Slate: W's Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Traded Slaves

Slate has now discovered a relevant fact about the Bush family that was originally published back in 2007: George W. Bush’s great-great-great-great-grandfather was a slave trader. Slate reports in a comprehensive article complete with graphics:

Twelve American presidents owned slaves, eight while serving in office, and at least 25 presidents count slave owners among their ancestors. But new historical evidence shows that a direct ancestor of George W. and George H.W. Bush was part of a much more appalling group: Thomas Walker was a notorious slave trader active in the late 18th century along the coast of West Africa.

Buried at the very end of the article is a plug for W.’s Africa policy.

So far, Slate has not run any articles on the fact that Barack Obama’s great-great-great-great-grandfather, George Washington Overall, owned two slaves, and one of his great-great-great-great-great-grandmothers, Mary Duvall, owned two slaves.

Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).