Prometheus 6   

From the NY Times
At Reunion, Escorts for Slave's Descendants
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 4 (AP) - Descendants of Sally Hemings, a slave who may have borne Thomas Jefferson's children, attended the annual Jefferson family reunion Saturday and today but only after being told that they would need to be escorted to the event by a Jefferson family member.

"Every year, I feel so uncomfortable because you know people don't want us to be here," said Michele Cooley as she waited for a sponsor. "But I still feel victorious because my family has developed so many friendships with some of them."

The reunion was attended by about 80 of the Jefferson family's Monticello Association's 800 members and about 20 of the 2,500 people who claim Hemings as an ancestor.

Five years after DNA tests found a genetic link between the Hemings family and the Jeffersons - either Thomas Jefferson or his brother - the two groups have grown far apart.

The association has excluded the Hemingses from membership and prohibited its members from taking more than two Hemings guests each to the reunion.

Many Hemings family members say they are planning their own reunion at Monticello in July.