Our History

The story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings is one that speaks accurately and profoundly about America's original sin - the contradiction that continues to stab at the heart of our very existence.

Now we call it "paradox" because we like to think it's been mostly resolved, but when 30% of our population still believes in (or is sympathetic to) the notion of separation by class or by "race", then it has to be obvious that we haven't resolved much of anything - we've only changed the phrasing.

Remember your Ayn Rand: Contradiction exists, but it cannot prevail.

From right here in my own backyard - Monticello.org:

Like countless enslaved women, Sally Hemings bore children fathered by her owner. Female slaves had no legal right to refuse unwanted sexual advances. Sally Hemings was the child of an enslaved woman and her owner, as were five of her siblings. At least two of her sisters bore children fathered by white men. Mixed-race children were present at Monticello, in the surrounding county, across Virginia, and throughout the United States. Regardless of their white paternity, children born to enslaved women inherited their mothers’ status as slaves.

Unlike countless enslaved women, Sally Hemings was able to negotiate with her owner. In Paris, where she was free, the 16-year-old agreed to return to enslavement at Monticello in exchange for “extraordinary privileges” for herself and freedom for her unborn children. Over the next 32 years Hemings raised four children—Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston—and prepared them for their eventual emancipation. She did not negotiate for, or ever receive, legal freedom in Virginia.

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This is a painful and complicated American story. Thomas Jefferson was one of our most important founding fathers, and also a lifelong slave owner who held Sally Hemings and their children in bondage. Sally Hemings should be known today, not just as Jefferson’s concubine, but as an enslaved woman who – at the age of 16 – negotiated with one of the most powerful men in the nation to improve her own condition and achieve freedom for her children.

The Sage of Monticello & Shannon LaNier
Jefferson's 6th Great Grandson