Sally Hemings

Sally Hemings
Name	Sally Hemings
Birth date	c. 1773
Birth place	Colony of Virginia, British America
Death date	1835 (aged 61–62)
Death place	Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
Known for	Enslaved woman of the Hemings family at Monticello
Partner	Thomas Jefferson (alleged)
Children	6, including Madison Hemings and Eston Hemings
Relatives	Elizabeth Hemings (mother), Martha Jefferson (half-sister)

Sally Hemings was an enslaved woman of mixed race at Monticello, the plantation of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. She is widely believed to have had a long-term relationship with Jefferson, bearing him several children, a claim supported by modern DNA analysis and the oral histories of her descendants. Her life story is central to understanding the complexities of slavery, race, and power in early America.

Early life and family

She was born into slavery around 1773 in Virginia, the daughter of the enslaved Elizabeth Hemings and, according to family tradition and historical consensus, her enslaver John Wayles, making her the half-sister of Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. After Wayles's death, she, her mother, and her siblings became the property of Thomas Jefferson as part of his inheritance through his wife. She grew up within the intricate plantation hierarchy of Monticello, where her familial connection to Martha Jefferson created a complex and privileged yet unfree status. As a teenager, she accompanied Jefferson's youngest daughter Maria Jefferson to Paris in 1787, where Jefferson served as the United States Minister to France.

Relationship with Thomas Jefferson

While in Paris, where the institution of slavery was not formally recognized, she could have claimed her freedom under French law. However, she negotiated with Jefferson for the future freedom of her unborn children before agreeing to return to Virginia in 1789. This oral agreement, recounted by her son Madison Hemings, began a relationship that lasted nearly four decades. She lived at Monticello, where she served as a domestic servant and chambermaid, but was not listed among field laborers. The relationship, while long denied by many historians and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation for much of the 20th century, was first publicized in 1802 by the *Richmond Recorder* journalist James T. Callender.

Children of Sally Hemings

Historical records and family oral history indicate she had six children, four of whom survived to adulthood: Harriet (born 1795), Beverly (born 1798), an unnamed daughter (born 1799), Harriet (born 1801), Madison Hemings (born 1805), and Eston Hemings (born 1808). Jefferson freed all four surviving children: Beverly and Harriet were allowed to leave Monticello in the early 1820s and passed into white society, while Madison Hemings and Eston Hemings were formally freed in his 1826 will. The two sons later discussed their parentage publicly, with Madison Hemings providing a detailed account to the *Pike County Republican* in 1873.

Life after Jefferson's death

Following the death of Thomas Jefferson in 1826, she was not freed by his will, but was unofficially "given her time" by Jefferson's daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph and allowed to live freely in Charlottesville. The 1830 United States Census lists her as a free white person, a designation reflecting her appearance and social standing. She lived with her sons Madison Hemings and Eston Hemings until her death in 1835. Her grave's location is unknown, though a memorial to her and her brother John Hemings exists at Monticello.

Historical significance and legacy

Her story fundamentally altered the historical understanding of Thomas Jefferson, challenging idealized narratives of the Founding Fathers and forcing a national reckoning with the realities of slavery and sexual exploitation. She represents the countless enslaved women whose lives and agency were obscured by history. Her descendants, including noted civil rights activist John Wayles "Watt" Jefferson, have worked to preserve her legacy. In contemporary culture, her life has been explored in works like the Annette Gordon-Reed book *The Hemingses of Monticello* and the Joseph Ellis biography *American Sphinx*.

Modern research and DNA evidence

For nearly two centuries, the relationship was debated, often dismissed by prominent institutions like the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. A pivotal 1998 study published in the journal *Nature* compared Y-chromosome DNA from male-line descendants of Field Jefferson, the president's uncle, with descendants of Eston Hemings. The results found a match, providing strong scientific evidence that a Jefferson male fathered Eston, with Thomas Jefferson being the most probable candidate. This finding, combined with the meticulous historical research of scholars like Annette Gordon-Reed, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her work, has led the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and most historians to accept the relationship as fact.

Category:1770s births Category:1835 deaths Category:People from Albemarle County, Virginia Category:Hemings family Category:Monticello