In his 1972 article "Myth of the New Deal"* "New Left" historian Ronald Radosh writes:
"The New Deal reforms were not mere 'incremental gestures'. They were solidly based, carefully worked out pieces of legislation. They were of such a character that they would be able to create a long-lasting mythology about the existence of a pluralistic American democracy, in which big labor supposedly exerts its countering influence to the domination that would be otherwise undertaken by big industry.
"One cannot explain the success of the New Deal by pointing to its rhetoric. The populace responded to FDR's radical rhetoric only because it mirrored their own deeply held illusions. They could not comprehend how the reforms that changed their lives only worked to bolster the existing political economy, and they did not realize that many sponsors of the reforms came from the corporation community themselves. The integration of seemingly disparate elements into the system was successful. Labor did not get its share and it did benefit from the development of a permanent war economy and the military-industrial complex. Many of those who lived through and benefited from the New Deal most likely view its accomplishments in much the same way as Schlesinger or Carl Degler. One can never be sure whether they reflect the explanations offered by the 'vital center' historians or whether these historians merely reflect the false consciousness of their own epoch."
Radosh wrote this in the early 1970s, just as Richard Nixon changed the monetary regime by abolishing the international gold standard and just as employers were about to shift their supportive stance toward labor unions, which Radosh documents in his article, to a more anti-labor stance. I have previously blogged that there was a major shift in the pattern of stock returns as related to real wages around 1971. Between 1932 and 1971, net of cumulative inflation, stock returns were about 5.9% compounded, and between 1971 and 2008 they were also around 5.9% compounded. However, from 1932 to 1971 real wages increased 2.6% compounded, while from 1971 to 2008 real wages declined -1.1% compounded. The 1971-2008 period was characterized by high inflation (the highest 40-year period of inflation in America's history) but real stock returns were held constant at 5.9% net of inflation. As well, the post-1971 period was characterized by manufacturing's exiting the country, a decline in the quality of education, and declining unionization. The one variable that the Progressive and New Deal policies have ultimately held constant is corporate stock returns net of inflation. Real wages, unemployment, inflation rates and public welfare gyrate, but in the end real stock returns find their way back to the baseline real 5.9% level.
At the time Ronald Radosh wrote his article in New History of Leviathan it could still be argued that the statist Progressive and New Deal ideologies integrated social justice concerns. This is no longer the case. Rather, it is apparent from my earlier blog that Radosh's argument is actually understated. The New Deal labor union edifice was easily overturned because of declining manufacturing presence, globalization, declining scale in post-modern American industry and employer resistance to unions. Hence, unions' ability to represent workers has diminished just as inflation escalated. Unions lack the resources to organize small shops, and it is more profitable for them to concentrate on government workers who enjoy monopolistic privileges and can impose costs on taxpayers. The one variable that has been fairly steady since Franklin D. Roosevelt's election in 1932 has been returns on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, net of inflation. Since 1971 workers' real wages have declined, but returns on the Dow have remained strong even in spite the past eight years' stagnation, a period characterized by relentlessly increasing inflation as the mismanagement and incompetence characterized by the Progressive and New Deal regimes has become evident in corporate scandals, inept real estate investment and taxpayer-financed subsidies to millionaire investment bankers through the Fed's low interest rate regime and through direct subsidies to incompetently run firms like Bear Stearns.
