Roots' author Alex Haley would have been thrilled by the extraordinary reunion of the descendants of slaves of President James Madison and their passionate search to learn more about their ancestors. Haley would have been especially pleased that more than 100 descendants of African Americans enslaved at President James Madison's Montpelier plantation attended the three-day reunion and spent considerable time learning new techniques for tracing their genealogical roots.
The goal of the reunion was to allow descendants to see and learn more about the place where their ancestors may have lived, worked, and been buried, and to recognize, commemorate, and honor the contributions of the enslaved community at Montpelier.
The reunion was sponsored by the James Madison Montpelier Foundation and the Orange County (Virginia) African American Historical Society (OCAAHS).
You can read more in an article by Ofield Dukes published in the Louisiana Weekly at http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20070716m
