The disclosure this week in the Daily News that ancestors of Senator Thurmond owned ancestors of the Reverend Al Sharpton is one of those stories that leaves us shaking our heads about what a country America is. Not that we are particular admirers of Rev. Sharpton, who, despite his intelligence, seems too often driven by an agenda of inflaming racial differences. Nor, for that matter, were we particular admirers of Thurmond, an ardent opponent of integration.

For all their faults, both managed to make their way into the public eye. That their ancestors occupied the same plantation 150 years ago, and that they may even be blood relatives, if Thurmond’s black child is any indication — is a sign of the extraordinary reversals that can happen here. Were Thurmond alive, it would be hard to figure out what was the bigger story — that Rev. Sharpton had ancestral ties to Thurmond, or that Thurmond had ties to Rev. Sharpton.

One is tempted to say the two deserve each other, but one of the things that happens with the passage of time is that the old divisions can give way to surprises. If 150 years from now Rev. Sharpton and Thurmond’s offspring rediscover their ties, and if it isn’t seen to be as newsworthy as it is now, it will be a sign of the progress toward integration that is being made in America, all too slowly to be sure, over generations.