*Ronald Radosh, "Myth of the New Deal" in Ronald Radosh and Murray N. Rothbard, editors, A New History of Leviathan: Essays on the Rise of the American Corporate State, New York: EP Dutton, 1972, p. 186
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Government Is the Problem: Phil Orenstein on Immigration Reform
Over at Democracy Project Phil Orenstein chronicles the inability of a highly skilled mechanical engineer in his high-tech manufacturing firm to obtain a visa to stay in the US. Instead, Gianluca Mattaroccia, the Italian techie, is returning to Italy with a six figure salary offer. Phil notes that while legitimate immigrants with unique skills that are in demand globally cannot obtain a visa, those willing to come to the USA illegally but who lack skills and wish to mooch off welfare are welcomed with open arms. Phil's article points out that combined with America's bad educational system, dominated by progressive educationists who fail to provide the basics, our immigration laws do not work because they are ineptly administered:
"While American schools have succumbed to progressive pedagogies that focus more on social justice education and feel good outcomes than on competency, there is certifiable proof that Chinese schools have left us far behind, according to Andrew Wolf in the New York Sun. As we keep dumbing down proficiency tests year after year to make the results appear better and Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein look like heroes, our children and businesses suffer. Thus our own students graduate with less proficiency compared to foreign students who possess more competence with 21st century skills. The answer isn’t to kick out the smarter, more proficient foreign workers and students, so we can go on fooling ourselves that our schools aren’t failing.."
Phil suggests an argument against immigration restrictions, not because of the pros or cons of limiting low-wage immigration in order to protect low-wage American workers, but because the US government lacks the competence to administer an immigration program intelligently. I think that there is much merit in this idea. What scares me is that these bozos want to control what goes on on the operating table, your refrigerator, and your living room.
Isn't it time to roll back government bureaucracy?
"While American schools have succumbed to progressive pedagogies that focus more on social justice education and feel good outcomes than on competency, there is certifiable proof that Chinese schools have left us far behind, according to Andrew Wolf in the New York Sun. As we keep dumbing down proficiency tests year after year to make the results appear better and Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein look like heroes, our children and businesses suffer. Thus our own students graduate with less proficiency compared to foreign students who possess more competence with 21st century skills. The answer isn’t to kick out the smarter, more proficient foreign workers and students, so we can go on fooling ourselves that our schools aren’t failing.."
Phil suggests an argument against immigration restrictions, not because of the pros or cons of limiting low-wage immigration in order to protect low-wage American workers, but because the US government lacks the competence to administer an immigration program intelligently. I think that there is much merit in this idea. What scares me is that these bozos want to control what goes on on the operating table, your refrigerator, and your living room.
Isn't it time to roll back government bureaucracy?
Additional Correspondence Re Obama Birth Certificate
Drake suggests the following approach. We will see if it works.
PO Box 130
West Shokan, New York 12494
July 14, 2008
Dr. Chiyome L. Fukino, MD
Director of Public Health
State of Hawaii Department of Health
Honolulu, Hawaii 98601-3378
Dear Ms. Fukino:
This is an additional request for information under the Hawaii Open Records Law. As my other letter indicates, your department has broken § 338-18 by refusing to provide, as the law requires, Barack Obama’s birth certificate to every American because every American has a direct and tangible interest in seeing the information first hand.
As a result, I will request some alternative information:
1. What is the proper format of the "CERTIFICATE NO."? One certificate I have seen is formatted "### ####-######" Are all formatted this way? Are the certificate numbers ordered chronologically as certificates are issued? If so, what would be the number range for a child born in 1961
2.What is the complete list of categories under the "RACE" fields?
3.How many different formats for the certificate has the department used since 1961? Are the certificates printed on pre-formated paper (with borders and coloration already printed) or is the entire certificate (background, borders, and text) printed all at once.
4.Would the department please supply a blank template for each of the different formats it has employed since 1961? If necessary it may also note "VOID" on each such template to ensure against fraudulent use.
5.What is meant by the field label "DATE ACCEPTED BY REGISTRAR"? Has the department ever used the label "DATE ACCEPTED BY STATE REGISTRAR"? What is the difference?
6.What is the significance of the text "OHSM 1.1 (Rev.11/01) LASER" at the bottom of the form? It it the technical designation for a particular type of format/template used? If so, would the department please supply a list of all such technical designations that have been used since 1961 and indicate the templates to which they correspond?
7.How are birth certificates embossed with the state seal. Are they always embossed on the back of the certificate? Ever on the front? Are they always signed to designate official status?
