The Legacy of Slavery: Over 100 U.S. Political Elites Have Family Ties.

A Reuters examination found that at least 100 members of the US Congress, living presidents, Supreme Court justices, and governors are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people. Among the 536 members of the last sitting Congress, Reuters determined that at least 28 senators can trace their families to at least one slaveholder. The examination reveals how intimately tied America remains to the institution of slavery, including through the “people who make the laws that govern our country,” said Henry Louis Gates Jr, a professor at Harvard University.