TIL: Jimmy Carter and Berry Gordy were related

After Jimmy Carter’s death yesterday, I looked for a Jimmy Carter post I made on Bluesky. But I also found another one about Carter’s lineage:

Berry Gordy I was the son of Georgia slave owner James Thomas Gordy and one of his female slaves, Esther Johnson. In addition, James Gordy had a son, also James, with his legal wife; the younger James was the maternal grandfather of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, making Carter and Berry III and his siblings second half-cousins.

via Wikipedia

That’s right: the founder of Motown was related by blood to the 39th President of the United States. That’s enslavement for ya!

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