The husband of the first black female Supreme Court justice has been revealed to be a descendant of slave owners, according to the Washington Post.
The Washington Post analyzed the family lineage of both Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and her husband, surgeon Patrick Jackson, in an article published Monday. The story highlighted the stark differences in the lives and those of their forebears. (RELATED: Ketanji Brown Jackson Brings Up Racism, ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ In Oral Arguments Over Free Speech Case)
American history sure is complex.
Nobody in their right mind would say her husband is responsible for his forbears. He is not one of them. He married who he loves, not a color.
Even the woke wouldn’t link the couple to history. It’d be absurd.https://t.co/cWy13OgMCy
— Eli Steele (@Hebro_Steele) June 20, 2023
“Thus were two newcomers to America cast into racially predetermined roles. Today, as new genealogical research illustrates, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Patrick Jackson are left with a historical subject in common: enslaved people. His ancestors owned them, while her ancestors were them,” the Post reported.
According to the Post, Patrick Jackson’s great-great-great-great grandfather Peter Chardon Brooks “was the richest man in New England when he died, having made his fortune insuring ships, including some involved in the slave trade.”
Christopher C. Child, a genealogist with the New England Historic Genealogical Society, told the Post that records showed Patrick Jackson’s family owned 189 people between 1850 and 1860.
“Every male ancestor of Patrick’s maternal grandfather over the age of 21 alive in 1850 or 1860 was a slaveowner,” Child said.
Some of Patrick Jackson’s ancestors, however, turned against slavery.
One ancestor, Patrick Tracy, freed his slave worker Apropos and his wife, according to “A Memoir of Dr. James Jackson,” written by another ancestor. When Tracy died, he reportedly left Apropos a home and six pounds a year. He also reportedly told his children to help make sure Apropos lived a comfortable life.
Rachel Alexander, reporter for Arizona Sun Times, shared the article on Twitter with the comment that the Jackson family serves as an argument against slavery reparations.