More than 100 US leaders have slaveholding ancestors

We look at the first part of the series Slavery's Descendants.

View in Browser Sign up for Reuters newsletters Daily Briefing How many members of America's political elite are direct descendants of people who were slaveholders? To answer that question, Reuters examined the family ancestries of more than 600 of the country's leading officeholders. Such an inquiry has never been done. The findings form the first of a multipart Special Report called Slavery's Descendants.   Plus, the aftermath of Prigozhin's mutiny and other top news stories from around the world.   By Edson Caldas Special Report Many lawmakers need look no further than their own family histories to find a personal connection to slavery in America. In researching the genealogies of America's political elite, a Reuters examination found that a fifth of the nation's lawmakers, living presidents, Supreme Court justices and governors are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people.   Among 536 members of the last sitting Congress, Reuters determined at least 100 descend from slaveholders. Those lawmakers from the 117th session of Congress are Democrats and Republicans alike. They include Republican senators Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and James Lankford, and Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.   In addition, President Joe Biden and every living former U.S. president – except Donald Trump – are direct descendants of slaveholders: Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and – through his white mother's side – Barack Obama. 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