Strom Thurmond's inter-racial daughter's mother was 16 years old?

I just heard on the radio that the mother of the former Senator's inter-racial daughter was 16 years old. Can this be confirmed?

The plot thickens.

Strom "Statuatory Rape" Thurmond

In many states today age of consent is 16. Just imagine what it was in South Carolina 70 years ago.

the 16 as age of consent usually doesn't apply to people 18 and over

Is the Whore Press gonna blame this on Bill Clinton, too?

Sure knocked both stories right out of the paper....

David

times weren't much different, were they?

Mother's gave up kids to hid what was done etc. But we all knew in the town we lived in the children of two different mother's and the same father and he was a big wig. No one ever said a thing to these 4 girls as they were good kids. My age and in school with them.He was in NH politics and way up.It is having children and being so open that I think has changed.Also, so many of them doing it.Maybe just so many more people but I think it is the percent that is higher.

He was, what, 20 at the time?

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...I watched a freeper blow a vein in Blockbuster because the clerk was reading the paper and said something like "They sure do look alike." The SUV Driver started protesting that, of course, this octagenarian (my word, three syllables too many to be his) "just wants her picture in the paper!"

Hee hee. Strom is to SC Repukes as Ronnie is to the GOP. There's simply no way their boy coulda faltered, or been a Limbaughian-sized hypocrite.

Marriage at 16 was not unusual even in my lifetime. If her mother had been white, they probably would have been married. It wasn't very long ago that a woman who reached her mid-20s unmarried was considered an "old maid."

Enjoyed your website. Especially the Galavanters. I play banjo and guitar myself and do a little entertaining from time to time. Sounds like a great group.

I grew up down south (Texas). I was 12 in 1954. I remember some of the teenage boys (my brother's friends) bragging that they could drive down to N****rtown, pull up in front of a particular house, and that N****r Tom (a tag used for all older black men) would send out his teenage daughter. Of course, 99.9% of those stories were crude boys trying to appear macho and had absolutely no truth to them.

But this was a recurrent myth that was based on sentiments that were prevalent in white society. That whites were a superior race who could demand and control blacks as they wished, even sexually. That the forbidden "black" fruit was mysteriously powerful. etc.

N****rtown was a reality however. Over the years we had a succession of black maids, as most middle class whites did. This cheap black labor was part of the deal in the south. If I remember correctly, I think about $20 per week was typical for five day weeks, arriving before breakfast, and leaving after dinner was served and the kitchen cleaned.

The Civil War did not end slavery in the South, they just changed from whips to the more politically correct wages as a means of control of their cheap labor.

A few times I remember driving with my mother to pick up the maid (when the busses were not running or whatever). You knew you were in N****rtown when the pavement stopped and the houses (shacks) were on dirt streets.

I strongly suspect that for Thurmond to have sex with a 16 yo black girl, the daughter of the family maid, that was very much a statutory rape in the "power over other lesser humans" and the "bragging to the boys" sense of the word. Unles he lived in a very different South from the one I experienced.

While the idea of a white man exerting power and sexual control over a young black girl was exciting and worth bragging about, the idea that a white man could be "in love" or even experience affection for a black woman was not even thought possible.

I heard a Republican explain how honorable it was for Strom to have provided some financial support for his daughter all these years. I replied that the interesting part of the story to me was the circumstances of her conception. I also find it interesting that he did not go to any lengths to hide this relationship - even openly visiting her at college once where he paid her tuition. Could you imagine if any high-level current-day Democrat had been found to have similar situation in their past? I notice that to this day, accusing someone of having an illigitimate black child is a favorite RW campaign tactic (Clinton and McCain).

Peace

I heard a Republican explain how honorable it was for Strom to have provided some financial support for his daughter all these years. I replied that the interesting part of the story to me was the circumstances of her conception. I also find it interesting that he did not go to any lengths to hide this relationship - even openly visiting her at college once where he paid her tuition.

Actually I see several things at work here that were not common in the majority cases.

First of all, the lady kept her daughter and raised her. Had she been white, she would have been sent away to a home for unwed mothers and eventually forced to leave her child behind for adoption by a married couple.

Then, because of the first difference, Strom Thurmond was able to keep track of his child and be a part of her life. Many fathers never were told that they were fathers or, if they were, the idea that they would have any participation in that child's life was unthinkable.

Finally, apparently Thurmond had the financial means to take care of his daughter and her mother quite well. It is hard to say why Thurmond did continue the relationship with his daughter. Still, it is to his credit that he did, and to the lady's credit that she handled it so gracefully throughout her own lifetime.

. . that is so interesting (last paragraph).

Whatever the answer is, assuming we ever find out, I'm sure you are right about Strom being far more complex than most people thought. I guess stereotyping can go both ways.

Peace

I'm sorry if it seems I was trivializing the racial implications here. I was just addressing the age issue; toward which attitudes and mores have changed quite a bit during my lifetime.

she was considered an old maid. That was why Princess Margaret rushed to marry Snowden at 29.

Black women are ok to make love to,
just don't let em ride in the front of the bus......

sheesh.

But I doubt seriously that this was an example of "making love".

(See my post above yours.)

but opted for a cleaner word...

I agree with what you are saying.....


I grew up in texas in the 70s and 80s and it was known as the more progressive "brown town" by then.