sputnik
12-17-2003, 07:29 PM
How about this:
Revelation May Alter Thurmond's Legacy
By ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press Writer
December 17, 2003, 4:27 PM EST
Strom Thurmond the Dixiecrat presidential candidate declared in 1948 there were "not enough troops in the Army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the negro race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches."
By the time of his death last June at age 100, many had accepted that the nation's longest-serving U.S. senator had undergone a change of heart toward blacks. Had he not eventually dropped his opposition to the Voting Rights Act? Had he not supported a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.?
But the disclosure this week that Thurmond, at age 22, had fathered a child by his family's 16-year-old black maid was seen as confirmation to some that he had not truly changed at all.
"He was a racist by day and a hypocrite by night," said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with King. "It's hypocrisy at its worst."
Had Thurmond truly changed, Lowery said, he would have acknowledged this woman during his lifetime. "I think he could have been a powerful force for reconciliation, in the South and in the country," Lowery said. "He certainly missed a golden opportunity."
In a series of interviews and a news conference this week, 78-year-old retired schoolteacher Essie Mae Washington-Williams said Thurmond was her father, was always kind to her and supported her financially into adulthood.
On Wednesday, she said that now that she has come forward, "at last I feel completely free."
"There are many stories like Sally Hemings' and mine," she said, referring to Thomas Jefferson's relationship with one of his slaves. "The unfortunate measure is that not everyone knows about these stories that helped to make America what it is today."
Washington-Williams said her claim -- accepted by Thurmond's relatives -- is being made now, after Thurmond's death, because she did not want to harm his political career.
Nadine Cohodas, author of "Strom Thurmond and the Politics of Southern Change," said Thurmond's failure to acknowledge his daughter publicly during his lifetime does little more than confirm that Thurmond was "truly a man of his times."
"The entire system was hypocritical," she said. "You played with the maid's children and the gardener's children, and yet you went to sleep at night not worrying that they had to come in through the back door. They couldn't vote, they couldn't live here, they couldn't do this and they couldn't do that.
"So, to me, this is just at the complete extreme end of a system that had hypocrisies."
When the story broke, Cohodas thought to herself: "What an extraordinary calculation to go forward with a political career knowing that this was in one's background. Why would one do that?"
But as she thought more about it, Cohodas said, she realized that the black teenage servant must have figured that if she spoke out, she might not be believed and might put herself in extreme danger.
Lowery conceded that stepping forward early on might have hurt Thurmond's career. But once the World War II hero and former South Carolina governor had reached the pinnacle of political power, he could have truly made a difference, the civil rights leader said.
"I think he would have weathered the storm," Lowery said. "I think he would have become a man who had a change of heart and set an example of repentance and transformation and regeneration in the country."
In terms of Thurmond's legacy, the disclosure will not make much of a difference, said Jack Bass, a history professor at the College of Charleston and co-author of the book "Ol' Strom."
"I think it adds another dimension of a full and rich life," he said
Bass said that in a way, Thurmond could end up doing more for race relations in death than he ever did during his lifetime.
"My hunch is the people of the South Carolina, particularly whites, are going to feel somewhat numb for a few days," he said. "My personal hope is that it will end up leading to more dialogue about race. It certainly unlocks that door."
* __
EDITOR'S NOTE: Allen G. Breed is the AP's Southeast regional writer, based in Raleigh, N.C.
from newsday.com
Revelation May Alter Thurmond's Legacy
By ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press Writer
December 17, 2003, 4:27 PM EST
Strom Thurmond the Dixiecrat presidential candidate declared in 1948 there were "not enough troops in the Army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the negro race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches."
By the time of his death last June at age 100, many had accepted that the nation's longest-serving U.S. senator had undergone a change of heart toward blacks. Had he not eventually dropped his opposition to the Voting Rights Act? Had he not supported a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.?
But the disclosure this week that Thurmond, at age 22, had fathered a child by his family's 16-year-old black maid was seen as confirmation to some that he had not truly changed at all.
"He was a racist by day and a hypocrite by night," said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with King. "It's hypocrisy at its worst."
Had Thurmond truly changed, Lowery said, he would have acknowledged this woman during his lifetime. "I think he could have been a powerful force for reconciliation, in the South and in the country," Lowery said. "He certainly missed a golden opportunity."
In a series of interviews and a news conference this week, 78-year-old retired schoolteacher Essie Mae Washington-Williams said Thurmond was her father, was always kind to her and supported her financially into adulthood.
On Wednesday, she said that now that she has come forward, "at last I feel completely free."
"There are many stories like Sally Hemings' and mine," she said, referring to Thomas Jefferson's relationship with one of his slaves. "The unfortunate measure is that not everyone knows about these stories that helped to make America what it is today."
Washington-Williams said her claim -- accepted by Thurmond's relatives -- is being made now, after Thurmond's death, because she did not want to harm his political career.
Nadine Cohodas, author of "Strom Thurmond and the Politics of Southern Change," said Thurmond's failure to acknowledge his daughter publicly during his lifetime does little more than confirm that Thurmond was "truly a man of his times."
"The entire system was hypocritical," she said. "You played with the maid's children and the gardener's children, and yet you went to sleep at night not worrying that they had to come in through the back door. They couldn't vote, they couldn't live here, they couldn't do this and they couldn't do that.
"So, to me, this is just at the complete extreme end of a system that had hypocrisies."
When the story broke, Cohodas thought to herself: "What an extraordinary calculation to go forward with a political career knowing that this was in one's background. Why would one do that?"
But as she thought more about it, Cohodas said, she realized that the black teenage servant must have figured that if she spoke out, she might not be believed and might put herself in extreme danger.
Lowery conceded that stepping forward early on might have hurt Thurmond's career. But once the World War II hero and former South Carolina governor had reached the pinnacle of political power, he could have truly made a difference, the civil rights leader said.
"I think he would have weathered the storm," Lowery said. "I think he would have become a man who had a change of heart and set an example of repentance and transformation and regeneration in the country."
In terms of Thurmond's legacy, the disclosure will not make much of a difference, said Jack Bass, a history professor at the College of Charleston and co-author of the book "Ol' Strom."
"I think it adds another dimension of a full and rich life," he said
Bass said that in a way, Thurmond could end up doing more for race relations in death than he ever did during his lifetime.
"My hunch is the people of the South Carolina, particularly whites, are going to feel somewhat numb for a few days," he said. "My personal hope is that it will end up leading to more dialogue about race. It certainly unlocks that door."
* __
EDITOR'S NOTE: Allen G. Breed is the AP's Southeast regional writer, based in Raleigh, N.C.
from newsday.com