Ancestry

Michelle Obama Descended From Young Slave Girl and White Owner

Marlene H. Phillips | Posted 10.07.2009 | Politics


Marlene H. Phillips

First Lady Michelle Obama's great-great-great grandmother, a 14-year-old slave girl named Melvinia, was impregnated by a white slave owner.

Michelle Obama: Family History Of First Lady Is Complex, Tied To Slavery

The New York Times | RACHEL L. SWARNS and JODI KANTOR | Posted 10.08.2009 | Politics


Melvinia Shields, the enslaved and illiterate young girl, and the unknown white man who impregnated her are the great-great-great-grandparents of Mich...

A Sort of Hajj: The Pull of Ancestral Homelands

Daniel Cubias | Posted 02.13.2009 | Living


Daniel Cubias

With all the dream destinations in the world that I have yet to conquer, why am I hung up on visiting a tiny country best known for warfare and which my family abandoned a generation ago?