Dear FRONTLINE

After watching the program, with regard to the split in the Heming-Jefferson decendents,I thought what really is this race thing all about? Looking at these people I was tempted to say to them: "You are people; why must race be an issue if you don't want it to be?" I think it is the rest of us, the outsiders, who make it an issue.

Keith Egli
Gaithersburg, MD

Dear FRONTLINE

Sally Hemings was 3/4 white; her children were 7/8 white. They were white, not black! Why does 1 black ancestor three generations previously overcome 5 white ancestors? That's the old, discredited "one-drop rule" that isn't applied to any other people. Just as if a person had a single greatgrandparent from any country, say France, and the rest of their ancestry is 100% another country, say Ireland, would you call that person French or Irish? His slight touch of French 80 to 100 years ago cannot overcome 7/8 Irish. In that same way, Sally Hemings, who had long straight hair and was "near white" as the memoirs say, bore children who far more resembled Jefferson than their single black ancestor. Seems to me that what a person LOOKS like is the race that person IS.

Sally Bell

Dear FRONTLINE

I saw your report and quite enjoyed it. Sally's story matters because it illuminates the collective psychological defense on which racism rests. In my opinion, what is despised is not color/race but the staggeringly brutal oppression whites inflicted on enslaved Blacks. And, unable to face what that oppression revealed about themselves, whites created the lie of racism which says Blacks deserve it. And although the institution has died, the belief remains. Hence, Blacks continue to suffer and strive.

Terri H.
Phila, PA

Dear FRONTLINE

I viewed this story with great interest. With the perfection of DNA testing I believe that you will begin to see more and more revelations about the secret relations of the white slave masters with their slaves. I believe that the most racist and most of people in our society may find out that they are related to the very people the hate. Blood is the one thing that man can not change.

Herb Tillman
Hazel Crest, IL

Dear FRONTLINE

I realize that you were walking a thin line in this story, where personal emotions carry more weight than logic, but I felt that you were perpetuating the problems with your coverage of the story.

"Jefferson and Hemmings had a baby, and that baby was black" rough quote. What? No. That baby was part black, part white.

I am a mix of nationalities: Norwegian, Irish, English, Finnish, and Armenian. Why couldn't I be all of those, and African, as well? The line between race and nationality MUST be extinguished! Do I feel lacking because I have lost my, say, Armenian, heritage? Not in the least. I celebrate St. Patrick's Day because I am part Irish, but I by no means put all of my identity in that bucket.

Are the Hemmings white, or are the black? Yes.

Dan Farmer

Dear FRONTLINE

I do not understand why the white ancestors are so upset that the black ancestors searched their heritage. Blacks come in a rainbow of colors and that is because not only did Thomas Jefferson have his way with an African American women, most white men did. Their are alot of "Slaves in the Family." I encourage every african american to research their heritage and you will be surprised what you find.

Valerie Franklin

Dear FRONTLINE

Frontline's presentation of the Jefferson/Hemmings issue will serve only to perpetuate an historical fraud. Frontline's flawed reporting of history to fit and serve some modern multi-culturalism agenda is not only an embarrasment to themsleves, but a disservice to the public. Simply, as Jefferson had no verifiable male heirs, current DNA science makes it impossible to prove Jefferson the father, regardless of the additional "historical facts" Fronline presents. And I would submit, and if Frontline had a real understanding of the historical facts, that it is more likely that the Hemings children were fathered by a relative of Jefferson staying at Monticello. Your presentation treats a possiblity as a reality and distorts what is historically provable.

Graham Cox
houston, texas

Dear FRONTLINE

Born & raised in Jacksonville in '44, if anyone asked me why or how T. Jefferson could lead his seeming double life I'd answer easily. Repelled by segregation, many friends & I saw it was an evil institution. But to speak of it around a group of segregationists in public risked great bodily harm. The will to silence opposing views by any evil deed was passed from father to son from before Jefferson's birth & could not be uprooted in 1 generation. It has alredy taken many lives, white & black, North & South.... So Jefferson did the best that could be done in his time & breathed life into the concept of human rights. And we all should be more wary of judging others. And more so when we appreciate the limits of our own perspectives.

Ed Baker
Jax., Fl