Strom Thurmond's Biracial Daughter Tours South Carolina Statehouse

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBPAN48Z8E.html

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Essie Mae Washington Williams stood Friday at the feet of a statue of her larger-than-life father, Sen. Strom Thurmond, who never publicly acknowledged her even though rumors followed him to his grave.

After Thurmond's death in 2003 at age 100, Williams came forward to say she was the biracial daughter of the former segregationist, former South Carolina governor and nation's longest-serving U.S. senator.

After decades of denial, Williams' name was added in July to the list of Thurmond's children engraved on the monument that includes the statue.

Williams' mother, Carrie Butler, was a 16-year-old maid for the Thurmond family, and Thurmond was 22, when Williams was born in Aiken in 1925.