Jefferson's Heirs Try to Bury the Past

Who really belongs to the American family? Have we finally achieved an inclusive, colorblind society? Or, does the legacy of slavery still exclude African Americans from full membership in American society?

Here is one recent answer to these painful and divisive questions. After three rancorous years of debate, the Monticello Association -- a group of white descendants of Thomas Jefferson and his wife, Martha -- voted overwhelmingly last week to deny the descendants of the slave Sally Hemings membership in the family organization, as well as burial rights at Monticello, Jefferson's plantation.

Whether Thomas Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves, has long been the subject of fierce debate -- among some whites, at least. The African American heirs of Hemings, however, never doubted their genealogy. Through their oral tradition, they passed down histories of family members and celebrated their heritage as the children of Jefferson.

The heirs of Jefferson's two white daughters, however, have long denied this family relationship. Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, was"not that sort of man," they argued.

But many historians suspected that Jefferson, who opposed slavery but owned slaves, was not so different than other white male slave owners who had sexual relations with their black or mulatto female slaves.

The historical evidence was strong. Newspapers discussed Jefferson's relationship with Hemings during his lifetime. They lived in the same household when her children were conceived. Visitors to Monticello commented on the strong resemblance of Hemings' children to Jefferson. Like other fathers of slave children, Jefferson also gave Hemings' children special privileges and arranged for their freedom after his death.

In 1998, the Jefferson and Hemings controversy erupted when a DNA test determined that Jefferson -- or less likely, his brother -- was, in fact, genetically related to at least one of Hemings' children. After reviewing all the historical and scientific evidence, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which operates and runs Monticello, concluded that there was a"strong likelihood that Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings had a relationship over time that led to the birth of one, and perhaps all of the children of Sally Hemings."

Lucian Truscott, a white Jefferson descendant, had long championed granting legitimacy to the heirs of Hemings. So he invited the Hemings branch of the family to a May 1999 Jefferson family reunion. A PBS Frontline documentary filmed this remarkable event, filled with emotional encounters and expressions of reconciliation. For those who watched the broadcast, it seemed as though all the children of Jefferson had finally embraced their familial heritage.

Apparently not. At a closed meeting, the Monticello association presented a new 24-page report that concluded the scientific and historical evidence was insufficient. By a vote of 74 to 6, members denied the heirs of Hemings membership to the family."Our intent was to kill this forever so it doesn't keep coming up again," said John Works Jr., a former president of the Monticello Association."This should do it."

The Monticello Association never sent out a mail ballot to its 700 members. But Nathaniel Abeles, the group's current president, told The Chronicle that sentiment among absentees was"even stronger against inclusion" than those who attended the meeting in Charlottesville, Va.

For the heirs of Hemings, it was a bitter defeat."Nothing's changed in 200 years, has it?" said Julia Westerinin, 67, Hemings' great-great-great-granddaughter."It does point out the fact that the civil rights struggle is not over." Shay Banks-Young, her cousin and another Hemings' descendant, added,

"This doesn't remove us from Thomas Jefferson's family. They can't do anything about that. It's a done deal."

"This isn't a racial issue," Nathaniel Abeles told reporters. But Lucian Truscott, the white heir who had welcomed a unified family, disagreed."What this whole Monticello thing is boiling down to is not so much whether or not Jefferson and Hemings had sex, but the legacy that slavery has left us. Part of that legacy is this incredible closeness of family that exists that people don't acknowledge."

This sad story, perhaps a larger metaphor for the racial discomfort of American society, reveals painful truths about our past -- such as the sexual exploitation of female slaves.

This is the secret at the heart of American society. The story of the still separate and unequal Jeffersons reminds us that the legacy of slavery, including miscegenation, ripples through time, affecting the larger American family, which still has not opened its arms to those who were among its earliest members.

SOURCES

See Annette Gordon-Reed's book, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy or""Jefferson's Blood''at www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/

This article was first published by the San Francisco Chronicle and is reprinted with permission.