by WorldTribune Staff, June 27, 2023
All living U.S. presidents are direct descendants of slaveowners with one exception, according to a report.
The exception is not Barack Obama.
It is Donald Trump.
Former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Obama, along with current White House occupant Joe Biden are descended from slaveowners, Reuters reported on June 27. Obama is a descendant of a slaveholder through his white mother’s side.
The report determined that Trump was not a decedent of slaveholders because his ancestors came to the United States after slavery was abolished.
As for Biden, Census records viewed by Reuters showed that his great-great-great grandfather “enslaved a 14-year-old” in 1850. Politico found that another 3rd great grandfather, Jesse Robinett, enslaved people in Maryland’s Allegany County, according to an 1800 census.
Reuters reported:
In researching the genealogies of America’s political elite, a Reuters examination found that a fifth of the nation’s congressmen, living presidents, Supreme Court justices and governors are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people.
Among 536 members of the last sitting Congress, Reuters determined at least 100 descend from slaveholders. Of that group, more than a quarter of the Senate – 28 members – can trace their families to at least one slaveholder.
Those lawmakers from the 117th session of Congress are Democrats and Republicans alike. They include some of the most influential politicians in America: Republican senators Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and James Lankford, and Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.
Membership . . . . Intelligence . . . . Publish