Michelle Obama Slavery Roots Traced By Genealogist Megan Smolenyak (VIDEO)

Michelle Obama Slavery Roots Traced By Genealogist Megan Smolenyak (VIDEO)

The New York Times today ran an article tracing the ancestral roots of First Lady Michelle Obama back five generations to her great-great-great-grandmother Melvina Shields, a slave from South Carolina. The First Lady's family tree was uncovered by genealogist Megan Smolenyak. Smolenyak discovered that Shields had been impregnated by an unknown white man, substantiating "what Mrs. Obama has called longstanding family rumors about a white forebear." Smolenyak spoke to Harry Smith of CBS's Early Show about the extensive research she did during the process of filling out Mrs. Obama's family history.

Read the Times article here. Watch the interview with Ms. Smolenyak below.

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