Washington,
DC - Democrat Barack Obama, who would be
the first black president, has white ancestors who owned slaves,
according to a genealogical researcher.
The researcher,
William Addams Reitwiesner, says the discovery is part of
his first draft of research into Obama's roots. Obama's father
was from Kenya and his mother was a white woman from Kansas.
Obama
wrote in his autobiography, "Dreams from My Father,"
that while one of his great-great-grandfathers was a decorated
Union soldier, family rumors also say he is distantly related
to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy.
Reitwiesner
found in 1850 Census records from Kentucky that one
of Obama's great-great-great-great grandfathers, George
Washington Overall, owned a 15-year-old girl and a 25-year-old
man. The same records show that one of Obama's great-great-great-great-great-grandmothers,
Mary Duvall, also owned two black slaves _ a 60-year-old
man and a 58-year-old woman.
The
Baltimore Sun first reported Reitwiesner's work and
asked genealogical experts to review it, but they would
not confirm the findings.
Obama
spokesman Bill Burton said the senator's ancestors "are
representative of America."
"While
a relative owned slaves, another fought for the Union
in the Civil War," Burton said. "And it is
a true measure of progress that the descendant of a
slave owner would come to marry a student from Kenya
and produce a son who would grow up to be a candidate
for president of the United States."
Reitwiesner
found that two other presidential candidates were descendants
of slave owners _ Republican John McCain and Democrat
John Edwards.
The
New York Daily News reported recently that genealogists
found that relatives of former segregationist Sen. Strom
Thurmond appear to have owned the ancestors of civil
rights activist Al Sharpton.
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