Thurmonds secret daughter

last updated 8 January 2015

Columbia, S.C.

The family of Strom Thurmond, the late South Carolina senator who was once the nation’s leading segregationist, confirmed this week that a retired California teacher was Thurmond’s illegitimate, half-black daughter. The woman, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, was born in 1925 to Carrie Butler, then the Thurmonds’ 16-year-old maid. There were rumors, but Washington-Williams denied everything to protect Thurmond’s career. He ran for president in 1948, promising to uphold segregation. “On the question of the social intermingling of the races,” Thurmond said, “our people draw the line.” After Thurmond died in June, at 100, Washington-Williams resolved to reveal the secret. “It is a part of history,” she said.