SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A team of genealogists has found evidence that President Barack Obama could be a descendent of an African slave — but not through the lineage of his black father, the most likely route researchers had followed and exhausted.

The link, genealogists with Ancestry.com said Monday, is, in fact, through an examination of his white mother's family history.

"We were surprised and excited to make that connection," said Joseph Shumway, a member of the Utah-based Ancestry.com team.

Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother was from Kansas. It had been generally assumed that the president had no slave ancestors because researchers couldn't find it through the lineage of his father. However, no one had yet performed any exhaustive research into the lineage of his white mother, who turns out to have a mixed-raced family history.
 

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