Silverdale woman reveals ‘Strom’ ties

To Monica Williams-Hudgens, of Silverdale, he was a voice on the phone, a distant relative whose occasional calls punctuated a long-kept family secret.

The rest of America saw Strom Thurmond as a man whose words were strong, actions were at times cantankerous and influence on American politics immeasurable.

Last month Williams-Hudgens’ mother, Essie Mae Williams Washington of Los Angeles, announced publicly for the first time she is the daughter of the former United States senator and family’s black housekeeper. Thurmond was 22 and the woman, Carrie Butler was 16 when Washington was born. Butler died when she was 38.

Thurmond, who was this country’s longest serving United States Senator, died June 26, 2003 at age 100.

Thurmond held a myriad of public offices in his six-decade political career.

He, then a Democrat, served as governor of South Carolina 1947-51. Thurmond opposed his party’s civil rights program in 1948 and led the walkout of the Southern Democrats at the party’s convention that year. He was presidential candidate of the “Dixiecrats” who represented states’ rights rather than civil ones.

He was also the only grandparent Williams-Hudgens knew.

“It was sad,” she said of his death. “It was the relationship that never was,” she said. While Williams-Hudgens told family and friends about her relationship with Thurmond, her mother held it in.

“My mother, evidently had the strongest fortitude,” she said.

Soon after Thurmond’s death, at the urging of her four children, Williams Washington revealed what had been suspected but never said. Williams-Hudgens said her mother, who’s 78, opted for silence rather than possible shame.

“My mother’s old school. You don’t talk about things like that in public,” Williams-Hudgens said recently. “She didn’t want people to find out she was illegitimate.”

Her mother kept a journal to ease some of the emotional burden, but a secret such as this can put pressure on the entire family, Williams-Hudgens said.

“She’s regenerated, she’s recharged,” after letting go of the secret. Instead of referring to him as Strom Thurmond, William Washington now says “my father.”

Thurmond’s family is working to get Williams Washington a copy of her Edgefield, South Carolina birth certificate, which he signed.

A Dec. 15 statement from the Thurmond family read “As J. Strom Thurmond has passed away and cannot speak for himself, the Thurmond family acknowledges Ms. Essie Mae Washington-Williams’ claim to her heritage. We hope this acknowledgment will bring closure for Ms. Williams.”

As a girl of 10, Williams-Hudgens didn’t have much interest in Thurmond’s politics or realize the ramifications of the relationship.

She recently saw old film footage on PBS with Thurmond using the “N-word.”

“That’s not the person I talked to on the phone,” Williams-Hudgens said.

The man who called their house was concerned about their welfare and offered support. For her Crenshaw High School graduation in 1974, Thurmond sent her a desk set engraved with his name. Engraved plates were a wedding gift to Williams-Hudgens and husband Gerald about 25 years ago.

“Politics is what he did, it wasn’t who he was,” Gerald said.

Before taking the leap into the political ring, Thurmond was a teacher and then a lawyer. Williams Washington met her father when Thurmond was serving as superintendent for Edgefield schools at the time. When her mother took her to meet Thurmond, and he said “I’m glad to meet you.”

There was no discussion just acceptance, Williams-Hudgens said.

Thurmond served as a South Carolina senator for 47 years. During that time he set a Senate filibuster record, more than 24 hours, to protest a piece of civil rights legislation. In 1964, he reportedly wrestled another senator outside a Senate committee room and changed political parties in 1964.

Thurmond in his later years hired black staff members and invested federal money into South Carolina’s predominantly black schools.

While Thurmond’s early politics opposed the civil rights movement, Williams-Hudgens’ brother Julius would later participate in the integration of Savannah High School in Savannah, Ga.

Her father, an attorney and leader in the Savannah chapter of the NAACP bailed protesters out of jail.

As a teenager in Los Angeles she would briefly talk to the Senator on the phone. It wasn’t until she was older that she became interested in her grandfather’s persona.

Since her mother’s announcement, the family’s history has been in the national spotlight. They have been in constant contact with a cousin and hope to visit Thurmond family members later this year.

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