J. Edgar Hoover ~ Who were his ancestors?

[goclark]

Here are a few websites that will let you decide for yourself:


Snip >Secrets Uncovered, J. Edgar Hoover Passing For White?
August 1st, 2006

This story is absolutely startling and at the same time amazing. J Edgar Hoover, the man who despised Dr. King and was not a supporter of the Civil Right’s Movement, is mixed. Yes ladies and gentleman, J. Edgar Hoover is a NEGRO.

This man hated his African ancestry so much that he passed for white. Millie L. McGhee, is black women who is an educator in California. She remembers as a child that her older relatives told her that they were decedents of the Hoover family, and as an adult she decided to do more research. She found a genealogist her assisted her and their findings were mind blowing. This man who appeared to be against anything that advanced the African American was indeed black himself. <

See his picture here...

Note: I am African American and I have already decided.

This is the complete article -
http://nativeson.wordpress.com/2006/08/01/secrets-uncovered-j-edgar-hoover-passing-for-white/

http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/hoover.htm


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover

[NYCGirl]

1. True or not, Hoover was one sorry, fucked-up individual. NT

[rfranklin]

2. He was also a self-hating gay man...

If he was also African American, that can explain why he was so dedicated to blackmailing everyone else to defend himself from exposure.

[goclark]

35. He sure was dedicated

to keeping his secrets protected.

His MLK smear was the true bottom of the barrel for scum.

[brentspeak]

3. I read McGhee's book, and her thesis appeared completely bogus

Every photograph of Hoover included in the book was modified to make his skin complexion darker than it actually was in the original photographs. Intellectual dishonesty.

[goclark]

12. You should see photos of my grandfather

He looked more White than J. Edgar Hoover ever looked. He would walk down the street, in the downtown area,with me and White people would say, "What a cute little girl, is she your maid's child?"

I could tell you story after story of White people being completely in the dark about what Mulatto Blacks looked like and acted like during that time frame.

Two of his brothers passed for White for many years. One sister too.

To my surprise, while researching my ancestors, I discovered that Uncle Alfred was buried in a Veteran's cemetery within 10 miles of my current home!

I told my mother that I was going to take her to her uncle's grave site. The last time that she had seen him she was a little girl and she remembers her father and his brother standing on the steps hugging each other and crying.

When her uncle left, she asked her father why he was crying and he said, "Your uncle is going away and we won't be able to see him again, he is going to live like a White man. He will be able to get a better job that way."

When I took her to the Cemetery,we walked in the office and I asked where the plot was for Uncle Alfred. The office manager went to the files, came back and told me that could not possibly be my uncle.

I then pulled out my paper and read all the birthday, state, mother, father's name information and I boldly told him ~ "THAT IS my uncle Alfred, direct me to the plot!"
My mother was pulling my dress because, even in this day,the memories of the hurt in her family was too deep.

There he stood, his face was red as a beet with rage as he gave me the plot number and off we went to stand/hug/cry and see our family name and the correct information on the stone.

In our community, passing for white wasn't "bogus" it was a reality that was lived by many of our ancestors.

To dismiss it as "bogus" without having lived as an African American during those times is telling.

[AspenRose]

18. Yep

Probably every black or mixed race person on the DU could tell a similar story or stories.

I sure can.

[goclark]

20. Sure Can

Sometimes it is mighty hard when people that have no idea about your life experiences just dismiss your knowledge.

Interesting how we shut the door on information that may help us to be more compassionate, especially when we call ourselves Progressives.

[brentspeak]

24. My post said

that I considered her thesis bogus because she photoshopped Hoover's old photographs. Am I supposed to consider the author credible under those circumstances???

[goclark]

25. I have seen many photos,

not doctored, of J. Edgar Hoover.

Just based on real people that I know personally, he LOOKED African American. All African Americans don't have brown or black tones in their skin, the Slave Masters took care of that for us.

In the Washington DC area at that time period, there were many Blacks that were passing for White.

There were many, like my grandfather, that could have passed and didn't. He married my grandmother, a pretty dark chocolate lady from VA. They were happily married for over 50 years.

They had two children, my lovely Mom who could be described on the census as Mulatto and my uncle, who was a beautiful light chocolate.

J. Edgar Hoover was just the tip of a large iceberg. I don't see it as shocking at all.

What does make me upset is that he was able to control the LIE for so long and was so hurtful to his own people. He was scum of the earth.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

4. Sometimes color photographs can help

How about this one?

[kwassa]

8. Color photos lie all the time

Anyone can be made to look lighter or darker by how they are photographed, and how the photograph is printed. Color printing is particularly inexact.

And we all know how to play with Photoshop, too.

[leveymg]

14. Sure was an ugly, destructive bastard - don't know or care about his race

Why is this meme showing up here today?

Here's another picture, with make up and a soul mate:

[smirkymonkey]

27. Check out this FBI photo of him as a younger man....

Quite handsome back then - who knew? However he looks even more African American in his youth than he did when he was older.

