Sally Hemings (2000) | Documentary

00:44:41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyZaVH7dbqc

Résumé

TLDRThis documentary recounts the life of Sally Hemmings, a slave woman associated with Thomas Jefferson. It details her origins, her arrival at Monticello as part of Jefferson's estate, and the complicated dynamics between master and slave. Hemmings navigated her identity and motherhood under the harsh realities of slavery while seeking freedom for her children. The film discusses her relationship with Jefferson, which has raised questions about love versus power and consent. It explores how Sally's experiences in Paris shaped her life and eventually led to some of her children gaining freedom, emphasizing her strength, resilience, and legacy. DNA evidence has since confirmed her children's connections to Jefferson, reshaping historical narratives around both Hemmings and Jefferson.

A retenir

  • 👩‍🌾 Sally Hemmings was a strong, resilient woman amid the harsh realities of slavery.
  • ⚖️ The documentary explores the complex relationship between Hemmings and Jefferson.
  • 📜 DNA evidence supports the claim of Jefferson fathering Hemmings' children.
  • 🗝️ Hemmings secured promises of freedom for her children, highlighting her agency.
  • 🇺🇸 Hemmings' story is symbolic of broader themes in American history regarding power and love.
  • 🌍 Living in France exposed Hemmings to a life without slavery, shaping her self-identity.
  • 📖 There is a significant focus on the oral history of Hemmings and her descendants.
  • ✍️ The film challenges assumptions about the dynamics of consent in master-slave relationships.
  • ❤️ Sally Hemmings' legacy includes a lineage that connects to Jefferson.
  • 📊 Understanding Hemmings' story is crucial to recognizing the complexities of race and heritage.

Chronologie

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Sally Hemmings, a slave woman, became linked to Thomas Jefferson, one of America's founding fathers, when she arrived at Monticello as part of his inheritance. Her life raises questions about the dynamics of slave-master relationships rather than romantic notions, showcasing her strength as she navigated motherhood and slavery.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The narrative of Sally Hemmings reflects the contradictions in American history, particularly regarding race and power. Her relationship with Jefferson, based on speculation, is often compared to prominent scandals, suggesting a complex interplay of societal norms and private lives in the 18th century.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    In 1998, DNA evidence proposed a plausible sexual relationship between Jefferson and Hemmings, revealing he likely fathered her children. This revelation, shocking to many, was not surprising to Hemmings' descendants, who knew their lineage for centuries despite scant historical evidence about her life.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Sally Hemmings' life story began with her African grandmother and her forced entry into slavery, paralleling the appalling systemic injustices of the time. Her ancestry included both African and European roots, yet society classified her as black and a slave without consideration of her mixed heritage.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Sally moved to the Jefferson estate at a young age. Despite likely special treatment due to her light skin and family ties, she faced the harsh realities of slavery, beginning work at a young age and being raised among her family, which provided some semblance of normalcy and support.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Jefferson's relationship with Martha and the events surrounding her death deeply impacted Sally's life at Monticello. After Martha's passing, Sally assumed responsibilities within the household and continued to navigate her precarious social position amid Jefferson's political endeavors.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    During Jefferson's time in Paris, Sally experienced a brief reprieve from slavery and gained exposure to new cultures and education. This period marked a significant transformation in her life, raising questions about freedom, societal roles, and her standing within the Jefferson household.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:44:41

    The complexity of Sally Hemmings’ relationship with Jefferson brings forth broader themes of race, power, and the push for equality in the context of American history. The eventual acknowledgment of her descendants as part of Jefferson's legacy highlights ongoing discussions about race, heritage, and identity in the U.S.

Afficher plus

Carte mentale

Vidéo Q&R

  • Who was Sally Hemmings?

    Sally Hemmings was an African-American slave owned by Thomas Jefferson, linked to him through a controversial relationship.

  • What evidence supports the relationship between Jefferson and Hemmings?

    DNA studies indicate a likely biological connection between Jefferson and Hemmings' descendants.

  • What was Hemmings' life like at Monticello?

    Sally lived as an enslaved woman, working alongside her relatives and serving Jefferson's family while navigating the complexities of her status.

  • Did Sally Hemmings have children?

    Yes, Sally Hemmings had six children, several believed to be fathered by Thomas Jefferson.

  • How did Hemmings' children gain their freedom?

    Jefferson promised Hemmings that her children would be freed at age 21, which he later honored.

  • What legacy did Sally Hemmings leave behind?

    Sally Hemmings left a legacy of freedom for her children, which was significant in the context of slavery.

  • What happened to Sally Hemmings after Jefferson's death?

    After Jefferson's death, Sally Hemmings was granted freedom by his daughter and lived in Charlottesville until her death.

  • How has history treated Sally Hemmings' story?

    Sally Hemmings' story was often overlooked due to racism and a lack of historical documentation until DNA evidence brought renewed attention.

  • What is the significance of Hemmings' story today?

    Her story symbolizes the complexities of American history regarding freedom, love, and slavery.

