* To read Part 1 of the Reuters series, Slavery’s Descendants: America’s Family Secret, click here
June 27 (Reuters) -
* At least 100 members of the last sitting Congress are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people, representing at least 8% of Democrats in Congress and 28% of Republicans.
* The group includes Republican senators Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and James Lankford, and Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.
* President Joe Biden and every living former U.S. president except Donald Trump are direct descendants of slaveholders: Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
* Governors of 11 of the 50 U.S. states in 2022 were descendants of slaveholders, as were two U.S. Supreme Court justices.
* The Congressional slaveholding ancestors were among the richest in America before the Civil War; three-quarters were among the richest 10%.
* In researching America’s political elite, Reuters found names of more than 700 people enslaved by ancestors of the leaders.
* Some 23% of respondents to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll said knowing that a candidate’s ancestors enslaved people would make them less likely to vote for that candidate, and white respondents who said they’re aware of having a slaveholding ancestor were more likely than other white people to support paying reparations for slavery.
(Edited by Blake Morrison)