Thomas Jefferson's Black Descendants Attend Family Reunion At Monticello

Jet, May 31, 1999

FOR the first time, Black descendants of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson recently attended the annual Jefferson family reunion at his Monticello estate in Charlottesville, VA.

At the emotional and at times angry family meetings, White descendants of President Jefferson refused to let Black relatives of his slave Sally Hemings join the family's Monticello Association.

During the reunion, the all-White Monticello Association also blocked a vote to give the relatives of Jefferson's mistress, Sally Hemings, honorary membership.

The association appointed a committee to conduct more research into the paternity issue, which will report back to the organization next year.

Jefferson, the third U.S. president, was accused publicly during his presidency in 1802 of being the father of several of Hemings' children after his wife died.

Jefferson served for two terms as president from 1801 through 1809.

Members of Hemings' family have passed down the paternity claim through the generations. Last year, a DNA study concluded that Jefferson was likely the father of at least one of Hemings six children, Eston Hemings, the slave's youngest son (JET, Nov. 16, 1998).

Eston Hemings--who eventually took the name Eston Hemings Jefferson--was born six years after the accusation surfaced during President Jefferson's second term.

President Jefferson is buried in the Monticello Graveyard in Charlottesville, VA, which is owned by his White descendants.

Lucian Truscott IV, a White member of the Monticello Association who invited the Black descendants to the reunion, blamed racism for the group's refusal to let Jefferson's Black descendants join the association and have the right to be buried in the Monticello Graveyard.

"It is racism; they do not want Black people buried in that graveyard," Truscott, 52, told the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. "Either you believe what Mr. Jefferson wrote, or you don't, that all men are created equal."

Truscott has demanded that "my Black cousins" be allowed to join the all-White association.

White association member Theresa Shackleford said she supports the group's decision to research further Jefferson's relationship with Hemings.

"We are not racist, we are snobs," she said in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. "I am for any lineal descendant of Thomas Jefferson, be they Black, White or purple, being buried in the graveyard."

Robert Gillespie, association president, said, "We need more time to make a decision that is not hasty and ill-informed."

Truscott does not think the additional research is necessary.

"What they're doing is searching for new ways to keep the Hemings descendants out," he said as he stood on the steps of Jefferson's famed Monticello mansion. "When Black people knock at the door and you change the rules, that's racism."

He also noted, "Now that the Hemingses are at the door, they want to change what it takes to be a descendant. They want to make it harder for the Hemingses to get in."

Descendants from both families said the reunion was mostly productive, although combative at times.

Mary Jefferson, a descendant of Sally Hemings, said, "Every family has an in-group and an out-group, and a reconciliation that has to take place."

At one family meeting, a White member of the family association made a motion to ask the Black descendants to leave the room so they could discuss "family business."

Treena Woodson, a Hemings descendant from Philadelphia, said the acrimonious tone of the arguments hurt her feelings. "It was kind of painful to hear that."

Hemings descendant John Taylor King said "there were little angry knots of people" in the crowd. But he said the 30-23 vote to let the Hemings group stay at the meeting restored his faith in "the good intentions" of the Jefferson descendants.

President Jefferson's long-standing relationship with his slave Sally Hemings probably began in the late 1780s, historians believe. His wife, Martha Jefferson, died in 1782 and made him promise not to marry again.

Hemings was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, historians say.

Hemings was born to Betty Hemings a mulatto slave and John Wayles, a White plantation owner.

Jefferson married Wayles' daughter, Martha. Therefore, Jefferson's wife and his mistress-slave Sally Hemings were half sisters, historians note.

The Jefferson-Hemings relationship was filled with irony and lots of twists and turns.

Hemings' brother, John Hemings, was a skilled craftsman who made Jefferson's coffin, historians note.

Jefferson died July 4, 1826 at Monticello, his Virginia home at age 83.

While Hemings was not freed in Jefferson's will, he did have his daughter Martha give Hemings "her time," which was an unofficial freedom.

She was listed as free in 1830 and 1833 censuses, historians report.

Jefferson and Hemings had a long relationship. In fact, she was "a woman who, it now appears, held Jefferson's attention for 38 years," EBONY notes in the feature article, "Who Was Sally Hemings?" published in its June issue.

She became Jefferson's slave when she, her mother and siblings came to Monticello after becoming Jefferson's "property" as part of his inheritance from his father-in-law's estate. While at Monticello, Hemings worked "in the big house," EBONY notes.