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  • 00:00:00
    Sally Hennings a slave woman whose name
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    will be forever linked to one of
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    America's founding fathers
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    when three-year-old Sally Hemmings
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    arrived at Monticello as part of an
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    inheritance for Thomas Jefferson she
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    could not have guessed the adventure her
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    life would become but when We examined
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    Sally's life and the difficult choices
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    she made we are forced to focus Less on
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    the possibility of a romantic
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    relationship between man and woman and
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    more on the disturbing dynamic between
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    slave and master
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    she was a mother she was a slave woman
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    she was an African-American woman who
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    did the best she could for her children
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    she would have to find a way to live as
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    best she could which tells me that she
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    had to be a very strong woman
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    the story of Tom and Sally is the
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    longest-running miniseries or soap opera
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    in American history
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    how she felt about him
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    who knows being owned is not exactly a
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    desirable State of Affairs
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    they were together longer than some
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    marriages exist yes I understand she was
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    a slave but I also know that slaves did
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    fall in love at some time with their
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    masters
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    Jefferson is so symbolic of the
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    contradictions in American history Sally
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    Hemmings has been a symbol as well of
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    the denial of African-American oral
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    traditions
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    the papers were covering it as if she
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    were Monica Lewinsky was it a scandal of
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    course it was do we look at it with new
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    eyes I think we do
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    thank you
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    in November 1998 a tantalizing mystery
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    about the private life of Thomas
  • 00:02:00
    Jefferson yielded to science shedding
  • 00:02:03
    light on one of America's most complex
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    and controversial presidents and his
  • 00:02:08
    slave named Sally Hemmings
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    through a DNA study Scholars found that
  • 00:02:14
    in all likelihood the author of the
  • 00:02:16
    Declaration of Independence had a sexual
  • 00:02:19
    relationship with Hemmings and fathered
  • 00:02:22
    her children
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    there was the weight of all of that
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    evidence that led us to believe that
  • 00:02:28
    there was likely a relationship between
  • 00:02:31
    Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings
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    this was Front Page News around the
  • 00:02:36
    country but to the descendants of Sally
  • 00:02:39
    Hemmings who had passed it down for more
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    than two centuries it was considered
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    common knowledge
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    the details of heming's Life are sketchy
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    even contradictory and the facts hard to
  • 00:02:51
    pin down
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    there are no photographs or drawings of
  • 00:02:55
    her but from what is known Sally lived a
  • 00:02:59
    remarkable courageous Life as a slave
  • 00:03:01
    presidential mistress and mother
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    the first Hemmings to put Sally's story
  • 00:03:08
    Into the public record was her son
  • 00:03:11
    Madison
  • 00:03:12
    in 1873 the 68-year-old Madison dictated
  • 00:03:16
    his Memoirs to an Ohio newspaper
  • 00:03:19
