Al Sharpton's great-grandfather was owned by Strom Thurmond's cousin

Talk about bizarre. Even the jolly reverend seems to have been bowled over by this startling news:

NEW YORK -- Genealogists have found that civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton is a descendant of a slave owned by relatives of the late senator Strom Thurmond, a newspaper reported yesterday.

The Daily News said professional genealogists, working at the newspaper's behest, recently uncovered the ancestral ties between one of the country's best known black leaders and a man who was once a prominent defender of segregation.

"I have always wondered what was the background of my family," the newspaper quoted Sharpton as saying. "But nothing -- nothing -- could prepare me for this.

"It's chilling. It's amazing."

Turns out Al's great-grandfather, Coleman Sharpton, was owned by Julia Thurmond, who was a first cousin of Strom's father.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/World/2007/02/26/3667961-sun.html

 

Not surprising, really.

Everyone has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-greats, etc.

Go back far enough and throw in all the cousins and aunts and uncles, and there's a good chance you and Joe Blow down at the corner store have some ancestors with a common history, whether it be by blood, by business relationship, or in Sharpton's case, by slavery.

 

Now the key is how much $$$ will the Rev want.

 

Plus the richest landowners had the most slaves, that increases the odds that any particular decendant of slaves would come from a family like the Thurmonds.

 

The Rev. has also announced that he is the father of Anna Nicole's daughter.

 

That's funny rat thar...

 

Now we know the origin of Al's hair.

 

Why would the newspaper be looking into Sharpton's geneaolgy?

 

Proof that racism and ignorance is a genetic trait.

 

Indeed!

 

As did Thurmond, through his estate.