Georgetown County, South Carolina, has a unique new claim to fame: several generations of First Lady Michelle Robinson Obama’s family lived here, going back to some documented ancestors who worked as slaves on Friendfield Plantation, located just west of the City of Georgetown. Mrs. Obama’s earliest documented ancestors were Jim Robinson and his wife Louisa.
The plantation house at Friendfield was destroyed by fire, but replaced in the 1930s with a similar structure that retains the original foundation and chimneys. Remarkably, five of the original slave cabins remain on the property, offering a glimpse of the conditions Jim Robinson and his family lived in up through the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era. Like many former slaves, Jim and Louisa Robinson remained on the farm they were formerly bound to and it is presumed Robinson is buried in an unmarked grave on the property. As expected, records are scarce, but the continued existence of Friendfield Plantation and a handful of its former slave cabins stands as a tangible reminder of an American family’s improbable journey through slavery, segregation, the civil-rights movement and a historic presidential election.
Jim and Louisa Robinson had several children born while they were living in the former slave village at Friendfield Plantation, including a son named Fraser Robinson, born in 1884, the great grandfather of Michelle Obama.
The First Lady’s grandfather, Fraser Robinson, Jr. was born in 1912 and graduated high school here. By the mid 1930s he left for Chicago seeking employment, married and raised a family there. However, he and his wife Rosa retired to Georgetown, spending the last years of their lives in Fraser’s hometown. Michelle and Barak Obama visited the family church in Georgetown during the presidential campaign, where they were greeted by throngs of enthusiastic supporters, including many of Mrs. Obama’s extended family.
