Vandals knock over monument for Michelle Obama ancestor (Melvinia “Mattie” Shields 1844 – 1938) in Georgia.

8 Responses to Vandals knock over monument for Michelle Obama ancestor (Melvinia “Mattie” Shields 1844 – 1938) in Georgia.

1. Bruce says:

   June 12, 2013 at 8:42 am

   The First Family: A New Glimpse of Michelle Obama’s White Ancestors

   The New York Times
   6/22/2012

   Excerpt:

   We knew that the Sunday article about Mrs. Obama’s white ancestors would stir considerable interest so we decided to invite readers to pose questions and make comments. We never imagined that one of those readers would provide us with the first glimpse of two key figures in the first lady’s family tree: The white man who owned Mrs. Obama’s great-great-great grandmother, Melvinia Shields, and his son, who most likely fathered Melvinia’s child.

   The photograph of those two men and their relatives, which is believed to have been taken in Georgia sometime around 1884, is being published here for the first time.

   The slaveowner was Henry Wells Shields, who inherited Melvinia when his father-in-law died in 1852. DNA testing and research indicate that he and his wife, Christian Patterson Shields, are the first lady’s great-great-great-great grandparents.

   Their son, Charles Marion Shields, worked as a farmer and a teacher. DNA testing and research point to him as the father of Melvinia’s son, Dolphus Shields. That would make Charles Mrs. Obama’s great-great-great grandfather.

   The photo came from Jarrod Shields, a science teacher at a community college in Alabama who also happens to be the great-great-great grandson of Henry Wells Shields. He was getting ready to mow the lawn when his wife, Tonya, got a call about the article and called him to come inside. Jarrod had grown up knowing that his family had once owned slaves and always wondered what happened to their descendants. His wife sent me an e-mail this week, outlining her husband’s connection to the Shields family, along with the photograph.

   When I spoke to Jarrod by phone, he told me that he hoped that he might be able to meet his extended black family, he said of the descendants of the slaves his ancestors had owned. “I always really wanted to say I was sorry. I also wanted to let them know that we’re glad that you’re part of our family, however it came about.’’ — Rachel L. Swarns

   View the complete article at:

   http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/06/22/us/first-lady-family-q-and-a.html

   Charles Marion Shields, the third man standing from the right in the photo shown below, likely fathered Melvinia Shield’s child. If so, he is the great-great-great grandfather of First Lady, Michelle Robinson Obama.

   
2. Bruce says:

   June 12, 2013 at 10:14 am

   Mammy Malvinias Mistreated Monument

   My Very Own Point of View
   ladysforest
   6/11/2013

   Excerpt:

   Wait, so the nudge-nudge back-story claim is that Melvinia was impregnated after being raped by a white privileged slave owner. And these “townspeople” think of a link to obamas wife through rape as a source of pride? Apparently so, apparently so.
   .
   Understand that this “story” of some unremarkable slave only becomes compelling when the connection between obamas wife and Melvina is discovered.
   .
   It has been implied by some, (we all know by whom) that Melvina was forcibly raped by a white man, presumably the man who counted her among his possessions. Because female slaves never engaged willingly in sex romps with white men. Ever. And they are especially likely to be perfectly chaste, of course, when the only handy non-family men were white. A horny black teenager would never accept the advances of a person of a different race!
   .
   Why, just see how it is in this century, not a single mixed race copulation ever takes place ……. wait, er, maybe they do sometimes – but those are definitely rape-rape. Unless a white girl is involved – then we all know she wanted some dark meat.
   .
   But 150 years ago one Melvinia, had a pure, chaste, snow white heart as surely as she had black skin. It must be so, because the genealogists suggest it. Well, what’s truly important is that we all understand how this reflects on obamas wife.
   .
   That memorial was built to remind you of that.
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   Apparently some people aren’t terribly impressed though – ’cause they done tipped over the memorial that was built to honor obamas wifes great great great great grandmam. Yes you heard right – they done gone and built a monument to Melvina ’cause she is obamas-wifes-relative 150 years removed. Additionally something about her being a slave. So of course that means obamas wife was is still struggling to fling off the shackles of oppressive social mobility and the lack of equality that naturally clings to persons who had a relative that was a slave. One hundred and fifty years ago. Michelle is still fighting the same oppression that Melvina faced, it’s why she’ll never be anything more than First Lady of the United States of America.
   .
   That memorial was built to remind you all of that fact.

   View the complete post at:

   Mammy Malvinias Mistreated Monument
3. Lucas Daniel Smith says:

   June 12, 2013 at 10:43 am

   Meet Your Cousin, the First Lady: A Family Story, Long Hidden

   The New York Times
   Published: June 16, 2012

   Excerpt Photo:

   Dolphus Shields, left, was the great-great-grandfather of Michelle Obama. His mother, Melvinia, was a slave. Research and DNA testing indicate that his father was a white man named Charles Marion Shields. Melvinia and Dolphus were owned by Henry Wells Shields, who was Charles’s father. Dolphus is pictured here with his son Willie.

   (taken from the 2012 book American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama, by Rachel L. Swarns)

   
4. Lucas Daniel Smith says:

   June 12, 2013 at 10:46 am

   Meet Your Cousin, the First Lady: A Family Story, Long Hidden

   The New York Times
   Published: June 16, 2012

   Excerpt Photo:

   Dolphus Shields and his extended family at his home in Birmingham, Ala., where he was a well-known businessman and a church deacon. He died in 1950.

   (taken from the 2012 book American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama, by Rachel L. Swarns)

   
5. Voice of Reason says:

   June 12, 2013 at 10:46 am

   Probably the work of very disgruntled birthers, who realized that after five years, they are no closer to getting Obama out of office than when they started.
6. Lucas Daniel Smith says:

   June 12, 2013 at 10:49 am

   Meet Your Cousin, the First Lady: A Family Story, Long Hidden

   The New York Times
   Published: June 16, 2012

   Excerpt Photo:

   Joan Tribble at the grave of Henry Wells Shields, her great-great grandfather, in Rex, Ga. Henry Shields, who lived during the 1800s, is also an ancestor of Michelle Obama. That makes Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Tribble distant cousins.

   (taken from the 2012 book American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama, by Rachel L. Swarns)

   
7. Lucas Daniel Smith says:

   June 12, 2013 at 10:52 am

   Meet Your Cousin, the First Lady: A Family Story, Long Hidden

   The New York Times
   Published: June 16, 2012

   Excerpt Photo:

   Moses Shields, brother of Henry Wells Shields. The two men, who were descendants of Irish immigrants, grew up in Spartanburg, S.C., in the 1800s. (Probably some of Dr. Conspiracy aka Kevin Wayne Davidson’s people!)

   (taken from the 2012 book American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama, by Rachel L. Swarns)

   
8. Lucas Daniel Smith says:

   June 12, 2013 at 10:56 am

   Meet Your Cousin, the First Lady: A Family Story, Long Hidden

   The New York Times
   Published: June 16, 2012

   Excerpt Photo:

   Pearl Lewis, daughter of Dolphus Shields, migrated to Cleveland from Birmingham, Ala. She is pictured with her daughter, Marguerite.

   (taken from the 2012 book American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama, by Rachel L. Swarns)