( CNN ) -- Essie Mae Washington-Williams , the biracial woman who revealed nine years ago she was the illegitimate daughter of former segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond , died Monday , her family 's spokesman said . She was 87 . Washington-Williams kept her father 's identity secret until six months after Thurmond , a segregationist leader for decades , died in June 2003 at age 100 . `` I never wanted to do anything to harm him or cause detriment to his life or to the lives of those around him , '' Washington-Williams said at a 2003 news conference , six months after her father died at the age of 100 . She died at her Columbia , South Carolina , home of natural causes Monday morning , according to Frank Wheaton . Thurmond ran for president in 1948 on the ticket of the States ' Rights Democratic Party , or Dixiecrats , a breakaway faction of Southern Democrats who believed strongly in racial segregation and were opposed to their party 's civil rights program . Thurmond joined the Republican Party in the 1960s and ultimately turned away from his segregationist past . Martin : GOP needs to listen to blacks . `` My father did a lot of things to help other people , even though his public stance appeared opposite , '' Washington-Williams said . `` I was sensitive about his well-being and career and his family here in South Carolina . '' Washington-Williams said she went public only at the urging of her children , but rumors had persisted for years . An attorney for the former senator 's family confirmed in 2003 that Thurmond fathered a child with a teenage black housekeeper in 1925 . Her mother , Carrie Butler , worked as a maid at the Thurmond family home in Edgefield , South Carolina . At the time of Washington-Williams ' birth , Butler was 16 and Thurmond was 22 , unmarried and living in his parents ' home . Opinion : MLK would hardly recognize America today . Butler 's sister took the girl to live in Pennsylvania when she was 6 months old . She did not meet Thurmond until 1941 , when she was 16 . Her mother , who was ill and died a short time later , had insisted on introducing her to Thurmond , who acknowledged her as his daughter , the Washngton Post reported in 2003 . Throughout the years , the two kept up a relationship despite the divide over race , Washington-Williams said . `` When my father became a United States senator [ in 1954 ] , his communication and support continued '' she said , and `` his financial support was constant during various phases of my life . I knew him beyond his public image . '' She said she tried -- to no avail -- to dissuade him of segregationist positions , which produced `` mixed emotions '' for her . Voting rights remain vulnerable . `` I never did like the idea of his being a segregationist , but that was his life , and there was n't anything I could do about that , '' she said . People we lost in 2013 : The lives they lived . CNN 's Chandler Friedman contributed to this report .
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 .