Like every abused woman and child Black Americans reside in a county that pushes us to "move on", "get over it", and "forgive and forget". Heavy emph
Like every abused woman and child Black Americans reside in a county that pushes us to “move on“, “get over it“, and “forgive and forget“. Heavy emphasis on the forget. Even still, most Black Americans have kept the light of truth burning for a very long time.
Through
- threats,
- slurs,
- violence,
- Middle Passage,
- chattel slavery,
- racial massacres of entire towns,
- rape,
- torture,
- being showcased in zoos,
- exploitations,
- lynchings,
- mass incarceration,
- medical and reproductive genocide,
- and systemic disenfranchisement.
Here we stand. Here we speak. Because turning away from the truth doesn’t make it go away.
We’re often taught about the “pursuit of happiness,” but we rarely talk about whose happiness was sacrificed to build the American dream. The story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings isn’t a “romance”—it’s a masterclass in the systemic nature of power and the complexities of survival.
The relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings remains one of the most scrutinized and debated chapters in American history. It highlights the profound contradictions of a man who penned the Declaration of Independence while maintaining a system of chattel slavery.
Here are 10 uncomfortable facts regarding their history:
The relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings remains one of the most scrutinized and debated chapters in American history. It highlights the profound contradictions of a man who penned the Declaration of Independence while maintaining a system of chattel slavery.
As a reminder, the times change, the tactics change, but because the people never insisted upon authentic change……too much remained the same. And too many more were harmed.
1. Sally Hemmings Was an Enslaved Child
When the relationship likely began, Sally Hemings was approximately 14 years old, while Thomas Jefferson was 44. Under modern legal standards, this would be classified as statutory rape, though no such legal protections existed for enslaved people in the 18th century.
2. Genetic Kinship
Sally Hemings was the half-sister of Jefferson’s late wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson. They shared the same father, John Wayles. This means Jefferson’s children with Sally were biological cousins to his children with Martha.
3. Slavery and the Inability to Consent
As an enslaved woman, Sally Hemings was Jefferson’s legal property. Under the laws of Virginia at the time, enslaved people were unable to legally consent to sexual relationships with their masters, as the power dynamic was inherently coercive.
4. The Opportunity for Freedom in Paris
In 1787, Hemings accompanied Jefferson’s daughter to Paris. Because slavery was illegal in France at the time, Hemings could have sued for her freedom. According to her son Madison Hemings, she only agreed to return to Virginia after Jefferson promised to emancipate her future children when they reached adulthood.
5. Her Children Were Also His Slaves
Jefferson fathered at least six children with Hemings. Because of the law of partus sequitur ventrem (the status of the child follows the mother), all of Jefferson’s children with Hemings were born into slavery and were legally his property.
6. The “White” Appearance of Their Children
Because Sally Hemings was herself one-quarter Black (quadroon) and Jefferson was white, their children were seven-eighths white. Contemporary accounts from Monticello noted that the children bore a striking physical resemblance to Thomas Jefferson.
7. Post-Mortem Emancipation
Jefferson did not free Sally Hemings in his will. While he did emancipate her surviving children (as he had reportedly promised), Sally remained legally enslaved until Jefferson’s death. She was eventually “given her time” (an informal freedom) by Jefferson’s daughter, Martha Randolph, rather than being legally manumitted.
8. The Public Scandal of 1802
The relationship was not a secret during Jefferson’s presidency. (Did you catch that?) In 1802, political journalist James Callender published the allegations in a Richmond newspaper after Jefferson refused to grant him a political appointment. Jefferson never publicly responded to or denied the claims.
9. Living in the Shadows of Monticello
While Jefferson lived in the main mansion, Sally Hemings lived in a small room in the South Wing, adjacent to Jefferson’s bedchamber. This proximity allowed her to serve his personal needs while remaining largely hidden from the public eye and distinguished guests.
10. The DNA Confirmation
For nearly 200 years, the Jefferson family and many historians denied the relationship. It wasn’t until a 1998 DNA study that scientific evidence confirmed a genetic link between the Jefferson male line and the descendants of Sally Hemings’ youngest son, Eston Hemings.
Now, I’ve been open about the fact that even some of my fellow co-workers were “queasy” and quiet whenever it came to connecting slavery, and Jim Crow to present day violence. They were seasoned experts. The connection is the truth. Unfortunately, as Survivors of any traumatic harm will tell you, the truth does not go away because you don’t like it.
It keeps coming back until you deal with it honestly, authentically, and courageously.
(End violence. Push for truth in journalism and nothing less)