Essie Mae Washington-Williams

Essie Mae Washington-Williams (born October 12, 1925) is the oldest daughter of the late United States Senator Strom Thurmond. She was born illegitimately to Thurmond (then 22) and an African-American household servant of the Thurmond family named Carrie Butler. Washington-Williams was raised in Pennsylvania by her Aunt Mary, her mother's sister and her Uncle John, whom she referred to as Mother and Father. She is named Essie after another of her mother's sisters, who fostered her briefly as an infant.

Washington-Williams' true parentage was publicly revealed only after Thurmond's death in 2003, when Washington-Williams was 78 years old. She herself was unaware of this until, at the age of 16, her biological mother revealed this to her and took her to meet Thurmond in person.

That meeting took place in 1941. She later went to college at the historically black South Carolina State University with financial help from her father. Washington-Williams graduated from SCSU around 1946 with a degree in business. She later moved to Los Angeles, California, raised her four children, then went on to teach typing in the Los Angeles Unified School District from 1967 through 1997.

Washington-Williams still lives in Los Angeles. She has two sons and two daughters. Three children live in the Seattle, Washington area, and one daughter lives near Los Angeles. Her husband Julius T. Williams, whom she married in 1948, died in 1964.

When her autobiography was published in 2005, she indicated that she intended to be active on behalf of the Black Patriots Foundation, which is building a monument on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to honor American blacks who served in the American Revolutionary War. She also applied to join the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a genealogical society for the descendants of American Civil War veterans. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_3_106/ai_n6153480]

She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. (Alpha Xi chapter-South Carolina State University)

Further reading

*"Dear Senator : A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond" by Essie Mae Washington-Williams, William Stadiem: Regan Books (February 1, 2005). ISBN 0-06-076095-8.
*"Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond" by [http://www.shs.starkville.k12.ms.us/mswm/MSWritersAndMusicians/writers/JackBass/JackBass.html Jack Bass] , Marilyn W. Thompson: University of South Carolina Press (January 1, 2003). ISBN 1-57003-514-8.
*"Strom: The Complicated Personal and Political Life of Strom Thurmond" by Jack Bass and Marilyn W.Thompson: Public Affairs 2005. ISBN 1-58648-297-1.

External links

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/17/books/17masl.html?ex=1163739600&en=a42952531dbf9236&ei=5070 A Thurmond Child Looks at Her Life and His Racism] A January 17, 2005 New York Times review and summary of Washington-Williams' autobiography. Accessed November 15, 2006.

* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4473680 'Dear Senator,' from Strom Thurmond's Daughter] Interview broadcast on February 1, 2005 on National Public Radio. Website includes excerpts of Washington-Williams' autobiography and lists her descendants without names. Accessed November 15, 2006.

* [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/17/60II/main589107.shtml Essie Mae Washington-Williams] Interview broadcast December 17, 2003 with Dan Rather on CBS 60 Minutes II. Includes photo. Accessed November 15, 2006.

* [http://www.nndb.com/people/335/000032239/ Essie Mae Washington-Williams] dossier at NNDB.com, a "who's who" type biographical directory which names her children and both her parents. Accessed November 15, 2006.

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A07E3DC1538F93AA1555C0A9629C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fW%2fWashington%2dWilliams%2c%20Essie%20Mae South Carolina: Biracial Child Added To Thurmond Monument] New York Times notice June 29, 2004, that South Carolina governor signed bill to add Washington-William's name to the names of his white children carved on Thurmond's official monument. Accessed November 15, 2006.