WOMEN IN HISTORY - SALLY HEMINGS

Thomas Jefferson’s Concubine, Sally Hemings was an enslaved woman owned by Thomas Jefferson. The Jefferson–Hemings Controversy is the question of whether Thomas Jefferson impregnated Sally Hemings and fathered any, or all of her six children. There were rumors as early as the 1790’s. But what exactly was the 40-year relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings? Were they lovers, or was it something else because they were master and slave?

DATE OF BIRTH

c. 1773

PLACE OF BIRTH

Williamsburg, Virginia

DATE OF DEATH

c. 1835

PLACE OF DEATH

Charlottesville, Virginia

THE DNA TEST

In 1998, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation of Monticello worked with a genealogical DNA test that was published in 2000. The DNA found a match between the Jefferson male line and a descendant of Hemings' youngest son, Eston. The Foundation's panel and The National Genealogical Society concluded that Thomas Jefferson fathered Eston and probably all of Sally’s children.   

While most scholars today accept Jefferson as the father of Sally’s children due to the DNA test published in 2000, some people still refuse to accept one of the founding fathers having a long-term relationship with a slave. But in 2012, the Smithsonian Institution and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation held a major exhibit at the National Museum of American History called Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: The Paradox of Liberty; that exhibit said, "the documentary and genetic evidence strongly support the conclusion that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Sally Hemings’children."

Then in 2017, a room identified as Sally’s quarters at Monticello, adjacent to Jefferson’s bedroom, was discovered in an archeological examination and restored. Finally, in 2018, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation opened an exhibit at Monticello titled Life of Sally Hemings, once again, affirming that Jefferson was indeed the father of her 6 children.

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Sally Hemings was the youngest of six children born to planter and slave trader/master John Wayles of Williamsburg and his bi-racial slave Elizabeth “Betty” Hemings.  Sally was born the year John Wayles died.  According to Wayles’ last will and testament, the Hemings family was passed on to his oldest legitimate daughter Martha, who was married to Thomas Jefferson. Years after the death of Martha Jefferson, Sally became Jefferson’s concubine, giving birth to six of his children.

EDUCATION

Sally served as a companion to Jefferson’s legitimate daughters; Martha “Patsy” and Maria “Polly”.  She was trained as a ladies maid, dressmaker, seamstress and lace maker. Tutored in French when she lived in Paris, it is uncertain whether or not she was literate.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Sally accompanied Jefferson’s daughter, Polly, to France while he served on a diplomatic mission for the newly formed United States.  According to French law, Sally was considered a free woman. She became pregnant while in France where Jefferson promised her, if she returned to Virginia, with “extraordinary privileges.” He would provide any children she might give birth to with emancipation when they reached the age of twenty-one. Her sons became talented carpenters and musicians and her daughter was a skilled weaver.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • Bear, James A., Jr.. "The Hemings Family of Monticello," Virginia Cavalcade 29. 1979.
  • Betts, Edwin Morris, ed. Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book. 1953. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953.
  • Brodie, Fawn M. Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History. New York: Naughton, 1974
  • Dabney, Virginius. The Jefferson Scandals: A Rebuttal. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1981.
  • Gordon-Reed. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy.  University Press of Virginia 1997.
  • Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.  W.W. Norton and Company 2008.
  • Kerrison, Catherine, Jefferson’s Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America. Ballantine Books, New York, 2018.
  • Lanier, Shannon and Feldman, Jane. Jefferson’s Children: The Story of One American Family. Random House, 2000.
  • Lewis, Jan Ellen and Onuf, Peter S. Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture, University Press of Virginia, 1999.
  • White, Gayle Jessup, Reclamation. Harper Collins, 2021.
  • Stanton, Lucia, “Those Who Labor for My Happiness” Slavery at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. University of Virginia Press, 2012.
  • Wiencek, Henry, Master of the Mountain Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012.
  • ​Walker, Clarence E., Mongrel Nation: The America Begotten by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. University of Virginia Press, 2009.
  • Rothman, Joshua D., Notorious in the Neighborhood: Sex and Families across the Color Line in Virginia 1787-1861. University of North Carolina Press, 2003.

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