    reporter
  • 00:03:20
    the pi County Republican
  • 00:03:23
    decided they were going to do a series
  • 00:03:25
    of stories that had to do with ex-slaves
  • 00:03:27
    Madison was one of the most well-known
  • 00:03:30
    ex-slaves that lived in the community as
  • 00:03:32
    a matter of fact all of his neighbors
  • 00:03:35
    knew the story of what his purported
  • 00:03:38
    lineage was
  • 00:03:40
    for the first time Sally heming's life
  • 00:03:42
    was presented to the world
  • 00:03:49
    story of the woman who would become
  • 00:03:51
    renowned as Dusky Sally began with her
  • 00:03:54
    grandmother in West Africa in the
  • 00:03:57
    mid-1700s the young woman known as
  • 00:04:00
    bayabaya was rounded up with others and
  • 00:04:03
    forced onto a slave ship
  • 00:04:06
    [Music]
  • 00:04:09
    became a slave in America it was
  • 00:04:12
    customary during that time that if you
  • 00:04:15
    have a friend to visit you not only do
  • 00:04:16
    you feed him his food and his trinket
  • 00:04:18
    they also would offer you a bad partner
  • 00:04:20
    this young girl the African girl was
  • 00:04:22
    given to John Hemmings
  • 00:04:25
    sex with Captain Hemmings produced a
  • 00:04:28
    daughter Betty the girl grew up as a
  • 00:04:31
    slave on the tobacco Plantation of a man
  • 00:04:33
    named John Wales in Virginia Betty would
  • 00:04:37
    have a fate similar to her mother's
  • 00:04:39
    John Wales had been married several
  • 00:04:42
    times and his wives had died he took her
  • 00:04:45
    as his concubine
  • 00:04:46
    and she bore six children for him
  • 00:04:50
    one of their children Sally was born in
  • 00:04:53
    1773.
  • 00:04:56
    even though her father and three of her
  • 00:04:58
    grandparents were white making her
  • 00:05:01
    three-quarters White
  • 00:05:03
    Sally Hemmings was still considered
  • 00:05:05
    black and a Slave
  • 00:05:08
    if you had a child and you were an
  • 00:05:10
    enslaved woman then your children also
  • 00:05:13
    became slaves
  • 00:05:15
    and with that parents didn't have say
  • 00:05:19
    over what would happen to their children
  • 00:05:21
    when they grew up they would have to
  • 00:05:24
    answer to someone else for the major
  • 00:05:26
    events in their lives
  • 00:05:29
    Baby Sally had a white half-sister named
  • 00:05:32
    Martha from her master's First Merit the
  • 00:05:36
    year before Sally was born Martha had
  • 00:05:38
    married a wealthy 29 year old
  • 00:05:40
    revolutionary named Thomas Jefferson
  • 00:05:43
    by all accounts Thomas and Martha were
  • 00:05:46
    deeply in love
  • 00:05:49
    the year after Martha's marriage her
  • 00:05:52
    father died she inherited Betty Hemmings
  • 00:05:54
    and her children Sally was just two
  • 00:05:57
    years old when she moved to The
  • 00:05:59
    Jeffersons Mountaintop estate Monticello
  • 00:06:03
    at Monticello Thomas Jefferson listed
  • 00:06:06
    Betty and all her children in his farm
  • 00:06:09
    records with their last name an early
  • 00:06:12
    indication that Sally would lead a life
  • 00:06:14
    quite different from that of most slaves
  • 00:06:17
    this is rare both at Monticello and on
  • 00:06:21
    other plantations a common method of
  • 00:06:24
    referring to enslaved people is by
  • 00:06:27
    referring to them by their first names
  • 00:06:29
    only I think it's clear that the
  • 00:06:31
    Hemmings family was different from other
  • 00:06:33
    enslaved families of Monticello
  • 00:06:36
    the sort of upfront and Center slaves at
  • 00:06:39
    cello were almost all Hemmings almost
  • 00:06:42
    all of them were very light-skinned some
  • 00:06:44
    of them looked almost completely white
  • 00:06:46
    it was a way in which Jefferson in some
  • 00:06:49
    sense concealed from others and perhaps
  • 00:06:51
    even concealed from himself the reality
  • 00:06:55
    of slavery by giving it a face that
  • 00:06:58
    looked more acceptable
  • 00:07:02
    special treatment however did not mean a
  • 00:07:05
    life of leisure young Sally like all
  • 00:07:08
    slave girls went to work as soon as she
  • 00:07:10
    was old enough
  • 00:07:12
    young girls on Southern plantations
  • 00:07:14
    generally started helping out with child
  • 00:07:17
    care from the age of about six if they
  • 00:07:20
    were the children of house servants that
  • 00:07:22
    Sally Hemmings was
  • 00:07:23
    they might care for the young children
  • 00:07:27
    of the plantation owner and this was
  • 00:07:32
    probably the case for Sally Hemmings
  • 00:07:35
    as she Grew Older her responsibilities
  • 00:07:38
    would have increased and she would have
  • 00:07:40
    gone into weaving and spinning learning
  • 00:07:44
    how to make cloth and from there she
  • 00:07:47
    would have been trained specifically to
  • 00:07:50
    do a certain type of work
  • 00:07:52
    Sally did have one advantage that many
  • 00:07:55
    slaves did not she was raised by her
  • 00:07:58
    mother and grew up with her siblings
  • 00:08:02
    one of the things that I think
  • 00:08:03
    challenged many people was the whole
  • 00:08:06
    idea that their children would grow up
  • 00:08:08
    without knowing
  • 00:08:10
    who they were I think that the important
  • 00:08:12
    thing for someone like Sally Hemmings
  • 00:08:15
    would have been that she would have been
  • 00:08:17
    part of a family
  • 00:08:19
    Sally was able to work side by side with
  • 00:08:22
    all her brothers and sisters and perhaps
  • 00:08:25
    her greatest influence her mother Betty
  • 00:08:30
    these years were busy ones for the