[whistle]

5. You know, I could really care less regarding J Edgar's or anyone

...else's blood line. This has no relevance one way or another. With one exception, Donald Rumsfeld, who is of Venusian ancestry which come from the planet Ogaar.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

7. I don't care what the color of his skin was. He managed to push

a hate-filled agenda and his own personal brand of blackmail to unprecedented highs. Was he a hypocrite? Without a doubt, but he is dead and we can't go back re-fight those battles with him. I say move on. We have so much more at stake than a guy who has been dead for three decades - no matter what he did while living, he is irrelevant today. JMHO

That said - can't you just imagine what he would have on Chucklenuts and the Cabal if he were alive today?

[goclark]

22. I always try to learn from History

and the way he lived his life full of LIES is the same way that AWOL Bush and Laura and her Car Accident got erased.

The twist to this situation is that what I believe to be a Mulatto man, got away with fooling Whites about his race and his sexuality for all those years.

We are still allowing the Chucklenuts to rule this planet.

How I wish someone would be brave enough to give a Martha Mitchell moment on television to these scum balls!

[IntravenousDemilo]

6. His mother was a hamster and his father smelled of elderberries. n/m

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. I can't help thinking of that scene in Woody Allen's

movie Bananas, in which a black woman (who looks remarkably like J. Edgar Hoover) is supposed to be the then-FBI director in disguise.

Until now I thought that Woody had inside knowledge of Hoover's habit of cross-dressing, but maybe he had heard the rumors of black ancestry as well.

[goclark]

26. That would be interesting if Woody did it on purpose LOL

[RB TexLa]

10. Reminds me of the old driver's licenses in Louisiana before pictures

If you were had dark skin the letter under race was a capital "B" if you were light skinned creole it was an small "b."

And I remember the whispers about Dutch Morial being the first black mayor of New Orleans or not.

[goclark]

28. Small "b" , Morial was my friend's cousin.

They were Creole.

Thanks for the post and the photo. :)

[pitohui]

30. i know a story about that one

supposedly one of the kids who attended private school with my husband did not know that his dad, dutch, was black until he decided to run for mayor

well rgbolen knows this, but for the general public -- FYI "creole" in new orleans does not automatically mean black as it does in many parts of the south -- many creoles are a mix of french and spanish heritage, this is one of these tricky words w. different meanings based on context

so maybe the kid just assumed, i mean, if you stop and think about it, was there ever a day when you sat down w. your kid and said, "oh by the way you're this color"

poor old dutch, he did all right and i remember how sad i was when there was some really unusual cold spell down here and he died because of his asthma and the cold attacked his heart, he wasn't really all that old, maybe 62ish?

you really wonder what race means, you can't feel it, you can't necessarily see it, we are just put in these slots...

[goclark]

33. Yes "creole" has two meanings

Thanks for your informative post

I was married to a "creole" so many of my friends are Creole. His family was rich in the traditions of the African American "creole" culture.

Some that I know to have African American blood do NOT identify with the African American community and still pass for "french/spanish."

Hopefully, there will come a day when race doesn't matter. I hope that I am around that long. :)

[Cooley Hurd]

11. He was listed as white on the 1900 US Census...

I just looked it up.:shrug:

[goclark]

13. They had doctored it up by then ~ he was the FBI Chief

and he had as much power or more than the NeoCons of today.

I find this part of the story compelling because it shows how the facts can be cooked anyway people in power want them to go.

Recall "WMD in Iraq." Recall Colin and his graphics, all smoke and mirrors.
Nothing has changed.

They had access to all records and so does GW. :shrug:

Note: As an African American it gives me no comfort to know that this scum of the earth could have been in anyway connected to me but, I know of too many cases that point to the fact that there were hundreds of people that posed as White, some still do.

That part of Black America has been fooling White America for a long, long time.
Sad but true.

Note: I have researched the census records for 8 years for my ancestors. During J. Edgar's life time, those records were so easy to change because they were not all over the internet like today.

[Virginia Dare]

15. There are millions of Americans out there...

who would be truly astonished to know their actual genetic make-up, both people who consider themselves black and people who consider themselves white.

[goclark]

16. Thank you very much Virginia Dare1

Now that we have DNA Projects to determine ancestors, it is a whole new ball game.

You understand the issue.

Thanks for your post.

[Virginia Dare]

19. From personal experience...

you go out into the countryside of central Virginia, where the same families have resided since before the Civil War, and there are lots of folks there who identify themselves as black, but they sure look white to me. :shrug:

[goclark]

21. You are so right

We had a family reunion in the beautiful Rappahannock VA area.

My relatives were a lovely rainbow of colors and several looked as white as the average white person.

I recall talking to one of my new cousins that was holding her grand baby. The grandchild was as cute as could be and very White looking.

