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Affair shaped by Thurmond and a Black man’s fate
In 1940 Georgetown County S C a Black man George Thomas was accused of raping a white clerk. A white mob was quelled by the National Guard after his arrest. Judge Strom Thurmond presided, sentenced Thomas to death, and he was electrocuted in 1942 amid questions of racial bias and secrecy surrounding Thurmond’s private paternity. Essie Mae Washington Williams later revealed Thurmond as her father, a truth she pursued amid the national debate on civil rights and memory.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Media General
Jorge Thomas
Thomas
South Carolina
National Guard
Georgetown
S.C
George Thomas
Supreme Court
Circuit Court
Strom Thurmond
Thurmond
Ol’ Strom
Jack Bass
Marilyn W. Thompson
Essie Mae Washington
Edgefield
Essie Mae
Philadelphia
Alabama
Louisiana
Mississippi
Carrie Butler
Essie Mae Washington Williams
Edward Ball
New York Times
Strom
Williams
Los Angeles Times
South
Sally Hemings
Thomas Jefferson