I'm working on a column that will explore the complex racial history of this country by linking the weird focus on First Lady Michelle Obama's butt, from conservative critics such as Rush Limbaugh, to the recent death of Essie Mae Washington-Williams, the product of Strom Thurmond -- 22 years old at the time - and a black maid - 16 years old at the time - in his parents home.
Michelle Obama's posterior again the subject of a public rant
I'll explain the link in the column and how it illustrates how far we've come and how much further we still have to go. In the meantime, a columnist I know from Charlotte takes a look at the Washington-Williams legacy and what it means.
How did it feel and what did it mean to be a secret, black (or biracial) lovechild of one of the nation's best known and most effective segregationists?
Strom Thurmond's black daughter: a symbol of America's complicated racial history
