Thurmond's Secret Biracial Daughter Revealed

Strom Thurmond — Secret Child With Black Housekeeper For decades, Senator Strom Thurmond

was one of America’s most vocal defenders of segregation and white supremacy. Publicly,

he built his career opposing civil rights and racial equality. Privately, he hid a devastating

truth. As a young man, Thurmond fathered a biracial daughter with a Black household

worker who was just 16 years old. The child, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, was kept secret

for nearly his entire political life. Thurmond provided quiet financial support but never

acknowledged her publicly. The revelation came only after his death, when Washington-Williams

confirmed the truth. The disclosure exposed a level of hypocrisy that shocked the nation a man who