One son, James Augustine Healy (1830-1900),
became the first black Roman Catholic priest and the first black
bishop in America. His father sent James and his brother, Patrick
Francis Healy to private school up north so that they could avoid
racial discrimination. Both brothers graduated from Holy Cross
College in Massachusetts. Patrick went on to become the president
of Georgetown University from 1873 to 1882.
It was not uncommon for powerful white men in the old South to
maintain families with black or Native American women. The children
of such liaisons could often enjoy special privileges that earned
them the enmity of others. Their special status would end abruptly
with the death of their father.
Another painful aspect of such families is that those fair enough
to be perceived as white would often drift off into a world of
greater opportunity. For those left behind it was like a death
in the family. Shirlee Taylor Haizlip wrote about this phenomenon
in her mother’s family in her book “The Sweeter The
Juice.”
Mrs. Williams’ story shows the strength of family ties.
She has focused attention on an otherwise forgotten aspect of
American history. It would be helpful for America to consider
more the ties that bind all of us.
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