Whatever is to be said about American Heritage's statement, it's worth
noting that discussion and perceptions about the Hemings-TJ paternity
question remain skewed concerning the scientific dimension. Two examples: 
* Even so august an institution as the University of Virginia Press
misreports (at http://www.upress.virginia.edu/books/gordon-reed.HTM) that
the "DNA study ... confirmed the Jefferson and Hemngs [sic] liaison." 
* Similarly, BBC falsely asserted last year
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7689734.stm) that
"DNA evidence establishes beyond doubt that Jefferson fathered Sally's
children."

I hope it's not too tiresome of me to repeat that whether or not Hemings
and Jefferson were parents together, the public has a right to know that
any asserted paternity proof derives not from science, but from inferential
interpretation of historical evidence that includes the nondispositive
molecular findings that Nature published in 1998. 

It was Nature's editors, of course, who started the skewing by grossly
mishandling the DNA report as well as the summary and caption that
accompanied the Ellis-Lander explanatory essay. 

Steven T. Corneliussen



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