An ancestor of Joe Biden owned an enslaved 14-year-old boy, according to a genealogical study Five of the six living US presidents are direct descendants of slaveholders, according to an investigation by Reuters published on Tuesday.
The comprehensive study, released just days after the country celebrated the ‘Juneteenth’ federal holiday on June 19, which commemorates the emancipation of African American slaves, details that Donald Trump is the only living current or former US head of state not to have familial links to slavery.
The ancestors of current President Joe Biden, as well as Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, are all descended from slaveholders, the report states. Obama’s links to slavery are on his mother’s side of his family, according to the study, which examined the extended genealogies and census data of those who occupy Washington’s halls of power.
Census records indicate that Biden’s great-great-great grandfather was in possession of an enslaved 14-year-old boy in 1850, according to the report. The White House did not comment on Biden’s purported ancestral links to slavery.