Thurmond story reflects times, historians say
The Greenville News
By Dan Hoover
A part of the South that was – and some say still is – has resurfaced for newcomers and new generations.
Acknowledgment Monday by the late Sen. Strom Thurmond’s family that the claim of a 78-year-old Los Angeles woman that he was her father is true raised anew one of the South’s dirty little secrets: Powerful white men, impoverished black women, mixed race children, historians said.
Furman University historian A.V. Huff said the issue isn’t widely written about, but is an indelible part of the region’s history.
While native-born Southerners of a certain age are familiar with such situations, some young people and newcomers may not be, Huff said.
In that case, “they just have to learn a little Southern history.”