Wait, What? Jimmy Carter Was Blood Related to This Black Living Legend?

Former President Jimmy Carter’s dedication to service and commitment to human rights are among the reasons Black people are deeply mourning his passing on December 29 at age 100.

But you may be surprised to learn that Carter, the president who had Aretha Franklin sing “God Bless America” at his 1977 inauguration and issued a 1979 proclamation declaring June as Black Music Month, has another surprising connection to Black music that runs through his bloodline.

One of former President Carter’s sons, Jeff Carter, traced the family’s history for his 2017 book, “Ancestors of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter,” and discovered a kinship with legendary music producer and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy. It turns out, their family ties date back to 1854, when James Thomas Gordy, a white plantation owner in Georgia, had a child with an enslaved woman. Their child, who was named Berry Gordy, is the grandfather of the record executive responsible for launching the careers of artists like Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson and Michael Jackson. James Thomas Gordy also had children with his wife, and as a result, is the grandfather of Lillian Gordy, President Carter’s mother.

Gordy’s family did a little research of their own and confirmed their family tree is connected to the Carters – a revelation Berry Gordy saw as something to be proud of.

“In 1978, my sister Esther commissioned a research institute to verify the Gordy family tree,” Gordy told The New York Times. “You can imagine the shock and pride I felt when I discovered that President Jimmy Carter and I were actually third cousins. We had such fun discussing this in 1980 at a Democratic fund-raiser in Los Angeles. From that point on, we started calling each other ‘cuz.’”

While the news of the Carter-Gordy connection is likely news to most of us, Jeff Carter says the results of his research weren’t a surprise to his dad. “When I found out about it, I asked Dad. He said, ‘Yeah, they all knew about it.’ It wasn’t a secret,” he told The New York Times.