According to aides and relatives, First Lady Michelle Obama grew up with a vague sense of her ancestry. The New York Times recently traced Obama’s lineage back to her great-great-great-grandmother, who was a slave in South Carolina. I’ve read about, and seen, this story about Michelle Obama’s family tree from a number of news outlets, and most lead by stating that Obama has white ancestry. I suspect this history is a common one among African American families. As Aminah at Michelle Obama Watch points out, the “circumstances” under which former slave Melvinia became pregnant by a white man are glossed over.
I understand that this information is somewhat public information, but the story still makes me uncomfortable. It seems intrusive, especially whilst the Obamas still occupy the White House. Like Latoya, I find it unnerving. Did the Times think they were doing Obama some sort of favor? I wonder how Obama feels about it – like she’s on an episode of This Is Your Life?
I don’t think the Times was being disrespectful by writing it–nothing about it is critical or meant to diminish Michelle Obama or her family in any way. Certainly there’s nothing revelatory about the fact that an African-American would have both black and white ancestors.
Michelle and Barack have both talked publically about the fact she’s descended from slaves, and they took their daughters to see the Cape Castle forts in Ghana this summer. They embrace that part of their history, so I doubt they were opposed to this article.
Who owns a family tree of a famous person and some other person has that information?
Gates wrote about this and mentioned that Michelle Obama might have been unaware of some of her specific ancestors. So then, the Times took it upon themselves to discover them?
Don’t the Mormons do stuff like this in order to retroactively baptize dead people?
I’m with SarahMC on this in that I get a vaguely uncomfortable feeling about it too. Maybe if this was the kind of thing they had disclosed to her before printing it or something… I think part of it is that assumably she learned about it the same way and at the same time we all did, and when contacted, she issued a “no comment” response. It kind of makes you feel like she was sort of ambushed with it. Which may or may not be true.
I also worry that this is the kind of story that gets used to dismiss the very real presence of systemic obstacles in the lives of minorities by claiming that we’re now in a post-racial world, as evidenced by this 5 generation slavery-to-White-House story.
sorry WHEN some other person…
I read an earlier story, on CNN I think, about her heritage, and I found it totally moving and fascinating. I think it’s a great way to educate people about the legacy of slavery (though glossing over the rape of slaves, of course, is terrible). I remember news outlets tracing Barack and McCain’s family trees during the campaign, and finding McCain has some black relatives (descended from slaves and slave-ownners). Barack is related to Dick Cheney, or something bizarre like that. And HRC is distantly related to Angelina Jolie. I don’t think the practice is unusual, it’s just that Michelle Obama’s story is extraordinary for our time.
Remember how various news outlets did geneaological research to show that John Kerry and George W. Bush were related? And there was one that proved that Dick Cheney and Barack Obama are related as well. It’s all done using public records.
I’d feel a bit uncomfortable knowing someone was digging through my ancestor’s records. A book was recently published about one of my ancestors–who actually has the same name as I do–and there were a lot of people in my family who were nervous about it, but, hell, our my family history doesn’t belong exclusively TO US. History is held in common by all humanity.
You just have to hope that what’s revealed isn’t too unpleasant and that your family is dealt with respectfully, which I think the Times did.
I also had conflicting emotions about this. On the one hand I agree that it seems like a prying into her past. Yes the Obama’s are now “historical figures” and in that sense part of our national story but yet they are still actors on the world stage, not yet passed on to history books.
But on the other hand I personally find the story extremely compelling and I think important. I think its important for Americans to be confronted with the human effect of slavery, to see that a human being was sold for X amount, raped at 15 etc…To actually tie it back to another living person. It makes it real in a way that I think is important.
Perhaps I’d feel differently if Michelle O herself had initiated the whole thing. Given it her blessing in some way.
Maybe I am more perturbed by the reporting on the story and people’s responses. I have to stop letting anonymous Internet commenters ruin everything for me.
I wonder what little Melvinia would think about the paths her descendants took. (Although I would rather not join in on the superficial “Look how far black people have come!” chorus.)
@SarahMC: There’s a famous anecdote in McPherson’s Civil War history, Battle Cry of Freedom, that tells the story of a slave who joins the Union Army, and on returning South to his former home, sees his former owner splitting rails to build a fence on his farm. The soldier looks him in the eye and says: “Howdy, massa. Bottom rail on top this time.”
I think Melvinia would feel the same way. How could you not?
The fact that a descendent of slaves has made it to the White House is something to celebrate. We HAVE come far as a country, even if we still have a long ways to go.
I also don’t think it’s right to insist that Melvinia was a rape victim. Chances are a relationship between a black woman and white man at that time involved coercion, but we just don’t know about this particular instance. Harriet Jacobs had a consensual relationship and two children with a white man. In a rush to correct for the invisibility of rape, we shouldn’t make loving interracial relationships invisible.
I suggest all of you rent African American Lives (Parts 1 & 2) by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. In it, debunks a lot of myths African Americans have about their ancestry. He traces Morgan Freeman’s lineage. The actor is convinced his lighter-skinned ancestor was repeatedly raped by her White owner. But as it turns out, they lived together, raised a family, he left his property to his sons, and they were buried together. In a similar manner, Don Cheadle –who was told all his life he had Indian blood– discovered that not only does not have any Indian blood, his ancestors were kept as slaves to a Native Americans tribe on a reservation. It was a fascinating series.
As a Black woman, I’d LOVE to learn more about my family heritage. All too often, Blacks are made to feel like we aren’t American enough because we were slaves and/or we aren’t really African because we are so disconnected to the continent. Tracing ones roots is a very cathartic process of self-discovery.