The First Family: A New Glimpse of Michelle Obama’s White Ancestors

New York Times ^ | Jine 22, 2012 | Meghan Loutti

[lbryce]

We knew that the Sunday article about Mrs. Obama’s white ancestors would stir considerable interest so we decided to invite readers to pose questions and make comments. We never imagined that one of those readers would provide us with the first glimpse of two key figures in the first lady’s family tree: The white man who owned Mrs. Obama’s great-great-great grandmother, Melvinia Shields, and his son, who most likely fathered Melvinia’s child.

The photograph of those two men and their relatives, which is believed to have been taken in Georgia sometime around 1884, is being published here for the first time.

The slaveowner was Henry Wells Shields, who inherited Melvinia when his father-in-law died in 1852. DNA testing and research indicate that he and his wife, Christian Patterson Shields, are the first lady’s great-great-great-great grandparents.

Their son, Charles Marion Shields, worked as a farmer and a teacher. DNA testing and research point to him as the father of Melvinia’s son, Dolphus Shields. That would make Charles Mrs. Obama’s great-great-great grandfather.

The photo came from Jarrod Shields, a science teacher at a community college in Alabama who also happens to be the great-great-great grandson of Henry Wells Shields. He was getting ready to mow the lawn when his wife, Tonya, got a call about the article and called him to come inside. Jarrod had grown up knowing that his family had once owned slaves and always wondered what happened to their descendants. His wife sent me an e-mail this week, outlining her husband’s connection to the Shields family, along with the photograph.

When I spoke to Jarrod by phone, he told me that he hoped that he might be able to meet his extended black family, he said of the descendants of the slaves his ancestors had owned.

[lbryce]

Well, Michelle, Welcome.

[unixfox]

Well, Michelle, Welcome.

Now go home.

[MissMagnolia]

But I do know that all four of her grandparents had multiracial roots: In addition to African ancestry, some had Irish American ancestry; some claimed Cherokee ancestry and others were simply described as mixed-race or mulatto without any specific reference to their European roots.

Oh my, she might be related to Elizabeth Warren!! /s

[bunkerhill7]

NAACWP

[RummyChick]

Did all those people live in that house???

I would hate to see the condition of the slaves house.

Poor Michelle. She couldn’t even been kin to high class society rich plantation owners.

Is all of this suppose to make her sympathetic to the middle class as she squanders our money???

[Carry_Okie]

I suspect that she is going to hate this coming out. After all, she hates just about everything else, unless it kisses her royal keister.

[Carriage Hill]

I can see the ‘family resemblance’ of Moo-chelle... to that log on the ground.

[mnehring]

So she’s descended from slave-owners.

[Paladin2]

MO is a cracker?

[gop4lyf]

Since her ancestors owned slaves , shouldn’t she apologize and pay reparations?

[ConservaTexan]

Henry Wells Shields...and his wife, Christian Patterson Shields, are the first lady’s great-great-great-great grandparents.

I call BS. Everyone knows that her great-great-great-great grandparents are Chewbacca and Aunt Esther.

[Eastbound]

Strangely silent on reparations.

[MinuteGal]

It's tres chic and soooo politically-correct now for the high muckey-muck blacks to discover they have white blood and for the elite whites to discover some black blood in their system.

Then there's Joe Biden who wants us to know he's blue-blood, not blue-collar.....and Elizabeth Warren who conveniently found 1/32nd red blood in her paleface Anglo bod.

Pretty soon, politically-ambitious folks will be getting blood transfusions offered to them by ObamaCare with a wide color choice to pick from.

Leni

[Sacajaweau]

Notice the two blacks in the background.

And those white dudes....they had it tough, too. Somehow, people think that if you had slaves, you sat around and counted your money.

Sorry....us white folks have worked our butts off since we landed.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Yeh I’m sure that Michelle “I hate Whitey” Obama will rush to embrace the Sheilds family.

[liberalh8ter]

While many people view this subject as interesting because it shows that Michelle Obama is of mixed race, I find the timing of all of this very suspect. I am of the opinion that this piece is quite nefarious in its purpose. It is putting face and a name we are all familiar with to the oft repeated story of white male slave owners raping young black slave girls. In other words, this is designed to reignite the white guilt that got Obama elected but has since died off with the overuse of the race card.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

[gop4lyf]

I have traced my heritage back 20+ generations through all branches. 100% honkey. Mostly Welsh with some Irish, Scottish, Swiss, and German ancestry.

[libertarian27]

Their son, Charles Marion Shields, worked as a farmer and a teacher. DNA testing and research point to him as the father of Melvinia’s son, Dolphus Shields. That would make Charles Mrs. Obama’s great-great-great grandfather.

So Michelle is the 'great-great-great-grandaughter' of a middle class farmer and teacher....who, because of the time and location, had slaves...if he were alive now he would barely be able to afford to hire illegal immigrants./s

[soozla]

Gotta make a note of this, as the next time anyone dares to call me “racist” for criticizing the Obama’s and their policies, I’ll be sure to tell them I am criticizing only their WHITE %’s.....