8. Would the department please send a copy of the currently governing intra-departmental manual for the production and recordation of birth certificates as well as the manual in effect during 1961 if they are free of charge? If not, please advise as to the cost.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
Cc: Janice Okubo, Governor Linda Lingle
PO Box 130
West Shokan, New York 12494
July 14, 2008
Dr. Chiyome L. Fukino, MD
Director of Public Health
State of Hawaii Department of Health
Honolulu, Hawaii 98601-3378
Dear Ms. Fukino:
This is an additional request for information under the Hawaii Open Records Law. As my other letter indicates, your department has broken § 338-18 by refusing to provide, as the law requires, Barack Obama’s birth certificate to every American because every American has a direct and tangible interest in seeing the information first hand.
As a result, I will request some alternative information:
1. What is the proper format of the "CERTIFICATE NO."? One certificate I have seen is formatted "### ####-######" Are all formatted this way? Are the certificate numbers ordered chronologically as certificates are issued? If so, what would be the number range for a child born in 1961
2.What is the complete list of categories under the "RACE" fields?
3.How many different formats for the certificate has the department used since 1961? Are the certificates printed on pre-formated paper (with borders and coloration already printed) or is the entire certificate (background, borders, and text) printed all at once.
4.Would the department please supply a blank template for each of the different formats it has employed since 1961? If necessary it may also note "VOID" on each such template to ensure against fraudulent use.
5.What is meant by the field label "DATE ACCEPTED BY REGISTRAR"? Has the department ever used the label "DATE ACCEPTED BY STATE REGISTRAR"? What is the difference?
6.What is the significance of the text "OHSM 1.1 (Rev.11/01) LASER" at the bottom of the form? It it the technical designation for a particular type of format/template used? If so, would the department please supply a list of all such technical designations that have been used since 1961 and indicate the templates to which they correspond?
7.How are birth certificates embossed with the state seal. Are they always embossed on the back of the certificate? Ever on the front? Are they always signed to designate official status?
8. Would the department please send a copy of the currently governing intra-departmental manual for the production and recordation of birth certificates as well as the manual in effect during 1961 if they are free of charge? If not, please advise as to the cost.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
Cc: Janice Okubo, Governor Linda Lingle
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Birth Certificate: Barack Obama's 17th Century Roots in Flushing, Queens Provide a Clue
As I recently blogged, § 338-18 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes permits someone to obtain someone else's birth certificate if they are:
(5) A person having a common ancestor with the registrant.
Someone just e-mailed with a brilliant suggestion:
"Since anyone with a common ancestor can request a certificate, why not find someone with an ancestor in common with Obama and ask that person to request his birth certificate? Dick Cheney, for example. (Just kidding, but supposedly they do share an ancestor.)"
I obtained the Baltimore Sun article to which my correspondent referred in her e-mail. The article concerns genealogist, William Adams Reitweisner, who has compiled Senator Obama's genealogy. The article mentions George Washington Overall, Mary Duvall and Christopher Columbus Clark. Mr. Reitweisner's analysis is here. Senator Obama's family goes back 11 generations in America and includes quite a few ancestors from 17th century New York and New Jersey, including a Simon de Ruyne, who was born in Flushing in 1645.
The following is a list of Mr. Obama's ancestors from Mr. Reitweisner's analysis. Mr. Reitweisner cautions that the list is a "first draft". The most recent Obama ancestors are listed first.
