Steven,

I see your point that the Jefferson DNA line could have come from a slave or 
other person bearing the same genes, but I have to question whether the 
outcome complies with what we know of both science and history. Go back to 
your high school biology study of yellow peas and green peas. If a pea mixed 
of yellow and green peas is paired with another pea of yellow and green, the 
likelihood of the resulting offspring being true yellow or true green drop 
off drastically. Yet, Sally did not have children even as dark as herself 
according to eyewitnesses. It would therefore be scientifically contrary to 
include a slave who was only 50% white as the mate to 50% white Sally and 
produce all children who were lighter than she was, light enough to pass as 
white and disappear from the historic record. If Sally had children by a 50% 
slave, at least 1-2 of her six-seven children should have been "throw-back" 
and darker than her.

I think the notion of a slave father to Sally's children needs to be chucked 
into the same trash bin as the "likely suspects" who were not present at 
Monticello during Sally's conception windows.

I also think that it serves Sally poorly to continue to contend that her 
children had many fathers. We have no evidence that suggests that Sally was 
an "all night truck stop" either by her late entry into motherhood, or by 
her devotion to TJ's grave after his death.

Perhaps history would be best served by making a serious study of all we 
know about Sally. I don't know if the Annette Gordon-Reed book takes this 
into consideration, but I think it important to consider Sally's humanity 
when trying to decide who fathered her children. Slavery treated Sally with 
inhumanity, but we don't have to follow suit.

Anne

Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org 

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