Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
Compiled by the DiversityInc staff
February 15, 2008
It has been said that this year was the first time a major political party in the United States nominated a woman or a Black person as its presidential candidate. For women, that is true, but some historians say Barack Obama will not be the nation's first Black president. They say he certainly won't be the first president with Black ancestors--just the first to acknowledge his Blackness.
Which other presidents hid their African ancestry? Well, it's not Bill Clinton, even though the Congressional Black Caucus honored him as the nation's "first Black president" at its 2001 annual awards dinner. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge all had Black ancestors they kept in their genealogical closets, according to historians.
Harding did not deny his African ancestry when Republican leaders called on him to deny his "Negro" history. He said, "How should I know whether or not one of my ancestors might have jumped the fence?"
Does African ancestry make these men Black? If the bar is the one-drop rule, then yes. The one-drop rule is a historical term used during the Jim Crow era that defines a person with one drop of sub-Saharan-African ancestry as not white and therefore must be Black. If that's the bar, then there have already been other Black presidents, says historian Leroy Vaughn, author of Black People and Their Place in World History.
The first president with African ancestry was Jefferson, who served two terms between 1801 and 1809. Jefferson was described as the "son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto father," as stated in Vaughn's findings. Jefferson also was said to have destroyed all documentation attached to his mother, even going to extremes to seize letters written by his mother to other people.
President Andrew Jackson, the nation's seventh president, was in office between 1829 and 1837. Vaughn cites an article written in The Virginia Magazine of History that states Jackson was the son of an Irish woman who married a Black man. The magazine also stated that Jackson's oldest brother had been sold as a slave.
Lincoln, the nation's 16th president, served between 1861 and 1865. Lincoln was said to have been the illegitimate son of an African man, according to Vaughn's findings. Lincoln had very dark skin and coarse hair and his mother allegedly came from an Ethiopian tribe. His heritage fueled so much controversy that Lincoln was nicknamed "Abraham Africanus the First" by his opponents.
President Warren Harding, the 29th president, in office between 1921 and 1923, apparently never denied his ancestry. According to Vaughn, William Chancellor, a professor of economics and politics at Wooster College in Ohio, wrote a book on the Harding family genealogy. Evidently, Harding had Black ancestors between both sets of parents. Chancellor also said that Harding attended Iberia College, a school founded to educate fugitive slaves.
Coolidge, the nation's 30th president, served between 1923 and 1929 and supposedly was proud of his heritage. He claimed his mother was dark because of mixed Indian ancestry. Coolidge's mother's maiden name was "Moor," and in Europe, the name "Moor" was given to all Blacks, just as "Negro" was used in America. It later was concluded that Coolidge was part Black.
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Readers' Comments
Posted: Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009
On President's Day, Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
I think this is enlighting and informative. I would love to share such information with my contacts.
Arthur Jordan
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Posted: Monday, Oct 20, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
this is fascinating to know, shocking for some even. The fantasy of Purity has long been over to the dismay of White supremacists. This election is different of course since it is acknowledged that Obama is black and if elected is enormously significant if only because of that. If white America can elect a black President that represents a huge leap forward in the collective psyche of this country founded on racism and genocide.
peter lew
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Posted: Tuesday, Oct 14, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
who cares if they had black parents ,black ancestors or for that matter native american ancestors, if you are born american on american soil then you are an american bottom line.
michael miller
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Posted: Friday, Oct 10, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
Why isn't this raised to the forefront for people to know and understand? Perhaps, due to the current mud slinging situation, if Obama did seem "different" to some people, it wouldn't be as hard for them to accept his mixed heritage if they knew the information in this article.
Carrol Duncan
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Posted: Friday, Sep 19, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
I'm glad that Dr. J.A. Rodgers' research is finally getting recognition. I read his books in the early 1990s so none of this is new to me. I would beg to differ that there may be more than the "five" mentioned. Attention needs to be directed to President Eisenhower's mother...
Keener Tippin
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Posted: Tuesday, Sep 09, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
I am 64 and I did some research on this story years ago, I'm glad someone else is reading, and I ask God to give us Obama for President, NOT because he is African American butbecause he is capable. we can't keep losing out with the republicians in office or we will all soon be homeless, eating cat food and walking because of the gas crises which we can not fix in a year, Our children need a FIXED future with Obama as a man with all light bulbs working. God Bless America
Jean Hutson
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Posted: Sunday, Sep 07, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
Mr. Ridley, I thank you for speaking up on behalf of J.A. Rodgers!!! I have known these facts through my readings of his books (Race Mixing, vol 1,2,3, and The Five Black Presidents), and extensive research, and have found all facts to be true as early as 1990. I was both amazed and proud. You were correct again when you mentioned that Hanson was the first Black President. Finally, there is someone else who really knows their history.
M HARPER
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Posted: Friday, Sep 05, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
This is extremely interesting. I would love to know where you did your research. We all know, however, that folks believe what they want to believe. Look at the renderings of Jesus (and other biblical figures) through the years. He is always portrayed as a Caucasian, and wasn't he actually a person of middle eastern ancestry?