IF YOU SHARE AN ANCESTOR WITH MR. OBAMA AS PER THE FOLLOWING LIST, PLEASE contact Janice Okubo and Chiyome L. Fukino, MD at
State of Hawaii Department of Health
Honolulu, Hawaii 98601-3378
and inform them that under § 338-18 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes you are entitled to obtain a copy of Mr. Barack Obama's birth certificate because you share an ancestor in common. Please forward the copy to me, other bloggers and the newspapers. The list includes:
Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham
Ruth Lucille Armour
Rolla Charles Payne
Leona McCurry
Jacob William Dunham
Mary Ann Kearney
Harry Ellington Armour
Gabriella Clark
Charles T Payne
Della Wolfley
Thomas Creekmore McCurry
Margaret Belle Wright
Jacob Mackey Dunham
Louise Eliza Stroup
Falmouth Kearney
Charlotte Holloway
George W Armour
Nancy Ann Childress
Christopher Columbus Clark
Susan C Overall
Benjamin F Payne
Eliza Black
Robert Wolfley
Rachel Abbott
Harbin Wilburn McCurry
Elizabeth Edna Creekmore
Joseph Samuel Wright
Frances A Allred
Jacob Dunham
Catherine Goodnight
John Stroup
Eliza Jane Clemmons
Joseph Kearney
Josiah Holloway
Martha Mallow
William Armour
Sarah Poland
John Milton Childress
Nancy Conyers
Thomas Clark
Elizabeth Davis
George Washington Overall
Louisiana Duvall
Francis Thomas Payne
Harriet Bowles
John S Black
Sarah Taylor
George Wolfley
Nancy Perry
Jonathan Abbott
Adah Wright
Edward McCurry
Christine Wilson
Thomas Creekmore
Mary Edna Ellis
Obediah C Wright
Malinda Jones
Samuel Thompson Allred
Anna Bunch
Samuel Dunham
Samuel Goodnight
Magdalena Berkheimer
William Stroup
Ann Thomas
Armel Showell Holloway
Anna Maria Godfrey
John P Childress
Catherine Ament
Robert OVerall
Annie Browning
Gabriel Duvall
Mary Grable
Jesse Payne
Rebecca Crenshaw
David Jesse Bowles
Elizabeth Thomas Martin
John Block
George Taylor
Mary Thomas
Ludwig/Lewis Wolfley
Anna Maria Toot
Robert Perry
Sarah Ellen Hoskins
Abraham Wright
John McCurry
Lydia Williams
John Wilson
Ruth Wilburn
John Allred
Phoebe Thompson
Nathaniel Bunch
Johathan Dunham
Mary Smith
Christian Gutknecht/Goodnight
Maria Magdelana Grunholtz
Leonhard Berkheimer
John Stroup
Mary Stehle
Elijah Holloway
Elizabeth Showell
Robert Childers
Nancy Pryor
Phillip Ament
Maria Elisabeth Schmidt
John Overall
Frances Whitledge
James Browning
John Miles Duvall
Anne Roselle Philomena Tarleton
Jesse Bowles
Hannah Perkins
Thomas Martin
Susannah Walker
Johann Conrad Wolfley
Anna Catherine Shockey
George Toot
Henry Perry
Richard Hoskins
James Wilborn
Mary Isabel Teague
Solomon Allred
Charles Bunch
Mary Bellamy
Benjamin Dunham
Mary Rolph
Shubael Smith
Prudence FitzRandolph
Hanss Gutknecht
Anna Barabara Kieffer
Johann Michael Grunholtz
Magdalena Mitscher
Johann Philipp Straub
Ulrich Stehle
John Hollowy
Frances (Woodford or Bradford)
Henry Childers
Susannah Goolsby
Philip Ament
Susannah Margaret Forrisen
Jacob Schmidt
Anna Maria Lambert
John Overall
Mary Elliott
William Whitledge
Frances Overall
John Browning
Elizabeth Demarest
James Hickman
Hannah Lewis
Jacob Duvall
Mary Miles
James Tarleton
Ann Henning
David Bowles
Sarah Hughes
Stephen Perkins
Mary Hughes
David Toot
William Hoskins
Samuel BUnch
Mary Hudson
John Bellamy
Susan Roe
Joanathan SIngletary alias Dunham
Mary Bloomfield
John Rolph
Mary Sculliard
Smauel Smith
Elizabeth Peirce
Samuel FitzRandolph
Mary Jones
Bartholomew Grunholz
Daniel Mitscher
John Holloway
Mary Gordy
Jacob Matthias Lambert
Anna Rosina Rees
William OVerall
Mary Jones
Thomas Whitledge
Sybil Harrison
Francis Browning
Elizabeth Lloyd
Jan Demarest
Alice Earle
Edwin Hickman
Eleanor Elliott
David Lewis
Anne Terrell
Mareen Duvall
Elizabeth Jacob
James Tarleton
Constantine Perkins
Anne Pollard
John Bunch
Rebecca Harrison