  • 00:08:32
    master of the plantation as well long
  • 00:08:35
    before he became president Thomas
  • 00:08:37
    Jefferson was shaping the American
  • 00:08:39
    Revolution
  • 00:08:41
    in June 1776 the 33 year old wrote the
  • 00:08:45
    Declaration of Independence in
  • 00:08:47
    Philadelphia his first draft included a
  • 00:08:50
    passage blaming England's King George
  • 00:08:52
    III for the slave trade and calling for
  • 00:08:56
    its abolition
  • 00:08:57
    Jefferson recognized that slavery was
  • 00:09:00
    incompatible with the values of the
  • 00:09:01
    Declaration of Independence and
  • 00:09:04
    incompatible with the values of the
  • 00:09:06
    American Revolution but he was trapped
  • 00:09:08
    within that condition he himself a slave
  • 00:09:11
    owner
  • 00:09:12
    Thomas Jefferson was no different than
  • 00:09:14
    the other man of his time yes he wrote
  • 00:09:16
    the Declaration of Independence he said
  • 00:09:19
    we hold these truths to be self-evident
  • 00:09:21
    that all men are created equal they have
  • 00:09:24
    the right to property my people were
  • 00:09:26
    property
  • 00:09:29
    Continental Congress rejected
  • 00:09:31
    Jefferson's anti-slave passage as too
  • 00:09:34
    controversial
  • 00:09:36
    Jefferson returned to Monticello after
  • 00:09:39
    the Congress disbanded and served as
  • 00:09:41
    governor of Virginia for the duration of
  • 00:09:43
    the Revolutionary War
  • 00:09:46
    foreign
  • 00:09:48
    [Music]
  • 00:09:50
    Hemmings and Jefferson's other slaves
  • 00:09:53
    maintained a steady Rhythm of Life while
  • 00:09:56
    the fight for independence was raging
  • 00:09:58
    around them
  • 00:10:00
    [Music]
  • 00:10:04
    not all was well at the plantation
  • 00:10:06
    however in the main house Martha
  • 00:10:09
    Jefferson had given birth to five
  • 00:10:11
    children during the first nine years of
  • 00:10:14
    her marriage only two daughters survived
  • 00:10:18
    strain of the pregnancies was
  • 00:10:20
    devastating to Martha's health
  • 00:10:22
    weak and exhausted she gave birth to her
  • 00:10:26
    sixth child Lucy in 1782
  • 00:10:29
    then Martha's body gave out
  • 00:10:33
    tradition holds that on her deathbed
  • 00:10:36
    Martha gave this Bell to nine-year-old
  • 00:10:38
    Sally
  • 00:10:43
    Thomas was at Martha's side when his
  • 00:10:46
    wife died at the age of 37.
  • 00:10:49
    there's a story that was current in the
  • 00:10:52
    enslaved community at Monticello about a
  • 00:10:56
    deathbed promise that Thomas Jefferson
  • 00:10:58
    made to his wife Martha as she Lay Dying
  • 00:11:01
    not to marry again
  • 00:11:04
    Jefferson was inconsolable for weeks but
  • 00:11:08
    life at Monticello carried on
  • 00:11:11
    young Sally continued to serve
  • 00:11:13
    Jefferson's daughters Patsy Holly and
  • 00:11:16
    the newborn Lucy
  • 00:11:21
    [Music]
  • 00:11:23
    the Revolutionary War ended in Triumph
  • 00:11:26
    the following year but Thomas Jefferson
  • 00:11:28
    was still depressed over his wife's
  • 00:11:30
    death so in 1784 he accepted a post
  • 00:11:34
    overseas
  • 00:11:36
    he was overwhelmed with grief and in
  • 00:11:39
    part he needed to flee the memories of
  • 00:11:41
    Martha and Monticello and so he accepted
  • 00:11:43
    a post as American minister in Paris
  • 00:11:47
    Jefferson took with him his oldest
  • 00:11:49
    daughter Patsy and one slave Sally's
  • 00:11:53
    older brother James Hemmings
  • 00:11:57
    young Sally who by some accounts bore a
  • 00:12:00
    strong resemblance to her half-sister
  • 00:12:02
    Martha stayed behind
  • 00:12:05
    after a few years she would join her
  • 00:12:08
    brother and her master in Paris and her
  • 00:12:11
    life would be transformed
  • 00:12:15
    foreign
  • 00:12:16
    [Music]
  • 00:12:19
    in the mid-1780s the teenage Sally
  • 00:12:22
    Hemmings had no way of knowing that she
  • 00:12:24
    was about to be launched on a journey
  • 00:12:26
    unlike that of any American slave
  • 00:12:30
    her master Thomas Jefferson still in
  • 00:12:33
    mourning for his wife Martha had taken a
  • 00:12:36
    post in France as the American
  • 00:12:38
    ambassador his oldest daughter Patsy was
  • 00:12:41
    living with him along with Sally's older
  • 00:12:44
    brother James
  • 00:12:46
    Sally was sent to live with Jefferson's
  • 00:12:49
    younger daughters Polly and Lucy at
  • 00:12:52
    their aunt and uncle's Virginia
  • 00:12:53
    Plantation
  • 00:12:55
    Sally's primary Duty there was to wait
  • 00:12:57
    on the two girls
  • 00:12:59
    [Music]
  • 00:13:02
    while Jefferson was overseas he received
  • 00:13:05
    heartbreaking news both his daughters
  • 00:13:08
    had contracted whooping cough and
  • 00:13:10
    two-year-old Lucy had died
  • 00:13:12
    Jefferson became more and more anxious
  • 00:13:15
    to have Polly present with him in Paris
  • 00:13:20
    and wrote then said please make
  • 00:13:22
    arrangements to send Polly to me in
  • 00:13:25
    France
  • 00:13:25
    foreign by the time Polly's trip was
  • 00:13:28
    finally arranged the middle-aged slave
  • 00:13:31
    who was supposed to accompany her had
  • 00:13:33
    fallen ill so fourteen-year-old Sally
  • 00:13:35
    Hemmings was sent in her place
  • 00:13:39
    we assume that Sally Hemmings was chosen
  • 00:13:41
    to be Polly's companion because she had
  • 00:13:44
    been her companion through childhood and
  • 00:13:47
    was considered her maid
  • 00:13:50
    the two girls crossed the Atlantic and
  • 00:13:53
    arrived in London where they were met by
