In the United States, July 4th is known as Independence Day, celebrating the “Declaration of Independence” from Great Britain in 1776. Although Crispus Attucks, a Black man, was the first to die in the American Revolution when the Revolutionary War was over in 1782, General George Washington went back to his Mt. Vernon Estate, VA where he had slaves. Therefore, July 4th does not represent a day of freedom for the ancestors of most African Americans. That is why “Black Independence Day” is celebrated on June 19th, Juneteenth Day, when Union soldiers led by General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas in 1865 to notify the slaves that they had been free since January 1, 1863 on President Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Speaking of presidents, what is the hype that Illinois Senator Barack Obama would be the first Black President of the United States, if elected? Not by a long shot! Former President Bill Clinton, suspected by many to have Black blood, was honored in 2001 as the nation’s “First Black President” by the Congressional Black Caucus, consisting of almost 40 Black U.S. elected officials. Based on the genealogy research of Dr. Leroy Vaughn in his book, "Black People and Their Place in World History,", Vaughn describes 5 other U.S. Presidents with Black ancestry.

My college math teacher and mentor, Dr. John Q. King of Austin, Texas, was the President of the Black Descendants of President Thomas Jefferson. Vaughn described President Jefferson (1801 to 1809) as the son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a mulatto father. It is said that he destroyed all papers that attached him to his mother, but DNA has now confirmed his children by slave Sally Hemmings.

President Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the U.S. (1829 to 1837), was cited by the Virginia Magazine of History to be 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.

President Abraham Lincoln (1861 to 1865) was President during the Civil War and freed the slaves. Lincoln, with dark skin and coarse hair, was said to have been the illegitimate son of an African man, according to Vaughn’s findings. Lincoln’s opponents called him, “Abraham Africanus the First.”

However, President Warren Harding (1921 to 1923) never denied his ancestry according to a book on the Harding family by Professor William Chancellor of Wooster College. Harding had Black ancestors from both parents and attended Iberia College, a school founded for fugitive slaves.

Then came President Calvin Coolidge (1923 to 1929) who was proud of his heritage. He claimed his mother was dark because of mixed Indian ancestry, but her maiden name was “Moor,” a European name for all Blacks. It was concluded later that Coolidge was part Black.

The importance of U.S. Presidents with some African heritage is noted with President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation indicating an affinity towards civil rights. If Senator Obama is elected President, the symbolism of a Black man in the Oval office could work for the advancement of civil rights and affirmative action. President Bush’s appointments to the Supreme Court, resulting in a new conservative majority, immediately repealed on June 28, 2007 the school integration plans of Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky. Many civil rights gains will probably be lost in the coming years. African Americans may have their independence, but full citizenship is elusive. People of color and progressive Americans do need a Black president, whether by descent or by marriage.

# # #