It seems the Rev. Al Sharpton received a bit of bizarre news recently. A search of his geneology has shown that he was a descendant of a slave that was owned by the relatives of the late Senator Strom Thurmond.

Strom Thurmond, who died in 2003 at the age 100, was once the poster boy for segregation in the United States.

Thurmond, of South Carolina, was once considered an icon of racial segregation. During his 1948 bid for president, he promised to preserve segregation and, in 1957, he filibustered for more than 24 hours against a civil rights bill.

Al Sharpton, who I’m sure most of you are familiar with was totally shocked by the revelation.

“It was probably the most shocking thing in my life,” Sharpton said at a news conference Sunday.

Sharpton, who ran for president in 2004 on a ticket of racial justice, said he met Thurmond only once in 1991 when he visited Washington, D.C., with the late soul singer James Brown, who knew Thurmond. Sharpton said the meeting was “awkward.”