  • 00:13:55
    the American ambassador John Adams and
  • 00:13:57
    his wife Abigail
  • 00:14:00
    Adams was somewhat aghast because Sally
  • 00:14:03
    at this point would have been between 14
  • 00:14:05
    and 15.
  • 00:14:07
    Abigail Adams to her horror saw this
  • 00:14:10
    young girl who she thought was wholly
  • 00:14:11
    unequipped to handle Paulie but
  • 00:14:14
    nevertheless she had crossed the ocean
  • 00:14:15
    with her and then made it there safely
  • 00:14:18
    the original plan was to send Paulie's
  • 00:14:20
    companion back to Virginia right away
  • 00:14:22
    but with Jefferson's approval the plan
  • 00:14:25
    changed Sally would stay in London with
  • 00:14:28
    Polly and move on with her to Paris
  • 00:14:32
    Abigail Adams did buy both of them
  • 00:14:35
    clothes she outfitted Sally and
  • 00:14:37
    outfitted Polly so that they would be
  • 00:14:39
    presentable in France
  • 00:14:43
    I've always wondered why Sally Hemmings
  • 00:14:46
    continued on you know across the ocean
  • 00:14:50
    to London and then to France it does
  • 00:14:52
    seem that Sally Hemmings was the one
  • 00:14:54
    constant in Polly Jefferson's life at
  • 00:14:57
    this time
  • 00:14:57
    [Music]
  • 00:14:59
    smallpox was a problem in Europe so the
  • 00:15:02
    first thing Jefferson did upon Sally's
  • 00:15:04
    arrival in France was to have her
  • 00:15:07
    inoculated that probably was a somewhat
  • 00:15:10
    frightening procedure and you had to be
  • 00:15:12
    quarantined for several weeks so she was
  • 00:15:16
    probably taken somewhere outside of
  • 00:15:18
    Paris because that was the law at that
  • 00:15:20
    time
  • 00:15:22
    Sally Hemmings was now ready to embark
  • 00:15:24
    on an adventure that most Virginia girls
  • 00:15:27
    much less slaves could only dream about
  • 00:15:30
    living in Paris
  • 00:15:32
    [Music]
  • 00:15:38
    Paris in 1787 was a vibrant dynamic city
  • 00:15:43
    Exquisite architecture Rose high above
  • 00:15:46
    the streets in direct contrast to the
  • 00:15:48
    Revolutionary mood of the crowds below
  • 00:15:51
    the 14 year old slave was deluged with
  • 00:15:54
    new experiences and fresh ideas
  • 00:15:57
    the whole experience must have been
  • 00:15:59
    incredibly exciting for a young girl and
  • 00:16:02
    a young girl and certainly a person who
  • 00:16:04
    had grown up on the Plantation in
  • 00:16:07
    Virginia
  • 00:16:08
    while she was there she was given it is
  • 00:16:10
    believed by some historians some
  • 00:16:12
    tutoring in the French language she also
  • 00:16:15
    was given uh training as a ladies made
  • 00:16:18
    which meant Not only was she taught to
  • 00:16:21
    do the hair of the ladies in the fashion
  • 00:16:24
    of the day but she was also taught to
  • 00:16:27
    launder fine Linens and clothing and
  • 00:16:31
    then she was taught as a dressmaker in
  • 00:16:33
    the highest order
  • 00:16:35
    more importantly slavery did not exist
  • 00:16:38
    in France
  • 00:16:39
    while she was in Paris of course she was
  • 00:16:42
    free so Sally was a slave that tasted
  • 00:16:45
    freedom I think Sally was able to see
  • 00:16:48
    herself in a way that gave her a level
  • 00:16:50
    of self-esteem that she probably never
  • 00:16:53
    would have had had she remained at
  • 00:16:55
    Monticello
  • 00:16:56
    Sally's older brother James had come to
  • 00:16:59
    Paris with Jefferson three years before
  • 00:17:01
    to be trained in the art of French
  • 00:17:04
    cooking
  • 00:17:05
    James no doubt taught Sally how to
  • 00:17:08
    interact with the French servants in
  • 00:17:09
    Jefferson's household and helped her
  • 00:17:11
    learn French customs and culture
  • 00:17:14
    James was also being paid for his
  • 00:17:17
    Services soon so was Sally as long as
  • 00:17:20
    she stayed in France she was a free
  • 00:17:22
    person and so she was paid as a servant
  • 00:17:24
    would be however not as much but at
  • 00:17:27
    least she experienced being paid for
  • 00:17:29
    what you do
  • 00:17:31
    Sally also had the unique experience of
  • 00:17:34
    living on her own when Jefferson sent
  • 00:17:36
    her to a boarding house for more than a
  • 00:17:38
    month
  • 00:17:39
    the owner of the house won Madame Dupre
  • 00:17:42
    was the Jefferson family laundress
  • 00:17:46
    there's no reason to suppose that Madame
  • 00:17:48
    Duprey would be acting as a slave master
  • 00:17:51
    in in that role all these types of
  • 00:17:53
    experiences go into making him and it's
  • 00:17:55
    sort of not the equivalent of a grand
  • 00:17:57
    tour but it would be something like that
  • 00:18:00
    to find herself in the middle of Paris
  • 00:18:02
    in the middle of this very very opulent
  • 00:18:05
    time and having a chance to live on her
  • 00:18:07
    own
  • 00:18:09
    Jefferson's daughters Patsy and Polly
  • 00:18:11
    who attended a convent school also
  • 00:18:14
    introduced Sally to other sides of
  • 00:18:16
    Parisian life
  • 00:18:18
    we know very little directly about Sally
  • 00:18:21
    heming's duties in Paris but we know
  • 00:18:24
    that by the end of that time she was
  • 00:18:26
    acting as ladies made to both Polly and
  • 00:18:28
    Patsy Jefferson
  • 00:18:30
    some of Paulie and Patsy's classmates at
  • 00:18:33
    the convent actually had their Maids
  • 00:18:35
    living there and it's not impossible
  • 00:18:37
    that Sally hammings might have spent
  • 00:18:38
    some time at the convent
  • 00:18:41
    Sally's World broadened even more when
  • 00:18:44
