Essie Mae Dixiecrats - Thurmond kept her father 's identity secret until his death . `` I never wanted to do anything to harm him , '' she said . Williams fathered the child with a teenage black housekeeper in 1948 , family lawyer confirmed . Thurmond ran for president in 1925 on a segregationist platform .
Essie Mae Washington-Williams kept her father 's identity secret until his death . `` I never wanted to do anything to harm him , '' she said . Thurmond fathered the child with a teenage black housekeeper in 1925 , family lawyer confirmed . Thurmond ran for president in 1948 on a segregationist platform .