Barack Obama Sr and birth certificates in South Carolina

Some skeptics have a difficult time believing that Barack Obama Sr. did not know his true, correct and full date of birth.

It’s likely that Obama senior was born in the year 1936 (click here) or 1934 (click here) but we don’t know for certain which month (June?) and which day (18th?).

His son’s Kenyan (British Protectorate of Kenya) birth certificate list the father’s (Sr’s) date of birth as just 1936 (day and month is not listed):

Some skeptics believe that an authentic Kenyan birth record would contain a full date of birth (not just the year) for Obama senior.

We’ve discussed this ad nauseam and we’ve cited other prominent Africans of his time who didn’t know their exact dates of birth. We’ve written about other cultures not placing the same value on dates. Moreover, there are places in Africa today (e.g., the Democratic Republic of the Congo) where people don’t know their exact date of birth nor do they care that they don’t know it.

The significance of today’s report is that we’ve recently learned of something interesting regarding the recording of birth dates in the relatively recent past of the United States.

Of the original thirteen (13) colonies it appears that South Carolina was the first to become a republic and adopt a constitution (March 26, 1776) – Constitution of South Carolina March 26, 1776 (Yale Law School link).  They then elected their first President –  John Rutledge.

That’s all very impressive and commendable but one thing that they didn’t starting doing until 139 years later was recording births in their state.

It appears that the state of South Carolina did not require birth records until 1915.  The only exception seems to be the city of Charleston which kept birth certificates beginning in 1877 and thru 1902.

Does 1915 seem like a long time ago to you?  If so, then please take into consideration that there are still people living who were born before 1915.  Some of them were even born in 1800s:

1.  Misao Okawa, age 117. Born March 5, 1898.

2.  Gertrude Weaver, age 116. Born July 4, 1898.

3.  Jeralean Talley, age 115. Born May 23, 1899.

4.  Susannah Mushatt Jones, age 115. Born July 6, 1899.

5.  Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, age 115. Born November 29, 1899.

If a state which was once one of the original 13 colonies didn’t start recording births until the year 1915 then why is difficult to accept the fact that Kenyans (and other Africans) born in 1936 (or 1934) might not know that exact dates of birth?

Here’s a postcard from colonial Kenya. Do you think that these Kikuyu people had birth certificates or that many of them knew their exact dates of birth?

Why is that us white people have to record everything?  Why is it so important or essential to know your exact date of birth?  I myself (I guess I’m white, but I don’t really care about being white and it’s no more important to me than what I ate for dinner last night) couldn’t care less about what day or month that I was born.  I do like knowing the year of my birth but that just a personal preference.

All we know for certain here at WOBIK is that Barack Hussein Obama II was born at the Coast Province General Hospital, Mombasa, British Protectorate of Kenya in the year 1961.

In closing here’s an official image of 1952 Verification of Birth for an 1881 birth record on file in Charleston, South Carolina:

Image credit: Carrie Pollitzer birth certificate, Charleston, South Carolina, December 5, 1881, Anita Pollitzer Family Papers, South Carolina Historical Society. http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/pollitzer_family_sc/carrie_pollitzer

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