, harriet was heir of the proud hemings line. but passing forced her to bury that lineage. it was the price she had to pay to claim the rights accorded only to whites in america. legal scholar cheryl harris has told the story of her grandmother who passed as white to obtain a job at a chicago department store during the great depression of the 1930s. harris watched the pain flit across her grandmother's face when she told the stories of those days, remembering the monumental effort of self-effacement that they required. quote, she was transgressing boundaries, crossing borders, harris now understands. no longer immediately identifiable, because her grandmother had moved from mississippi, her grandmother, quote: could thus enter the white world, albeit on a false passport. not merely passing, but trespassing. unquote. surely ecking coeing the lesson that echoing the lesson that hemings had learned earlier, harriet's grandmother -- sorry, harris' grandmother knew that, quote, accepting the risk of self-annihilation, that is,

okay, so we don't know exactly when harriet hemings left monticello. certainly by the end of may, 1822 when she turned 21 years old. we do know there was quite a stir in the little town of charlottesville. there is a great deal of talk about it. people said he freed her because she was his own daughter. from courthouse square were harriet had come from washington you can easily see jefferson atop his little mountain. there on the square under their peach brandy's the tourist people had freely discussed among themselves and with strangers relations with sally hemings and the children that looks so much like him. now they animatedly started to ask why jefferson would free harriet hemings. everyone knew as jefferson himself had once said that quote a slave woman who brings a child is more profitable than the best man on the farm. certainly jefferson had never done such a thing before or why he never did it again. story might well have ended there had it not been for her younger brother madison who told the family story to an ohio newspaper in 1873, so jus

sisters, white and black and young american which looks into the lives of martha jefferson and harriet hemings. friday, february 16 at chris myers ash and george musgrove will be here to tell us about the book chocolate city, the history of race in democracy in the nation's capital. to learn more about these and exhibits consult our monthly calendar of events at archives.gov. you can also sign up at the table outside to receive it by e-mail or another way to get more involved with the national archives is to become a member of the national archives foundation. the foundation supports the work of the agency, especially our education and outreach activities and there are applications for membership in the lobby. a little known secret i keep telling everyone, no one is ever been turned down for membership in the national archives foundation. the national archives is a center for life save archives preserves historical records of u.s. house of representatives and the u.s. senate. but even those voluminous records can't tell the full story of caucuses operations. we can't overlook the importance of