    Patsy turned 17 and began to attend
  • 00:18:47
    social functions with her father we
  • 00:18:49
    assume that Sally Hemmings would have
  • 00:18:51
    certainly prepared her for these outings
  • 00:18:53
    but probably accompanied her on a number
  • 00:18:56
    of them as well there are indications in
  • 00:18:58
    the fact that Jefferson suddenly began
  • 00:19:00
    buying Sally Hemmings more clothing at
  • 00:19:03
    the same time that he bought his
  • 00:19:05
    daughter Patsy more clothing
  • 00:19:07
    there were letters that came to Patsy
  • 00:19:10
    from friends that she had in Paris and
  • 00:19:13
    in the letters they always mentioned
  • 00:19:15
    Sally Sally seemed to be more a part of
  • 00:19:19
    what was going on in Patsy's life than
  • 00:19:22
    she would have been at Monticello
  • 00:19:25
    it would also seem that Ambassador
  • 00:19:27
    Jefferson was one of those who began to
  • 00:19:29
    treat Sally differently in Paris in fact
  • 00:19:32
    her son Madison Hemmings makes it quite
  • 00:19:34
    clear in his Memoirs that during that
  • 00:19:37
    time my mother became Mr Jefferson's
  • 00:19:40
    concubine
  • 00:19:41
    the teenage slave from Virginia had
  • 00:19:44
    forged a completely new life in an
  • 00:19:46
    exciting and foreign land soon Sally
  • 00:19:49
    Hemmings would be forced to make a
  • 00:19:51
    choice between the freedom of Paris and
  • 00:19:53
    returning to America with Thomas
  • 00:19:55
    Jefferson
  • 00:19:57
    [Music]
  • 00:20:05
    in the late 1780s Sally Hemmings was a
  • 00:20:08
    slave living in a country where slavery
  • 00:20:10
    didn't exist
  • 00:20:13
    she was living in the home of her master
  • 00:20:15
    Thomas Jefferson the American ambassador
  • 00:20:19
    the teenager was growing into a stunning
  • 00:20:21
    young woman affectionately called
  • 00:20:24
    dashing Sally and described by others as
  • 00:20:27
    handsome with long hair flowing down her
  • 00:20:30
    back
  • 00:20:31
    the relationship between Jefferson and
  • 00:20:33
    Hemmings probably started in the late
  • 00:20:36
    1780s when they were together in Paris
  • 00:20:39
    and she was about a 14 or 15 year old
  • 00:20:41
    girl
  • 00:20:42
    by 1788 the Widow Jefferson was waxing
  • 00:20:46
    eloquently in letters about the domestic
  • 00:20:48
    virtues of American women and life at
  • 00:20:51
    home Jefferson talks about women in his
  • 00:20:54
    letters as the Guardians of virtue in
  • 00:20:57
    that family unit and a belief that the
  • 00:21:00
    bucolic rural farming world of Virginia
  • 00:21:04
    is his real favorite and his ideal
  • 00:21:08
    Jefferson was homesick with his
  • 00:21:11
    daughters away at school perhaps he
  • 00:21:13
    found Sally to be a link to the world he
  • 00:21:15
    romanticized and yearned for in Virginia
  • 00:21:19
    but their relationship might not have
  • 00:21:22
    been as romantic as their home in the
  • 00:21:24
    City of Lights suggests
  • 00:21:26
    the debate now
  • 00:21:28
    uh has been
  • 00:21:30
    was it love or was it rape and that in
  • 00:21:34
    one sense is an unanswerable question I
  • 00:21:37
    have always thought that there had to be
  • 00:21:41
    some semblance of respect I don't know
  • 00:21:44
    if love is too strong a word but that's
  • 00:21:47
    something that held those two together
  • 00:21:49
    it was probably in some sense of the
  • 00:21:52
    term consensual meaning both parties
  • 00:21:56
    agreed to it though it was clearly
  • 00:21:59
    rooted in Jefferson's power Jefferson
  • 00:22:01
    owned this woman and so to call it
  • 00:22:04
    consensual between master and slave
  • 00:22:06
    seems a bit of a contradiction
  • 00:22:09
    Jefferson may have been truly attracted
  • 00:22:12
    to Sally Hemmings perhaps even loved her
  • 00:22:15
    but that could not change her station in
  • 00:22:17
    life
  • 00:22:19
    I think that he had affections and
  • 00:22:22
    feelings for Sally I think he was
  • 00:22:23
    probably very possessive about her as
  • 00:22:25
    well but in the meantime it was okay for
  • 00:22:28
    him to keep her family and her in a
  • 00:22:31
    situation where they lived as house
  • 00:22:33
    servants would live in the private time
  • 00:22:36
    when no one's around and it's just the
  • 00:22:37
    two of them of course now you have man
  • 00:22:40
    and woman and how she felt about him
  • 00:22:42
    who knows
  • 00:22:45
    being owned is not exactly a desirable
  • 00:22:47
    State of Affairs he could break his
  • 00:22:49
    promises at any time to her so she
  • 00:22:51
    managed him very well I think
  • 00:22:55
    in the Paris of 1789 Jefferson was
  • 00:22:59
    enjoying his role as a patron saint an
  • 00:23:01
    adviser as the masses stormed the
  • 00:23:03
    Bastille and launched the French
  • 00:23:05
    Revolution
  • 00:23:08
    then his well-ordered world came
  • 00:23:10
    crashing down
  • 00:23:12
    Patsy threatens to convert to
  • 00:23:15
    Catholicism as soon as he hears that he
  • 00:23:17
    removes her from the convent and makes
  • 00:23:19
    plans to return to Virginia
  • 00:23:22
    still Jefferson had an even bigger
  • 00:23:25
    problem
  • 00:23:27
    according to Madison Hemmings account
  • 00:23:31
    Sally Hemmings was pregnant at the time
  • 00:23:34
    and she didn't wish to return to
  • 00:23:37
    Virginia when Jefferson and his
  • 00:23:40
    daughters were returning the other thing
  • 00:23:43
    that Sally did while she was in Paris
  • 00:23:45
    was that she learned to bark naturally
  • 00:23:49