John Hudson
Elizabeth Harris
John Bellamy
WIlliam Roe
Richard Singletary
John Smith
Susannah Hinckley
Nathaniel FitzRandolph
Mary Holley
Jeffrey Jones
John Holloway
Adrian Gordy
Mary Disharoone
William Overall
Jane Baldridge
John Jones
Burr Harrison
Sarah Burdette
Jan Demarest
Dobora Heyet
Edward Earle
Elsie Vreeland
Thomas Hickman
Martha Thacker
William Terrell
Susan Waters
Mareen Duvall
John Jacob
Ann Cheney
John Bunch
Temperance Bates
William Hudson
Elizabeth Jennings
William Harris
Samuel Hinckley
Sarah Soole
Edward FitzRandolph
Elizabeth Blossom
Joseph Holly
Rose Allen
James Baldridge
Jean Demarest
Jacomina de Ruyne
Edward Earle
Hannah Baylis
Enoch Vreeland
Dirckhe Meyer
Thomas Hickman
Mary Pascal
Henry Thacker
Eltonhead Conway
Richard Cheney
John Bunch
George Allen
David Demarest
Marie Sohier
Simon de Ruyne
Magdalena van der Straaten
John Baylis
Michael Vreeland
Fytje Hermans
Jan Meyer
Tryntje Grevenraedt
Edwin Conway
Martha Eltonhead
Again, if you have an ancestor on the above list, you can obtain Barack Obama's birth certificate and provide bloggers and newspapers with a copy from:
Chiyome L. Fukino, MD
Director of Public Health
State of Hawaii Department of Health
Honolulu, Hawaii 98601-3378
Here is the article from the Baltimore Sun:
IT IS A question that few thought a man aiming to be America's first black President would ever have to answer: did your family once own slaves?
But that question is now likely to be asked of Senator Barack Obama, who is bidding for the 2008 presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, in part on the appeal of his bi-racial background.
As the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, Obama has seemed to embody a harmonious vision of America's multiracial society. However, recent revelations have thrown up an unexpected twist in the tale.
Obama's ancestors on his white mother's side appear to have been slave owners.
William Reitwiesner, an amateur genealogical researcher, has published a history of Obama's mother's family and discovered that her ancestors have a distinctly shadowy past.
Reitwiesner traced Obama's great-great-great-great-grandfather, George Washington Overall, and found that he owned two slaves in Kentucky: a 15-year-old girl and a 25-year-old man.
He also found out that Obama's great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, Mary Duvall, also owned a pair of slaves listed in an 1850 census record. They were a 60-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman. In fact, the Duvalls were a wealthy family whose members were descended from a major landowner, Maureen Duvall, whose estate owned at least 18 slaves in the 17th century.
The news comes at a time when Obama is engaged in a fierce battle with Senator Hillary Clinton to woo black voters in their bids to get the Democratic presidential nomination. It also comes ahead of appearances by both Clinton and Obama today in Selma, Alabama, to mark the anniversary of a famous 1965 civil rights march. This is hardly the best time to be exposed as the descendant of slave owners.
Reitwiesner has posted his research, which he warns is a efirst draft', on his website, wargs.com.
However, the news is unlikely to be a serious political problem for Obama,
despite the fact that some black commentators have accused him of not being a real black American. Nor is he likely to be alone in finding out that his white ancestors once owned the ancestors of his fellow black Americans.
America, like Britain, is caught in the grip of a frenzy of genealogical research. Dozens of websites have sprung up, allowing fast and easy access to all sorts of historical records and prompting many Americans to research their family trees.
