Bonds Form At Jefferson Bash
Descendants of Thomas Jefferson's slave, Sally Hemings, joined Jefferson's offspring at his plantation on Saturday, the first such meeting in more than 170 years.
The families were at the annual gathering of the Monticello Association.
They promised to stay close, whether or not they become official blood cousins.
"I hope this is the beginning of a long relationship," said James Truscott, a white descendant of Jefferson's daughter Maria and vice president of the Jefferson family's Monticello Association.
Jefferson, who became president in 1801, was accused publicly in 1802 of being the father of several of Sally Hemings' children. Scholars have argued about the truth of the report ever since.
A DNA study published in November said Jefferson may have fathered at least one of Hemings' children.
On Sunday in a Charlottesville hotel, Truscott's nephew, Lucian Truscott, will challenge members of their association to admit the Hemings descendants and let them be buried at the family graveyard at Monticello.
But on a sunny afternoon on a majestic Blue Ridge mountaintop, the atmosphere was cordial as relatives shook hands, exchanged family stories and, in some cases, addresses for Christmas card exchanges.
"We're still going to be family, regardless of what the Monticello Association does," Hemings descendant Shannon Lanier, 17, of Cincinnati. "We've always known it, since we were kids, that we were family."
Hours later, the families planned to drink and dine together at a historic tavern down the road.
"I believe this weekend is about an opportunity for individuals who share a common heritage and common ground at Monticello to come together and to get to know one another better," Jefferson Foundation President Dan Jordan told the families.
This was the first time that white and black descendants of Jefferson and Hemings gathered together at the founding father's plantation since Jan. 15, 1827, said Jordan, whose foundation runs Monticello.
On that day, sixth months after Jefferson died deeply in debt, 130 plantation slaves and other possessions were sold at auction. Shortly thereafter Sally Hemings and five members of the Hemings family were freed.
"My kids will be reading about this in the history books," said Hemings descendant Troy Harding, 17, of Chillicothe, Ohio, as he walked along Mulberry Row where Jefferson's slaves once lived.
Lanier said the resemblances between the family members were remarkable.
"You see facial features in them, and say, hey, you look just like my aunt," Lanier said. "You can tell we're cousins."
They walked together beside Jefferson's European-style alcove bed, covered with a crimson rose bedspread. They went through the underground stone passageway to Sally Hemings' tiny bedroom.
Jordan said the Jefferson-Hemings relationship "is an American story," and Hemings descendant Shay Banks-Young, 54, of Columbus, Ohio, said it represents a chance to help heal race relations.
"It's important to begin mending bridges that broke down after generations and generations of slavery and segregation," she said.