How Strom Thurmond Influenced Me

Ol' Strom

I know what you're thinking! How could a dead segregationist governor influence some black woman? Well, let me explain.

About four years ago I read Dear Senator, a memoir by Essie Mae Washington-Williams.  Ms. Williams is the African American love child of the South Carolina Senator (and former Governor) and his family's African American maid, Carrie Washington.

My mother is from South Carolina, so all my life I've had ties to the South, and for many years I've known about this "secret child." My mother even knew someone who went to college with her.  So when I'd heard that Ms. Williams had "come out" and written a memoir, I couldn't wait to read it!

The story of Ms. Williams's mother and her relationship with Thurmond was heartbreaking and touching, as well as fascinating.  I couldn't stop reading.  And after I'd finished, I couldn't get the story out of my head.

I kept thinking, what would have happened if Ms. Williams had been born a boy who grew up to become a Civil Rights leader at the same time his father was a segregationist governor.  And another thought was, what if Thurmond, a young law student at the time, had been willing to give up everything to be Carrie Washington?

If you're familiar with my blog, you know that Dear Senator inspired my novel The Governor's Sons.  Ms. Williams's memoir, however, is quite sad.  Her mother was all of sixteen when she became pregnant by the then twenty three year old Thurmond.

Thurmond did care for Carrie, but not to the point of giving up everything for her, and their affair lasted over several years, off and on.  But when she died, Thurmond didn't know until Essie told him.

Thurmond provided financially for his love child and stayed in contact with her all of his life.  Ms. Williams still maintains contact with his family--which is her family too!  I couldn't help but feel for both of them (Essie Mae and Strom) as I read her story.

Thurmond wanted to do the right thing by providing for his daughter and being a presence in her life. But if the truth about her had ever been discovered by the public, his career would have been destroyed.  And Ms. Williams had to settle for what little of himself her father could give her, while he shared the limelight with his wife and their children.

If you're at all interested in race matters and love stories, I highly recommend Dear Senator!

Had you ever heard of Essie Mae Washington-Williams's story before the news broke about it a few years back?

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An SEO Experiment

Last time I promised a post using an example of SEO, search engine optimization.  Kim Kardashian isn't someone I'd usually blog about, but I certainly don't think she'll mind me using her name for today's SEO experiment!

To refresh your memory (courtesy of Wikipedia), search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.  In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users.

If that went over your head, here's the naked truth about SEX, oops, I mean SEO, in a nutshell:  It enables you  to get your website noticed as much as you want it to.  So by planting strategic words in your website, you'll "herd" viewers to it. In today's post, my strategic words are in bold italics. To learn about a free tool to help you effectively use SEO, click here. 

Kim Kardashian is hot right now and the topic of interracial dating (known in some circles as jungle fever) is provocative.  I'm interested in writing novels about interracial/multicultural relationships, so today I'm posting some of Kim Kardashian's opinions.

Kim Kardashian's father is Armenian, and her mother is of Irish and German descent.  Kim Kardashian herself has dated white, black and Hispanic men, so she's knowledgeable on this subject.

So, without further ado, here are some of Kim Kardashian's thoughts on interracial dating:

• Whoever you fall in love with, you can't help that.
• [If a man] is good to you and you love him and he loves you, that's all that matters and your family will understand.
• You have to take chances and you have to take risks...as long as [a relationship] is not harmful to [you], you need to really follow your heart.

To hear Kim's complete thoughts, click here.

Short post, a few strategic words, not sure if I'll get more hits than usual, but we'll see!

Do you use SEO?

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