The Legacy Stops Here | Ellen Gaddy, granddaughter of Jesse Helms

For 30 years in United State politics, North Carolina US Senator Jesse Helms set the bar for this country’s social conservatism. Helms was unabashed in his opposition to civil rights, gay rights, disability rights, environmentalism, feminism, affirmative action and access to abortion. Today, one of his granddaughters lives in Asheville and is doing what she can to rebuke his legacy.

Ellen Gaddy is using the Helms lineage as a pulpit to fight for causes her grandfather opposed—chiefly women’s bodily autonomy and their access to abortion. Matt Peiken talks with her about growing up under the spectre of Jesse Helms’ rhetoric and the price she has paid within her family for speaking against the late senator’s views.