Thurmond's Daughter Says Sharpton Overreacted

Feb 27, 09:52 PM

Current Headlines: NEW YORK _ The biracial daughter of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond defended the segregationist Tuesday and criticized the Rev. Al Sharpton for "overreacting" when he learned his ancestors had been enslaved by Thurmond's relatives.

"His reaction, to me, was overbearing. He seemed too upset," said Essie Mae Washington-Williams, who revealed shortly after Thurmond's death in 2003 that she was his illegitimate daughter.

"In spite of being a segregationist, he did many wonderful things for black people," Washington-Williams, 81, said of her father. "I kind of feel that there was a little bit of an overreaction here."

Ancestry.com genealogists discovered the link between Sharpton and Thurmond after an intensive two-week search unearthed an 1861 slave contract. The document showed that the reverend's great-grandfather, Coleman Sharpton Sr., was enslaved by Julia Ann Thurmond Sharpton, a distant relative of the late senator.

As the New York Daily News broke the story Sunday, Sharpton said, "It was probably the most shocking thing in my life."

But Washington-Williams said Sharpton should try to make peace with his family's link to the white slave owners. "If it had been any other family, maybe he wouldn't have reacted the way he did," she said Tuesday.

Strom Thurmond fathered his biracial daughter when he was 22, and her mother, a black maid for the Thurmond family, was 16.

But even as he ran for President on a segregationist platform in 1948, Thurmond did not shy away from his duties as a dad, Washington-Williams said.

He put her through college and visited her often, she said.

"We had a 62-year relationship," she said. "He's done many wonderful things for my family."

Thurmond's other children _ whom Washington-Williams referred to as her brothers and sister _ have not publicly commented on their family tree.

"They have always been very quiet," said Washington-Williams, adding that she maintains a "good relationship" with the Thurmond family.

Washington-Williams, a retired educator who lives in California, was in South Carolina to sign copies of her book, "Dear Senator," which chronicles her once-hidden relationship with Thurmond.

"I'm not sure that Rev. Sharpton is aware of the many things Strom Thurmond has done for South Carolina," she said. "He just knows about the things said about segregation."

When told of Washington-Williams' comments, Sharpton said his situation was different than hers.

"I was given specific accounting about my great-grandfather as chattel property and used against their will for profit in two different states," Sharpton told The News from Miami. "No one should minimize how their family was considered property and less than human."

Sharpton said his reaction to the news about his forefather enduring the hardships of slavery would have been the same, even if there wasn't a Thurmond connection.

"I respect her and the dignity of the way she dealt with her personal pain. I'm dealing with the pain of an ugly social and illegal arrangement," he said.

But if DNA tests that Sharpton plans to take prove he is a blood relative of the Thurmonds, Washington-Williams said she will gladly open her arms to him.

"Welcome to the fold," she said.

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