Huffington Post on John McCain and Traces of the Trade
Posted October 22nd, 2008 by James DeWolf PerryAbby Ferber, a sociologist involved with the White Privilege Conference, has written an essay at the Huffington Post discussing the parallels between the history of John McCain’s family and that of the DeWolfs.
Senator McCain’s family owned slaves until the Civil War, and most of their 2,000-acre plantation is still in family hands. Ferber discusses the implications of this history, focusing on the white/black wealth gap in our society.
For more on the parallels between the McCain and DeWolf family stories, see this blog entry.
November 1st, 2008 at 1:00 am
i think you should check to see if obama’s family owned slaves………..you may be suprised…
November 1st, 2008 at 8:24 am
Thanks, Mike. That’s a good point, although we wouldn’t be surprised. We already know that Obama is descended from slave owners.
What I don’t know is whether you’re referring to Obama’s African ancestors, on the assumption that they might have owned slaves, or to his white American ancestors.
Kenya does, in fact, have slavery to this day, but not in numbers that make it likely that Obama’s family has been involved.
Obama is, however, the descendant of American slave owners on his mother’s side, through a great-great-great-great-grandfather and a great-great-great-great-great-grandmother.