That can throw up some very surprising results. In fact, last week Obama
was not even the only black politician to find out some unusual personal history. The civil rights campaigner, the Reverend Al Sharpton was stunned to discover his slave ancestors were owned by the late politician Strom Thurmond, who once ran for President on a staunchly racist segregationist platform. The pair might even be related. The news prompted Sharpton to issue a statement about his private agony at the revelation. eWords cannot fully describe the feelings I had when I learned the awful truth. Not only I am the descendant of slaves, but my family had to endure the particular agony of being slaves to the Thurmonds.'
Obama's campaign team have handled the news of his family's slaving past a bit more casually and a lot less emotionally, issuing a statement saying such a family background was erepresentative of America'. That is certainly true. Slavery was the economic bedrock of the American economy in the South before the Civil War. It would come as no surprise that anyone tracing their family roots back to the pre-war South would find that his descendants had owned slaves.
But more edifying discoveries can come from looking at the past too. Another of Obama's ancestors, his great-great-great-grandfather, Christopher Columbus Clark, fought for the Union army in the Civil War. As a result Obama can also lay claim to relatives who risked their lives to end slavery. eWhile a relative owned slaves, another fought for the Union,' said Obama Enhanced Coverage LinkingObama spokesman Bill Burton in a statement. Perhaps it is just another case of ObamaEnhanced Coverage Linking Obama's complex past showing that he can have it both ways.
(5) A person having a common ancestor with the registrant.
Someone just e-mailed with a brilliant suggestion:
"Since anyone with a common ancestor can request a certificate, why not find someone with an ancestor in common with Obama and ask that person to request his birth certificate? Dick Cheney, for example. (Just kidding, but supposedly they do share an ancestor.)"
I obtained the Baltimore Sun article to which my correspondent referred in her e-mail. The article concerns genealogist, William Adams Reitweisner, who has compiled Senator Obama's genealogy. The article mentions George Washington Overall, Mary Duvall and Christopher Columbus Clark. Mr. Reitweisner's analysis is here. Senator Obama's family goes back 11 generations in America and includes quite a few ancestors from 17th century New York and New Jersey, including a Simon de Ruyne, who was born in Flushing in 1645.
The following is a list of Mr. Obama's ancestors from Mr. Reitweisner's analysis. Mr. Reitweisner cautions that the list is a "first draft". The most recent Obama ancestors are listed first.
IF YOU SHARE AN ANCESTOR WITH MR. OBAMA AS PER THE FOLLOWING LIST, PLEASE contact Janice Okubo and Chiyome L. Fukino, MD at
State of Hawaii Department of Health
Honolulu, Hawaii 98601-3378
and inform them that under § 338-18 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes you are entitled to obtain a copy of Mr. Barack Obama's birth certificate because you share an ancestor in common. Please forward the copy to me, other bloggers and the newspapers. The list includes:
Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham
Ruth Lucille Armour
Rolla Charles Payne
Leona McCurry
Jacob William Dunham
Mary Ann Kearney
Harry Ellington Armour
Gabriella Clark
Charles T Payne
Della Wolfley
Thomas Creekmore McCurry
Margaret Belle Wright
Jacob Mackey Dunham
Louise Eliza Stroup
Falmouth Kearney
Charlotte Holloway
George W Armour
Nancy Ann Childress
Christopher Columbus Clark
Susan C Overall
Benjamin F Payne
Eliza Black
Robert Wolfley
Rachel Abbott
Harbin Wilburn McCurry
Elizabeth Edna Creekmore
Joseph Samuel Wright
Frances A Allred
Jacob Dunham
Catherine Goodnight
John Stroup
Eliza Jane Clemmons
Joseph Kearney
Josiah Holloway
Martha Mallow
