History Question

[ChampCoupe]

Who was the first black president?????

[mtnbikaah]

of what?

[blackfoedoecb7]

That would be you right champ?

[JaK FRoSTWhiTE]

In the U.S.?

Umm.
There has never been a full black President.

[HondAccordMan]

In the U.S.?

Umm.
There has never been a full black President.

Correct!

[Bongo]

Is this an honest question? Not tryin to be an ass...just wondering.

[brownhornet]

Is this an honest question? Not tryin to be an ass...just wondering.

Yeah Will, were the previous posts correct? Or is there more to this than you've said?

[Bcozzi71]

its Thomas Jefferson the third US president

[Law Grandeur]

its Thomas Jefferson the third US president

was it jefferson or franklin that had illegitimate black children?

[2.2litrebeater]

Bill Clinton?

was it jefferson or franklin that had illegitimate black children?

Jefferson

[Phempa]

In the U.S.?

Umm.
There has never been a full black President.

Is a person with one Chinese parent and one Scottish parent NOT Asian?

Is a person with one Brazilian parent and one Russian parent NOT Russian?

No.

So the logic stands, you cannot say he is NOT black simply because one of his parents is not.

Now, if there was a level of "blackness", then you could easily say he's not as black as, say, Akon or gloryaccord :P ... but saying something like that would be considered insensitive and racial.

but I'm sick of hearing these dumbasses on the Fox (read: Faux) News channel correct someone when they call him our first Black President.


He is the first black president, as far as I know.... unless we've had another part-black president in the past.... we haven't, have we?

[deevergote]

Jefferson had illegitimate black children that we know of. Who knows how many others have. Slaves were considered property, not people... so chances are, quite a few (probably the majority) of slave owners had sex with their female slaves. It's a disgusting concept... but back then, expecting a female slave to submit sexually was probably no different than expecting your dog to sleep on your feet to keep them warm. That has no actual bearing on this discussion, though.

As for the first black president, Rich is right... we haven't had a fully black president yet (one born of a "black" mother and father, that is... you can dig back in history to discover if either has a white anscestor if you want to be really picky). Obama is the closest thing we have to a "black" president, but he's only half. Though I guess racial definitions throughout American history put people that are half black in the same category as black people. However Obama is no more black than he is white. He is the first half-black president. The first president that isn't completely Caucasian.

Honestly, it really doesn't matter. At least it shouln't. It's an intersting novelty (as would the first female president), but a competent leader is a competent leader, regardless of their heritage, or what equipment they have between their legs.

[fatboy1185]

In the U.S.?

Umm.
There has never been a full black President.

Hardly any of the "Black" people in America are 100% African or any other ethnicity. Everyone is mixed it seems.

[deevergote]

Hardly any of the "Black" people in America are 100% African or any other ethnicity. Everyone is mixed it seems.

Very true. I'm quite sure that you can find non-black ancestors in the family trees of many black Americans. Especially if their families have been here since the slave days. Only those that came directly from Africa within the past few generations can be sure (for the most part) that they don't have non-black ancestors.

I remember reading something, I think by Alex Haley, about a trip to Africa. He said in the US, he always considered himself black... but in Africa, he felt seriously out of place. In Africa, his skin was so pale in comparison.



I also wonder if skin color is an adaptation to climate. People in hotter areas have darker skin, presumably for protection from the sun. So if you take dark skinned people out of that climate for many generations, would the pigmentation fade over time? (This is getting WAY off topic... but I'm curious about that...)

[fatboy1185]

Yes, it only makes sense that the pigment would fade in a non-heat/sun intensive area. The lighter your skin is, the easier it is for it to absorb vitamin D from the sun. Which is why people from gloomy, rainy England are so pale (trying to absorb all the vitamin D they can get), and people from bright and sunny Africa are so dark (an abundance of vitamin D, so their skin has to shield some of it away).

Take 2 families from England today, stick them in Africa and make them stay in the sun all day, it would be ugly. But those two families, millions of years later, their offspring would most likely have a darker pigmentation.

Block off USA, trap everyone inside, let no one enter, and in a few million years, we'd all look Mexican/Native American. In theory