Report: Mitch McConnell found to be the direct descendant of 2 slave owners
Census records from the mid-1800s show that two great-great-grandfathers of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) were slave owners, NBC News reports.
The discovery comes after McConnell stated last month that he does not believe the government should pay reparations to the descendants of slaves. "I don't think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago, when none of us currently living are responsible, is a good idea," he said. "We've tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We've elected an African American president."
McConnell's great-great-grandfathers, James McConnell and Richard Daley, lived in Limestone County, Alabama, and between the two, owned at least 14 slaves, NBC News reports. Slavery experts are not calling on the descendants of slave owners to pay reparations, but say their families did benefit from slave labor. "Smaller farms and plantations still benefited enormously from the unpaid labor of enslaved people, which likely helped them build multigenerational wealth," Chuck Collins, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, told NBC News.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
NBC News said it called and emailed McConnell's office, asking if he knew his great-great-grandfathers were slave owners, but received no response. McConnell, who grew up in Alabama, has said his parents were opposed to segregation.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Is the AI bubble deflating?
Today's Big Question Growing skepticism and high costs prompt reconsideration
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Crossword: April 26, 2024
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku hard: April 26, 2024
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published