William Armour
Sarah Poland
John Milton Childress
Nancy Conyers
Thomas Clark
Elizabeth Davis
George Washington Overall
Louisiana Duvall
Francis Thomas Payne
Harriet Bowles
John S Black
Sarah Taylor
George Wolfley
Nancy Perry
Jonathan Abbott
Adah Wright
Edward McCurry
Christine Wilson
Thomas Creekmore
Mary Edna Ellis
Obediah C Wright
Malinda Jones
Samuel Thompson Allred
Anna Bunch
Samuel Dunham
Samuel Goodnight
Magdalena Berkheimer
William Stroup
Ann Thomas
Armel Showell Holloway
Anna Maria Godfrey
John P Childress
Catherine Ament
Robert OVerall
Annie Browning
Gabriel Duvall
Mary Grable
Jesse Payne
Rebecca Crenshaw
David Jesse Bowles
Elizabeth Thomas Martin
John Block
George Taylor
Mary Thomas
Ludwig/Lewis Wolfley
Anna Maria Toot
Robert Perry
Sarah Ellen Hoskins
Abraham Wright
John McCurry
Lydia Williams
John Wilson
Ruth Wilburn
John Allred
Phoebe Thompson
Nathaniel Bunch
Johathan Dunham
Mary Smith
Christian Gutknecht/Goodnight
Maria Magdelana Grunholtz
Leonhard Berkheimer
John Stroup
Mary Stehle
Elijah Holloway
Elizabeth Showell
Robert Childers
Nancy Pryor
Phillip Ament
Maria Elisabeth Schmidt
John Overall
Frances Whitledge
James Browning
John Miles Duvall
Anne Roselle Philomena Tarleton
Jesse Bowles
Hannah Perkins
Thomas Martin
Susannah Walker
Johann Conrad Wolfley
Anna Catherine Shockey
George Toot
Henry Perry
Richard Hoskins
James Wilborn
Mary Isabel Teague
Solomon Allred
Charles Bunch
Mary Bellamy
Benjamin Dunham
Mary Rolph
Shubael Smith
Prudence FitzRandolph
Hanss Gutknecht
Anna Barabara Kieffer
Johann Michael Grunholtz
Magdalena Mitscher
Johann Philipp Straub
Ulrich Stehle
John Hollowy
Frances (Woodford or Bradford)
Henry Childers
Susannah Goolsby
Philip Ament
Susannah Margaret Forrisen
Jacob Schmidt
Anna Maria Lambert
John Overall
Mary Elliott
William Whitledge
Frances Overall
John Browning
Elizabeth Demarest
James Hickman
Hannah Lewis
Jacob Duvall
Mary Miles
James Tarleton
Ann Henning
David Bowles
Sarah Hughes
Stephen Perkins
Mary Hughes
David Toot
William Hoskins
Samuel BUnch
Mary Hudson
John Bellamy
Susan Roe
Joanathan SIngletary alias Dunham
Mary Bloomfield
John Rolph
Mary Sculliard
Smauel Smith
Elizabeth Peirce
Samuel FitzRandolph
Mary Jones
Bartholomew Grunholz
Daniel Mitscher
John Holloway
Mary Gordy
Jacob Matthias Lambert
Anna Rosina Rees
William OVerall
Mary Jones
Thomas Whitledge
Sybil Harrison
Francis Browning
Elizabeth Lloyd
Jan Demarest
Alice Earle
Edwin Hickman
Eleanor Elliott
David Lewis
Anne Terrell
Mareen Duvall
Elizabeth Jacob
James Tarleton
Constantine Perkins
Anne Pollard
John Bunch
Rebecca Harrison
John Hudson
Elizabeth Harris
John Bellamy
WIlliam Roe
Richard Singletary
John Smith
Susannah Hinckley
Nathaniel FitzRandolph
Mary Holley
Jeffrey Jones
John Holloway
Adrian Gordy
Mary Disharoone
William Overall
Jane Baldridge
John Jones
Burr Harrison
Sarah Burdette
Jan Demarest
Dobora Heyet
Edward Earle
Elsie Vreeland
Thomas Hickman
Martha Thacker
William Terrell
Susan Waters
Mareen Duvall
John Jacob
Ann Cheney
John Bunch
Temperance Bates
William Hudson
Elizabeth Jennings
William Harris
Samuel Hinckley
Sarah Soole
Edward FitzRandolph
Elizabeth Blossom
Joseph Holly
Rose Allen
James Baldridge
Jean Demarest
Jacomina de Ruyne
Edward Earle
Hannah Baylis
Enoch Vreeland
Dirckhe Meyer
Thomas Hickman
Mary Pascal
Henry Thacker
Eltonhead Conway
Richard Cheney
John Bunch
George Allen
David Demarest
Marie Sohier
Simon de Ruyne
Magdalena van der Straaten
John Baylis
Michael Vreeland
Fytje Hermans
Jan Meyer
Tryntje Grevenraedt
Edwin Conway
Martha Eltonhead
Again, if you have an ancestor on the above list, you can obtain Barack Obama's birth certificate and provide bloggers and newspapers with a copy from:
Chiyome L. Fukino, MD
Director of Public Health
State of Hawaii Department of Health
Honolulu, Hawaii 98601-3378
Here is the article from the Baltimore Sun:
IT IS A question that few thought a man aiming to be America's first black President would ever have to answer: did your family once own slaves?
