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First US slave found on Obama's family tree

Miguelon

Jul 31, 12 11:23

Post #1 of 13 (688 views)

First US slave found on Obama's family tree	Quote \| Reply

Here we go:
http://www.freep.com/...e-through-his-mother

WASHINGTON -- For genealogists, President Barack Obama's family tree is the gift that keeps on giving.
There was Dick Cheney, Warren Buffett and Sarah Palin. On Monday, genealogists added another notable figure to Obama's unlikely list of relatives: John Punch, a Virginia slave whom some historians consider the first African enslaved in the colonies.

The connection to Punch, an indentured servant condemned to slavery in 1640, comes from Obama's mother's side of the family, said Joseph Shumway, a genealogist with Ancestry.com , the website that has been researching the president's family tree for years.

Obama's mother, a white woman from Kansas, was known to have deep roots reaching to colonial Virginia, but her family's African ancestry had not been previously unearthed. The discovery gives Obama -- who identifies as African American based on his father's Kenyan heritage -- a tie to the slave trade.
"Two of the most historically significant African Americans in the history of our country are amazingly directly related," Shumway said. "John Punch was more than likely the genesis of legalized slavery in America. But after centuries of suffering, the Civil War and decades of civil rights efforts, his 11th great-grandson became the leader of the free world and the ultimate realization of the American dream."

Punch was an indentured servant in Virginia who escaped to Maryland with two white servants. When captured, the white servants were punished with imprisonment and lashing, but Punch was sentenced to slavery for life. The case has been cited by historians as evidence that racism was part of the slave trade in Virginia from its inception.

Punch is sometimes described as the "first African slave," a label that touches on an ongoing debate among historians who study the origins of the slave trade in the colonies.

Punch lived before laws dictating slavery were codified in Virginia and during a period of sketchy historical documents, said S. Max Edelson, a professor of history at the University of Virginia.

Some historians say many Africans in the colonies at the time were considered indentured servants, while others argue that those Africans were likely presumed to be slaves. Without a clear legal record, "we can't know for certain either way," Edelson said.
Obama's connection to Punch is similarly inconclusive, Shumway said. Researchers were able to use DNA evidence to track Obama's lineage to a group of white landowners in Virginia. Historians know Punch fathered children with a white woman who passed on her free status. Those children grew up to become landowners in Virginia.

The findings were reviewed by Elizabeth Shown Mills, an expert in Southern culture and genealogy, who vouched for the research.

Miguelon

Jul 31, 12 11:25

Post #2 of 13 (686 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [Miguelon] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Could we hire this people to track down Obama's College transcripts from Harvard and Columbia and his birth certificate?

Old Hickory

Jul 31, 12 14:04

Post #3 of 13 (630 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [Miguelon] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

If you would have waited a few more minutes I am sure that either rick_pcfl or cruisevegas would have delivered the punchline for you....

CruseVegas

Jul 31, 12 14:05

Post #4 of 13 (625 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [Miguelon] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Wouldn't that make him a British or Spanish Slave?
************************

"Look, will you guys at leats accept that you are a bunch of dumb asses and just trust me on this one? Please?" BarryP 7/30/2012

CruseVegas

Jul 31, 12 14:07

Post #5 of 13 (622 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [Old Hickory] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Sorry for being a little late to the party. ;)
************************

"Look, will you guys at leats accept that you are a bunch of dumb asses and just trust me on this one? Please?" BarryP 7/30/2012

________

Jul 31, 12 14:08

Post #6 of 13 (618 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [Miguelon] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Does this mean he qualifies for 40 acres and a mule?

TheForge

Jul 31, 12 14:12

Post #7 of 13 (612 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [Old Hickory] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

Old Hickory wrote:

If you would have waited a few more minutes I am sure that either rick_pcfl or cruisevegas would have delivered the punchline for you....

Punchline? Like that he was hanging on one somewhere?

rick_pcfl

Jul 31, 12 14:16

Post #8 of 13 (605 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [Miguelon] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

I wonder if they would have made news by releasing any less spectacular ancestry.
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Glade Runner

Jul 31, 12 15:08

Post #9 of 13 (570 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [rick_pcfl] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

rick_pcfl wrote:

I wonder if they would have made news by releasing any less spectacular ancestry.

I'm almost positive he's related to the toothless guy who warms his hands by the trashcan fire on M.L.K.* Boulevard in North St. Louis.
He absolutely sounds like him when he gives speeches:
"You didn't build that"
"C'mon, spread the wealth around!"
"I don't want my daughter punished with a baby!!"

I denounce myself.

*The last funny thing Chris Rock said: "How come all the most fucked up parts of any city are on Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd??!!"

Duffy

Jul 31, 12 15:11

Post #10 of 13 (566 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [rick_pcfl] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

rick_pcfl wrote:

I wonder if they would have made news by releasing any less spectacular ancestry.

I always thought he was the son God. This is disappointing.

____________________________________________________
The revolution will not be televised.

DirtyRice

Jul 31, 12 17:02

Post #11 of 13 (530 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [rick_pcfl] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

rick_pcfl wrote:

I wonder if they would have made news by releasing any less spectacular ancestry.

I'm missing the spectacular part.

Rodred

Jul 31, 12 17:05

Post #12 of 13 (527 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [Miguelon] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

I hope they didnt use anything Obama said in oder to start the research process. It seems he is quite the story teller based on recent history.

~
�The instinct to survive is human nature itself, and every aspect of our personalities derives from it. Anything that conflicts with the survival instinct acts sooner or later to eliminate the individual and thereby fails to show up in future generations.

Rodred

Jul 31, 12 17:06

Post #13 of 13 (525 views)

Re: First US slave found on Obama's family tree [DirtyRice] [In reply to]	Quote \| Reply

DirtyRice wrote:

rick_pcfl wrote:

I wonder if they would have made news by releasing any less spectacular ancestry.

I'm missing the spectacular part.

Punch is sometimes described as the "first African slave," a label that touches on an ongoing debate among historians who study the origins of the slave trade in the colonies.

~
�The instinct to survive is human nature itself, and every aspect of our personalities derives from it. Anything that conflicts with the survival instinct acts sooner or later to eliminate the individual and thereby fails to show up in future generations.