K.E. McInnis
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Posted: Tuesday, Sep 02, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
My initial reaction was that Jefferson and the others appear extremely caucasian in every painting I have ever seen. But I suppose if you are hiding your true heritage, it was pretty easy to have people paint you much "whiter" than you really were. I guess people have been photoshopping their photo longer than we thought!
Pinch Valve
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Posted: Thursday, Aug 28, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
I am so happy to finally see this story.I read about this six years ago and I also have a little book on it.(from birmingham museum )on first five black president. and I too was fascinated! I tried telling everyone I know but no one would believe me. Thanks
hattie whittaker
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Posted: Sunday, Aug 24, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
This is fascinating and I can't wait to learn more. It is not at all surprising - there has been a lot more "mixing" (so to speak, since as another commenter pointed out, it is biologically meaningless to talk about being "pure" anything) in U.S. history than white supremacists would have you think. However, I am cautious about accepting at face value everything someone said about each president. Remember that, at the time, some would have found it insulting to say that the president had Black ancestry (and some would have refused to vote for a Black man - still the case, unfortunately). So, these statements about presidents' ancestry might have been written by people wanting to smear or disparage the president - but they could have been invented or exaggerated. I hope it IS true that we have already had 5 presidents with Black ancestry - what a laugh on white supremacists! But as a historian, I just want to be careful to verify sources.
V Scott
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Posted: Sunday, Aug 24, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
Well. as noted the credit for this research is never given to DR.J.A.Rodgers of Norfolk,VA that was 1st revealed in the 1920's. We have always known. Of course we forget about the 1st Real Black President before George Washington was John Hanson of Annapolis,Md
Keith Ridley
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Posted: Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
To Shug,
Your ancestors persevered the greatest oppression in American History next to the Natives, kept their culture alive, and went on to win their freedom and equality. Next to that, being elected president is small potatoes.
chad eous
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Posted: Saturday, Aug 16, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
You forget to mention Dwight D. Eisenhower. At least one Black historian has written about this.
Michael Piper
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Posted: Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
Considering how the human race started out, how can anyone say they are "pure" anything. So much history in families are "legends" handed down. I look at different members of my own family and wonder. Just curiosity however, as it is what's inside that counts.
Jessalu Lorck
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Posted: Friday, Aug 01, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
I was very surprised to hear that America had Presidents of Negro descent. I see it, though, this is the first man running for president to not hide his descent and to be proud of his heritage unlike our 5 Black presidents who went out of their way to hide the fact that they were Black. I am still undecided as to whom I shall vote for because I'd like to see an African American in the White House who is proud of his heritage but that's not all I am going to base my vote. Good Luck Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain. May the best man for our nation be voted in.
Susan Schaefer
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Posted: Saturday, Jul 26, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
This is a very interesting article. I'd like to see the genealogies for these five men, and DNA analysis if available. I have often wondered about President Lincoln's heritage, and the "lack" of information about his parents. As a note of caution... my husband's family is descended from President Jackson's Scots-Irish family. There are several generations of Jacksons listed in numerous genealogies, including their settlement in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Those who came to America were members of a strict sect of Presbyterians. President Jackson's father died shortly before he was born, but there were other relatives in the same settlement. I'd love to see detailed evidence of the assertions of African heritage. A new discussion will emerge about what race does, and doesn't mean, in America.
Cynthia Tidwell
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Posted: Friday, Jul 25, 2008
On President's Day, Remember Your 5 Black Presidents
MY name is Shug, I am a 11year old girl.I am going to the 6th grade.I was really surprised to hear about our five Black Presidents. Now I look at the Black race a deffrent way.I feel my race could do better if more Black kids knew all the great things my race did in the past.
shug summerville
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Posted: Friday, May 29, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
I have no difficulty believing that prior presidents had "sub-Saharan African" ancestry. What makes them different from Obama is that these earlier presidents all participated in culture as white men. They had full recognition of their membership in what was then the ruling class, race and gender. Obama stands out because he was raised as an African-American in identity. He shares experiences with other blacks that Lincoln, Jefferson and Harding did not share with blacks of their times. His election represents to me the idea that someone not previously included in the list of members of the dominant class, race and gender can now rise to the country's highest office. It means just as much that he is the son of a single monther as that he has African ancestry. He broke a lot more than just a color barrier. Of course what makes him stand REALLY stand out from most other presidents is that he shows a strong track record of thinking outside of any class, race or gender. His message of a united America, his focus on our commonalities rather than our differences, and his ability to forge cooperation and consensus will be his greatest gift.
