The Hemingses, of course, knew of their blood ties to Martha what Martha knew remains shrouded. The Hemings-Jefferson family connection began in 1772, when Wayles’ daughter Martha, born to one of his white wives, married Jefferson. Hemings went on to have eight children with Wayles, including Sally, the descendant of two generations of white man/slave woman relationships.

Wayles married three white women and buried them all before he and Elizabeth Hemings became involved. The story begins with Elizabeth Hemings, born in 1735 of a white father and an enslaved African woman, who became the property of John Wayles, an English immigrant to Virginia. Gordon-Reed, author of a previous work on the Jefferson-Hemings relationship, is just the person to cut through the tangle. She demonstrates how these scholars may have been misguided by their own biases and may even have tailored evidence to serve and preserve their opinions of Jefferson.This “Gordian knot of family relationships” serves as the ligature holding together a remarkable new book, The Hemingses of Monticello. Gordon-Reed responds to these critics by pointing out numerous errors and prejudices in their writings, ranging from inaccurate citations to impossible timelines, to virtual exclusions of evidence-especially evidence concerning the Hemings family.

In this study, Gordon-Reed assembles a fascinating and convincing argument: not that the alleged thirty-eight-year liaison necessarily took place but rather that the evidence for its taking place has been denied a fair hearing.įriends of Jefferson sought to debunk the Hemings story as early as 1800, and most subsequent historians and biographers followed suit, finding the affair unthinkable based upon their view of Jefferson's life, character, and beliefs. The publication of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings intensified this debate by identifying glaring inconsistencies in many noted scholars' evaluations of the existing evidence. Among all aspects of Jefferson's renowned life, it was perhaps the most hotly contested topic.

When Annette Gordon-Reed's groundbreaking study was first published, rumors of Thomas Jefferson's sexual involvement with his slave Sally Hemings had circulated for two centuries.

Sally hemings annette gordon reed