    she and especially her brother Jamie did
  • 00:23:51
    not want to return to the enslaved
  • 00:23:53
    condition again
  • 00:23:55
    Jefferson convinced Sally's brother
  • 00:23:57
    James to return to America by promising
  • 00:24:00
    to give him his freedom if he would stay
  • 00:24:03
    home long enough to teach a replacement
  • 00:24:05
    what he had learned of French cooking
  • 00:24:08
    Sally finally agreed to go home to
  • 00:24:10
    Monticello as well but not before
  • 00:24:12
    striking her own deal
  • 00:24:15
    Thomas Jefferson made extraordinary
  • 00:24:17
    promises to her including the fact that
  • 00:24:19
    her children would be freed at age 21
  • 00:24:21
    she took him at his word and the number
  • 00:24:24
    of people say to me you know why would
  • 00:24:26
    she trust him you know and that's a
  • 00:24:28
    that's a very difficult question to
  • 00:24:30
    answer but evidently she did and
  • 00:24:32
    believed that he would do what he said
  • 00:24:35
    foreign
  • 00:24:37
    the account of Madison Hemmings of
  • 00:24:40
    Jefferson's pledges to Sally Hemmings
  • 00:24:43
    suggest that she had some measure of
  • 00:24:46
    control over her own life that there was
  • 00:24:49
    some mutual trust between the two of
  • 00:24:51
    them
  • 00:24:52
    Sally and James sailed back to Virginia
  • 00:24:55
    with Jefferson in 1789.
  • 00:24:58
    Madison Hemmings Memoirs state that soon
  • 00:25:01
    after Sally returned to Monticello she
  • 00:25:03
    gave birth to a child of whom Thomas
  • 00:25:05
    Jefferson was the father it lived but a
  • 00:25:09
    short time
  • 00:25:10
    there's no record of this child in
  • 00:25:12
    Jefferson's records but he didn't have
  • 00:25:15
    complete
  • 00:25:16
    um
  • 00:25:17
    records of the slave population at this
  • 00:25:19
    time was there a child we don't know
  • 00:25:23
    whether it was a boy or a girl what the
  • 00:25:25
    child's name was none of that is really
  • 00:25:27
    known
  • 00:25:32
    Jefferson returned to a burgeoning
  • 00:25:34
    political career while he was in Europe
  • 00:25:36
    the United States Constitution had been
  • 00:25:39
    written and adopted
  • 00:25:41
    he was called on by President George
  • 00:25:43
    Washington to serve as the nation's
  • 00:25:45
    first Secretary of State
  • 00:25:48
    Jefferson divided his time between the
  • 00:25:51
    capital in New York and his beloved
  • 00:25:53
    Virginia
  • 00:25:56
    on the Mountaintop at Monticello Sally
  • 00:25:59
    heming's life had also changed
  • 00:26:01
    drastically
  • 00:26:03
    Sally Hemmings had had all of these
  • 00:26:05
    wonderful experiences while she was
  • 00:26:07
    living as a free person in Paris so when
  • 00:26:10
    she gets back to Monticello it's back to
  • 00:26:13
    the drudgery of slavery there's
  • 00:26:15
    something about being a slave that had
  • 00:26:17
    to have torn a psyche down that
  • 00:26:21
    self-esteem that she built up I just
  • 00:26:23
    wonder how it had begun to collapse when
  • 00:26:26
    she returned to Monticello
  • 00:26:30
    foreign
  • 00:26:31
    became pregnant again in 1795. during a
  • 00:26:35
    period when Jefferson was at home in
  • 00:26:38
    Virginia she gave birth to a daughter in
  • 00:26:40
    October of that year but the girl died
  • 00:26:43
    at the age of two
  • 00:26:45
    [Music]
  • 00:26:47
    in 1796 Thomas Jefferson ran for
  • 00:26:50
    president but came in second to John
  • 00:26:53
    Adams in accordance with the
  • 00:26:55
    Constitution at that time Jefferson
  • 00:26:57
    became vice president the two men
  • 00:27:00
    disagreed strongly about National policy
  • 00:27:03
    a situation that quickly stirred up
  • 00:27:05
    Intrigue and backstabbing
  • 00:27:09
    Sally Hemmings might have thought that
  • 00:27:12
    she was far removed from the political
  • 00:27:13
    wrangling but accounts of her
  • 00:27:16
    relationship with Thomas Jefferson were
  • 00:27:18
    about to become fodder for newspapers
  • 00:27:20
    across the country
  • 00:27:22
    [Music]
  • 00:27:26
    by 1797 Sally Hemmings had been back
  • 00:27:30
    from Paris for eight years and had
  • 00:27:33
    resumed her role as a slave at
  • 00:27:35
    Monticello her master vice president
  • 00:27:38
    Thomas Jefferson was away much of the
  • 00:27:40
    time plotting against his Arts rival and
  • 00:27:43
    boss President John Adams
  • 00:27:46
    yet in April 1798 25 year old Sally gave
  • 00:27:51
    birth to her first recorded son Beverly
  • 00:27:54
    a very striking pattern emerges from
  • 00:27:58
    this comparison of
  • 00:28:00
    this information in that of the six
  • 00:28:04
    children born to Sally Hemmings that we
  • 00:28:06
    know of from Jefferson's records all
  • 00:28:08
    were conceived when Jefferson was at
  • 00:28:10
    Monticello and several of them were
  • 00:28:13
    conceived within three weeks of his
  • 00:28:15
    return from an absence in Philadelphia
  • 00:28:17
    or Washington
  • 00:28:18
    [Music]
  • 00:28:21
    Sally's duties at Monticello were
  • 00:28:24
    comparatively light after her return
  • 00:28:26
    from Paris she took care of Jefferson's
  • 00:28:29
    chamber and wardrobe looked after the
  • 00:28:31
    children and did some housework and
  • 00:28:33
    sewing When Sally realized what her
  • 00:28:37
    fate in life was going to be when she
  • 00:28:39
    returned to Monticello as a slave it
  • 00:28:43
    seems that Sally pretty much lived for
  • 00:28:45
    this promise that she was able to
  • 00:28:47
    extract from Thomas Jefferson while she
  • 00:28:50
