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Article: Thomas Jefferson's Black and White descendants debate his lineage and legacy.
- Article from:
- Ebony
- Article date:
- July 1, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Johnson Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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He couldn't take it any longer. Not one more second.
As Virginia Atty. Robert H. Cooley III listened to the roomful of scholars disparage the widely reported story that the nation's third president fathered children with a slave, his whole body started to tingle. The more they talked, the more the stinging sensation washed over him in hot waves of resentment and indignation.
And that is when he did it. He didn't plan to--it just came tumbling out from deep inside of him. Standing in the hallowed Rotunda Room which Jefferson designed at the university the president founded, Cooley stood and told the room his story--a story that he and hundreds of ...