Reviewed by Suzi Steffen

When Essie Mae Washington-Williams, a 78-year-old retired schoolteacher in Los Angeles, went public with the news that she was Senator Strom Thurmond’s daughter, the nation was shocked.  Thurmond had been one of the more outspoken opponents of equal rights for African-Americans.  Now it turned out that he had long ago sired a biracial daughter, the product of a liaison with one of his African-American maids.

Readers hoping for insight into this central conundrum at the heart of Thurmond’s life will not be disappointed, although Thurmond’s presence in the book is somewhat underwhelming.  That makes sense, as Thurmond’s presence in his daughter’s life was sketchy.  After revealing himself (privately) as Washington-Williams’ father when she was thirteen, he appeared seemingly at random throughout her life, sometimes to give her money, other times to give her advice.  His obsession with eating right and exercising mixes with his racism when he tells her such things as, “I know you people like fried foods” and warns her to eat fresh vegetables and drink water.  Most of the book, however, concerns Washington-Williams’ life—growing up in a small Pennsylvania town, moving to New York for a while, then making the decision, directly influenced by Thurmond, to attend an historically black college in South Carolina. 

Washington-Williams’ lack of anger at Thurmond combines with her desire to reconcile the facts of her life with the history of the country—but leaves the book curiously empty.   Why wasn’t she angrier?  Why didn’t she go public sooner?  The explanations are neither satisfying nor useful.  Many people see Washington-Williams as either a saint or a stooge; unfortunately for her, her own book gives evidence of the latter.