Eighty-four.
That’s the total number of enslaved people held by the ancestors of six current and former Alabama politicians, according to a report by Reuters on Tuesday.
The report found that 118 current and former politicians had slaveholding ancestors going back five and six generations, including Gov. Kay Ivey, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Rep. Robert Aderholt, Rep. Barry Moore, and former Sen. Richard Shelby and former Rep. Mo Brooks.
Gov. Ivey’s ancestor, Ann Riley, topped the Alabama list with 33 enslaved people, following Sen. Shelby’s ancestor Aaron Campbell who had 20.
Former Rep. Mo Brooks told Al.com he was “mildly surprised” to learn about the history of his ancestor Thomas Ferguson who owned one 7-year-old slave freed around age 10. He recognizes this is a known part of history.
“All of us have ancestors who were slaveholders or slaves,” Brooks said. He said he understands “a tremendous amount” about the history of slavery worldwide.
“If you go back far enough, civilization was very cruel,” he said. He added that “man’s inhumanity to man” is a part of history children should absolutely learn.
But he has one caveat.
If he were still in Congress, he would support an individual state’s right to govern children’s education, including restrictions on the teaching of “divisive concepts.”
Alabama is one of 44 states that have introduced legislation in the last two years to limit “divisive concepts” from classrooms, including the history of systemic racism.
University of Alabama’s history department chair Joshua Rothman said he wasn’t surprised Reuters’ findings given the “long-standing family backgrounds” of politicians in the United States. He thought there’d be more than 118. He said this report isn’t a critique of these politicians.
“We have no control over the people we are descended from,” Rothman said. He added that because slaveholders had more wealth and influence than the average person, it’s unsurprising that modern politicians are descended from slaveholders.
Rothman said some people would learn a lot from this project. He said for many Americans, “it hasn’t really quite sunk in yet, no matter how many times they’ve heard it.”
“I also think it’s important and interesting and useful because there’s something about seeing it right there,” Rothman said. “This is much more about the legacies of slavery in the American present. This is, to a certain extent, about history, but it’s not really about history. We’re talking about now. Slavery ends in 1865, but its consequences don’t disappear in 1865.”
Brooks was the only Alabama politician to respond to Reuters about this finding.
“It’s always good to know history. How much it helps on this particular issue, I don’t know, because hopefully everybody in America is smart enough to know that slavery is abhorrent,” Brooks said in a comment to Reuters. “So, the question then becomes, if everybody already knows that it’s abhorrent, what more can you teach from that.”
The Reuters report tied slaveholding ancestors to several U.S. presidents, including President Biden and former President Barack Obama.
Media representatives for Ivey, Tuberville, Aderholt, and Moore have yet to respond to a request by AL.com for comment. Shelby could not be reached. Here’s what’s the Reuters report found:
Rep. Robert Aderholt
Direct Ancestor: James F. Stone
Number of Enslaved: 5
Generations Removed: 5
Former Rep. Mo Brooks
Direct Ancestor: Thomas Ferguson
Number of Enslaved: 1
Generations Removed: 5
Gov. Kay Ivey
Direct Ancestor: Ann N. Riley
Number of Enslaved: 33
Generations Removed: 4
Rep. Barry Moore
Direct Ancestor: William Thompson
Number of Enslaved: 19
Generations Removed: 6
Former Sen. Richard Shelby
Direct Ancestor: Aaron Campbell
Number of Enslaved: 20
Generations Removed: 5
Sen. Tommy Tuberville
Direct Ancestor: Valentine E. Brazil
Number of Enslaved: 6
Generations Removed: 5