Lisa Morgan
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Posted: Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
Wow! I had read this with a pinch of salt in a local newspaper in Nigeria. But why has it taken so long for these truths to be published? While I disagree and disaffrim some of Obama's social policy thrusts and pusrsuits, I hope his ascendency to the White House will awaken the sense of the greatness of the blackness in all black peoples of the world and return us to a path of glory. Scientific research is proving day in day out that the first human ancestors were black. Back to the bible, if we agree that Adam was taken from the soil as the meaning of the name applies and does imply, it therefore, follows, that the first man-Adam was a black man. May we all be emancipated from our mental, spiritual and emotional slavery as well as from the eurocentric distortions of our history and world history in general. Amen
Kenneth Ikenwa
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Posted: Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
I knew this years ago but I don't understand why it's not excepted in the white history books? Also why are people saying that OBAMA is the first?
Eric Flowers
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Posted: Monday, May 11, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
This is an interesting question, which I'm continuing to research. In my estimation it's not a matter of just these few people being of African descent, but rather the millions, possibly hundreds of millions of descendants of Africa who have crossed over. Each and every descendant of Africa born on these shores has some relatives that have crossed over, many of which wanted to cross over even before they came to these shores. The distance between their European homelands and the New World gave them the anonymity required to reinvent themselves as lily white "Americans."
In a thorough examination of European history, coats of arms, etc. you'll find the Irish, the Slavs and numerous other groups of Europeans were not only looked at askance, they were also enslaved and oftentimes were African descendants as indicated by their names and coats of arms. That those same downtrodden Europeans could come to these shores and be reborn was an important part of the "American" dream. But, it does not jibe with reality that a heterogeneous European population could come to these shores and be instantly homogenized.
However, these are some of the false impressions we are led to believe in America's public schools. Witness how shaky the lie is. They tell us that when the European immigrants came through Ellis Island the officers on duty changed many of the unusual sounding names. This was the first step in the anglicizing of the European hordes. This process of Anglicization was important as this country was founded by Anglo-Saxons whose native language was English, not Spanish, Dutch, French, Portugese or any of the Germanic languages. All of these cultures had to take a back seat to the "superior" culture of the English.
Now, decades later the questionable European heritage of all these people has been washed white as the driven snow.
Books you can read with further information on this "forgotten" history include the series "Sex and Race" by J.A. Rogers and Blacks in Britain by David MacRitchie.
Kofi Khemet
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Posted: Monday, May 04, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
I applaud all of the different statements on this subject. Regarding the presidential elections, hopefully one day one's race, and sex will not be a matter of influence. But the true ability as a leader-black, hispanic, asian, native American, or white etc....will be the true resolve.
David Cartwright
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Posted: Friday, May 01, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
This is why I refer to Barack as our first OPENLY black President. H
Rhonda Browning
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Posted: Friday, Apr 17, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
You forgot Dwight D. Eisenhower. If the one drop rule still applies, then consider Eisenhower's mother was bi racial. Source: J. A. Rogers.
Brian Coleman
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Posted: Thursday, Apr 02, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
Barack Obama is the first Black President. He doesn't deny it nor is he ashamed of it. Most Blacks aren't. The others were, and that's only IF the things that was said in that article is 100% true.
L Huffman
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Posted: Tuesday, Jan 27, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
There is also one president in the last 50 years whose mother was Bi-racial. That was Dwight D. Eisenhower besides doing the research you can look at pictures of her and tell she is Bi-racial
Eric Donalson
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Posted: Monday, Jan 26, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
Nice article. Very interesting information. I wounder why this information was not taught in school. Make you wonder
Me Butler
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Posted: Wednesday, Jan 21, 2009
Remember Your Other 5 Black Presidents
Is Barack Obama the first Black American to become President of the United States of America? Here are the facts. Who determines our ethnicity? Why are we called Black or White? The human race came from one man one woman. The only record that has been given to us from any culture is the record of Adam and Eve. Let us review the Holy Bible's statements. Genesis 2: 6-7, "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:21-22, "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man." The dust of the ground is obviously brown or dark. So the man would have been dark skinned. The woman came from the rib. The rib is obviously pinkish or flesh color, so she would have been fair skinned. With this anatomical and biological truth before us, how can we deny that Adam was dark skinned and Eve was fair skinned? What was the skin color of the ones that came out of them, then their sons and daughters, and then their mates? As they migrated over the face of the earth into warmer and colder climates, their skin colors adapted to those climates. Genes were developed as result of cultures. But, biological anthropologists have discovered that each one of us has a DNA trait that matches a trait that is in every human being. Who gave us color codes; it was the Federal Government through the Department of the Federal Census Bureau. They called the Africans and dark skinned people black, and the Europeans and fair skinned people White. If you were White you had freedom and privileges. If you were Black you were forbidding certain privileges. White is not a color, it is the absence of color. Black is not a color, it is essence of color. Therefore Americans are determined to be black or white by the Federal Government, and not by the skin color of our mothers and fathers. All the Presidents before Barack Obama were giving the privilege to become presidents because they were determined White. Case settled; Barack Obama is the first and only Black President of the United States of America. How do I know, the Federal Government tells me so. It will go down in history as such.
Franklin E Rutledge
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