But that question is now likely to be asked of Senator Barack Obama, who is bidding for the 2008 presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, in part on the appeal of his bi-racial background.
As the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, Obama has seemed to embody a harmonious vision of America's multiracial society. However, recent revelations have thrown up an unexpected twist in the tale.
Obama's ancestors on his white mother's side appear to have been slave owners.
William Reitwiesner, an amateur genealogical researcher, has published a history of Obama's mother's family and discovered that her ancestors have a distinctly shadowy past.
Reitwiesner traced Obama's great-great-great-great-grandfather, George Washington Overall, and found that he owned two slaves in Kentucky: a 15-year-old girl and a 25-year-old man.
He also found out that Obama's great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, Mary Duvall, also owned a pair of slaves listed in an 1850 census record. They were a 60-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman. In fact, the Duvalls were a wealthy family whose members were descended from a major landowner, Maureen Duvall, whose estate owned at least 18 slaves in the 17th century.
The news comes at a time when Obama is engaged in a fierce battle with Senator Hillary Clinton to woo black voters in their bids to get the Democratic presidential nomination. It also comes ahead of appearances by both Clinton and Obama today in Selma, Alabama, to mark the anniversary of a famous 1965 civil rights march. This is hardly the best time to be exposed as the descendant of slave owners.
Reitwiesner has posted his research, which he warns is a efirst draft', on his website, wargs.com.
However, the news is unlikely to be a serious political problem for Obama,
despite the fact that some black commentators have accused him of not being a real black American. Nor is he likely to be alone in finding out that his white ancestors once owned the ancestors of his fellow black Americans.
America, like Britain, is caught in the grip of a frenzy of genealogical research. Dozens of websites have sprung up, allowing fast and easy access to all sorts of historical records and prompting many Americans to research their family trees.
That can throw up some very surprising results. In fact, last week Obama
was not even the only black politician to find out some unusual personal history. The civil rights campaigner, the Reverend Al Sharpton was stunned to discover his slave ancestors were owned by the late politician Strom Thurmond, who once ran for President on a staunchly racist segregationist platform. The pair might even be related. The news prompted Sharpton to issue a statement about his private agony at the revelation. eWords cannot fully describe the feelings I had when I learned the awful truth. Not only I am the descendant of slaves, but my family had to endure the particular agony of being slaves to the Thurmonds.'
Obama's campaign team have handled the news of his family's slaving past a bit more casually and a lot less emotionally, issuing a statement saying such a family background was erepresentative of America'. That is certainly true. Slavery was the economic bedrock of the American economy in the South before the Civil War. It would come as no surprise that anyone tracing their family roots back to the pre-war South would find that his descendants had owned slaves.
But more edifying discoveries can come from looking at the past too. Another of Obama's ancestors, his great-great-great-grandfather, Christopher Columbus Clark, fought for the Union army in the Civil War. As a result Obama can also lay claim to relatives who risked their lives to end slavery. eWhile a relative owned slaves, another fought for the Union,' said Obama Enhanced Coverage LinkingObama spokesman Bill Burton in a statement. Perhaps it is just another case of ObamaEnhanced Coverage Linking Obama's complex past showing that he can have it both ways.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