She introduced me to the nice White father of the grand baby. He was comfortable with the family and very friendly.

Then, when I saw the grandmother a few minutes later, she was lovingly looking at the fingernails of the baby. She was pointing out to me that if you look at the cuticles of a baby you can tell what shade they are going to be.

She laughed and said she "Just kept looking and wishing that the baby's cuticles would get a little darker!"

I had never heard that before and we laughed together.

The beauty of the story is that she loved her Son In Law and the baby. She just knew that the baby would have a more difficult life sometimes being too White with an African American mom and family members.

[NuttyFluffers]

31. wonder if hoover did a monica lewinsky and saved the dress...

then we could do a DNA test and know for sure.
:evilgrin:

(because there's always time for pissing on an asshole's grave :D)

[goclark]

34. ROTFL ~ that made my day! nt

[RB TexLa]

17. And even today, if you tell the census taker that you are white or black

or hispanic, what is their argument going to be if they disagree with you? :shrug:

[goclark]

23. I'm not sure how many Black census takers they had

during the late 1800's and early 1900's.

In the south,for the most part , the White Census taker knew the Black/Mulatto families.

Many times, with Black or White families they would get the spelling of the names wrong but the internet is amazing now in helping all people to find their ancestors.

This is particularly an amazing thing for African American families because if we can't find our families in the 1870 census, we must dig and dig and dig.

We are usually able to find them in the golden 1970 census.

As an added note: For anyone that has not done their family tree, I encourage you to do so. It is an amazing journey through time and IMO, you find out who YOU are by finding out more about your ancestors.

The web is fantastic!

[Momgonepostal]

36. About census takers...

My family is into geneaology, so I've looked up many a family member's census records. I'm not convinced that all census takers were as thorough as they should be and if they even really asked everything they were supposed to. I could totally see a 19th or early 20th century census taker just looking at a family member and checking off "white" if the person looked white, and then of course, assuming everyone else in the family was white, too.

African American family history research certainly sounds like a challenge! Have you ever found any useful information in the Freedman's Bank records? I remember when that was first made available, people were talking about how great it was going to be, but I've never talked to anyone who has used it.

[goclark]

41. I am completely into finding each and every one of my ancestors

It is an marvelous journey.

The finding the pieces of the puzzle just knocks me out!!!

I agree, census takers were not Brain Surgeons that's for sure. I suppose we should be grateful that they were able to get the spellings of the names and ages anywhere near close. Anywhere within 5/10 years close is a miracle,especially for African Americans.

We generally start looking in 1870 and many of our ancestors had no idea what their names were/could be/what they wish they could be.

Many had no idea how old their children were and the slave records rarely listed their names, only " Female age 16" or "Male Mu 75."

That's why I want to make the struggle and hard work of my ancestors MEAN SOMETHING!
They may not have been counted in the Record Books but they sure do COUNT for me!

Thank you for your post, it meant a lot.

Oops ~ I almost forgot to mention the Freedman Records. I have searched them many times with no luck. :(

The best site on the web for African American Searches is the Award Winning ...
www.afrigeneas.com . I am proud to say that there are many superb White researchers who add their wisdom at Afrigeneas.

Best on the web,IMO for all research is www.ancestry.com

That is the greatest!

[RB TexLa]

29. Another young picture of Hoover

[goclark]

32. Yes but some would say that was photoshopped

:sarcasm:

Thanks for the photograph!

After looking at thousands of my people for over 50 years, I would say it is crystal clear to me that he was Mulatto.

It is NOT just the skin color but the features as well.

He looks like he could be a twin to my uncle Garnett who lived in the DC area for many years.

Remember that Washington DC was where many Mulatto people came to from VA, NC,SC etc. to seek a better life. Some realized that they could leave their ROOTS behind and get better jobs and a higher social position.

Some crossed "all the way over" and moved into a White neighborhood and blended into the White population.

Some remained in the Black neighborhoods but were able to get better jobs and a better education because of their color.

Spike Lee addresses the issue in one of his early films about Black Colleges.

Sad chapter in our history but so true.

[Momgonepostal]

37. It's tough to tell skin tone in old B&W photos

Whether the skin tone was photoshopped or not, his features certainly look like he could have some African ancestry. He doesn't look unlike other old photographs I've seen of very light black people.

[goclark]

39. I certainly agree with you

It's really not a big stretch to see the ancestry link.

Every time I think about all of his secrets that were able to stay under the radar until way after his death, I want to :puke:

[Chemical Bill]

38. I'm mostly white, with black ancestors.

My grandmother, a runaway slave's great-granddaughter, was the most racist person in the family. My sister looked up the family tree and brought to light our past. I have no trouble believing that there are many more mixed race people than know it. As for J. Edgar, do I really have to think about him? It hurts.

Bill

[goclark]

40. It sure does hurt to think of J. Edgar

He would have fit right in with this bunch of NeoCons with no hearts.