Thomas Jefferson's Black Kin Invited To Attend Family Reunion

Jet, May 24, 1999

For the first time, African-American descendants of Declaration of Independence author and former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson and his slave mistress Sally Hemings will attend some functions of the Virginia family's reunion.

Invitations were sent to 34 members of the Hemings family to attend the reunion dinner, which will be held May 15 at a tavern in Monticello, Jefferson's home.

One of the newcomers will be Dr. Michelle Cooley-Quille, a Hemings' descendant and clinical psychologist at Johns Hopkins University. Her late father was denied membership in the Monticello Association and not allowed burial rights on the Jefferson family property.

Since that time, family members have become aware of the DNA test results which show that some of the children of the former president carry the blood line of Sally Hemings, ending a century-old mystery.