Former U.S. president Barack Obama in Athens, Greece, June 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)/Tyler Perry on Feb. 27, 2022, in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Filmmaker Tyler Perry recently evoked a social media storm when he mistakenly claimed that former President Barack Obama was a descendant of Black American slaves. The claim, made in a touching birthday post on Aug. 4 on Instagram, led to swift reactions from his followers, who pointed out the historical inaccuracy.
Perry quickly edited his post following the backlash, entertainment platform Sandra Rose reported.
As Bishop Talbert Swan tweeted, “Unfortunately, America has yet to elect a president who descended from enslaved Africans. President Barack Obama is a descendent of a Kenyan father, whose ancestors were never enslaved in America.”
Devine From Brooklyn added that not only was Obama descended from slaves, but his ancestors were actually slave owners.
The tweeter posted, “We have NEVER had a president who had ancestors that were enslaved and emancipated in the USA aka an AMERICAN FREEDMEN obama is white and kenyan FYI….barack obama is the descendant of SLAVE OWNERS”
On Barack Obama’s 62nd birthday, Perry’s post featured a photo of Perry and Obama sitting in chairs that were purportedly once owned by Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves. Perry’s caption read, “This photo was taken at my house. I bought these chairs from an auction because they belonged to Abraham Lincoln. We both sat in them and had a conversation.”
He continued, “I wondered when [Lincoln] freed the slaves could he have imagined that one day a descendant of those slaves would become president of the United States. Only in our America and with all of her flaws.. what a great country we live in and we must fight to keep our democracy. Happy Birthday to you President @barackobama.”
While Obama’s ancestors were not descendants of American slaves, they did hail from Africa.
Obama was born to a white American mother and a Black Kenyan father.
A report has unveiled that more than 100 political leaders in the U.S. have ancestors who were slavemaking and slaveholders.
In researching the genealogies of America’s political elite, a Reuters examination found that a fifth of the nation’s members of Congress, living presidents, Supreme Court justices and governors are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people.
As far as the Oval Office, 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, yes, Barack Obama.
Former U.S. president Barack Obama speaks to the members of the Obama Foundation’s leadership program in Athens, Greece, June 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)/Tyler Perry, wearing a blue and yellow ribbon in support of Ukraine, arrives at the 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Barker Hangar on Feb. 27, 2022, in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
