"This painful story would be utterly unremarkable"
by Tom Sullivan
If you are arriving in Atlanta early for Netroots Nation (or leaving late), here's a little historical side trip if you have a couple of free hours and the rain holds off. Gone With the Wind it's not. Found on Facebook the other day. I never knew this story.
There is a lengthy New York Times treatment of Melvinia Shields' history here:
In the annals of American slavery, this painful story would be utterly unremarkable, save for one reason: This union, consummated some two years before the Civil War, represents the origins of a family line that would extend from rural Georgia, to Birmingham, Ala., to Chicago and, finally, to the White House.
UPDATE: Now I don't know if the monument is still in place or not: Monument honoring Michelle Obama ancestor is vandalized (2013)
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