    was in Paris that her children would be
  • 00:28:52
    freed at age 21.
  • 00:28:55
    Hemmings lived in several locations near
  • 00:28:58
    the hilltop at Monticello
  • 00:29:01
    before she apparently settled into one
  • 00:29:03
    of the servants rooms under the south
  • 00:29:05
    terrace
  • 00:29:08
    [Music]
  • 00:29:11
    Jefferson's daughter Patsy now 27
  • 00:29:14
    watched over the plantation while her
  • 00:29:17
    father was away 25 year old Sally was
  • 00:29:21
    obliged to follow Patsy's orders
  • 00:29:22
    regardless of her status as Jefferson's
  • 00:29:25
    mistress and the unspoken reality that
  • 00:29:29
    Sally was Patsy's aunt
  • 00:29:31
    she lived in a house
  • 00:29:33
    with her half-sister's child in charge
  • 00:29:37
    telling her what to do
  • 00:29:39
    so it must have been a very difficult
  • 00:29:41
    role for her to be she must have been a
  • 00:29:43
    heck of a diplomat to be able to skate
  • 00:29:45
    on this ice it was so thin
  • 00:29:48
    if Sally ever decided that she made a
  • 00:29:50
    mistake leaving France and not taking
  • 00:29:51
    her Freedom what could she do about that
  • 00:29:54
    nothing she would be stuck with her
  • 00:29:56
    decision so it also put her in a
  • 00:29:58
    situation that she would have to find a
  • 00:30:01
    way to live as best she could based on
  • 00:30:04
    what was available to her
  • 00:30:07
    while Sally Hemmings tended to
  • 00:30:09
    Jefferson's home and the children the
  • 00:30:11
    vice president spent most of his time in
  • 00:30:13
    Philadelphia
  • 00:30:14
    embroiled in the struggles of the new
  • 00:30:16
    American government
  • 00:30:18
    the relationship between Jefferson and
  • 00:30:20
    Hemmings made sense for Jefferson
  • 00:30:24
    he was a man obsessed with control it
  • 00:30:26
    meant that he could devote the bulk of
  • 00:30:28
    his other energies to his public career
  • 00:30:32
    without the customary obligations of a
  • 00:30:35
    husband
  • 00:30:37
    had an unexpected bonus he had Martha's
  • 00:30:40
    half-sister now now having someone who's
  • 00:30:43
    beautiful has a spirit and personality
  • 00:30:46
    and and essence of this woman that you
  • 00:30:49
    loved but also someone that you own
  • 00:30:51
    gives you a situation where you can have
  • 00:30:53
    your cake and eat it too
  • 00:30:57
    he didn't have to be faithful to her and
  • 00:30:59
    we have heard of No Other Woman during
  • 00:31:01
    that tenure that occupied his interest
  • 00:31:04
    at least publicly
  • 00:31:06
    so we think that he was fascinated with
  • 00:31:08
    her and that was quite a trick
  • 00:31:11
    they were together longer than some
  • 00:31:14
    marriages exist yes I understand she was
  • 00:31:16
    a slave
  • 00:31:18
    but I also know that slaves did fall in
  • 00:31:21
    love at some time with their masters to
  • 00:31:24
    say that there could be no feeling is to
  • 00:31:26
    say that someone that is enslaved is not
  • 00:31:30
    lovable to say that there could not have
  • 00:31:32
    been feeling on the part of Sally
  • 00:31:35
    also says that a slave could not love
  • 00:31:39
    whether it was love or just convenience
  • 00:31:41
    their relationship would not remain
  • 00:31:44
    private for long
  • 00:31:47
    by 1799 a full-blown political war was
  • 00:31:52
    raging in Philadelphia vice president
  • 00:31:54
    Thomas Jefferson had secretly enlisted a
  • 00:31:57
    journalist named James calendar to
  • 00:32:00
    attack his political enemies in
  • 00:32:02
    particular President John Adams
  • 00:32:04
    criticism of government officials was
  • 00:32:07
    illegal at the time under this Edition
  • 00:32:09
    act and calendar ended up in jail
  • 00:32:13
    his work didn't entirely tip the scales
  • 00:32:16
    of victory in the next presidential
  • 00:32:18
    election but Jefferson did beat Adams
  • 00:32:21
    and Jefferson was sworn in as the third
  • 00:32:24
    president of the United States in March
  • 00:32:26
    1801.
  • 00:32:28
    shortly afterwards calendar was released
  • 00:32:30
    from jail
  • 00:32:31
    it served the year in this really
  • 00:32:34
    miserable jail and he suffered so he
  • 00:32:36
    said okay I'd like to be the postmaster
  • 00:32:38
    of Richmond
  • 00:32:40
    and please also pay my fine that I had
  • 00:32:43
    to pay and I can't afford the 200 bucks
  • 00:32:46
    essentially Jefferson has said you're
  • 00:32:49
    too hot now goodbye and good luck
  • 00:32:52
    calendar brooded for a year over this
  • 00:32:55
    betrayal before he struck back in the
  • 00:32:58
    way he knew best
  • 00:33:00
    when Jefferson didn't give him an
  • 00:33:02
    appointment as postmaster Richmond he
  • 00:33:05
    turned against him and he used whatever
  • 00:33:07
    was at his disposal Sally Hemmings was
  • 00:33:10
    just a tool
  • 00:33:12
    calendar had picked up enough evidence
  • 00:33:14
    of Jefferson's relationship with
  • 00:33:16
    Hemmings to write an article about it in
  • 00:33:19
    the Richmond recorder he broke the story
  • 00:33:21
    in September of 1802.
  • 00:33:25
    of
  • 00:33:27
    the woman he called Dusky Sally well the
  • 00:33:31
    story exploded after he found out that
  • 00:33:33
    she appeared white he stopped calling
  • 00:33:35
    her that and referred to her as the
  • 00:33:38
    African Venus
  • 00:33:40
    a series of Articles explained that
  • 00:33:42
    Jefferson and Hemmings had begun a
  • 00:33:44
    relationship in Paris and that the pair
  • 00:33:47
    had children
  • 00:33:48
    calendar wrote it Is Well known that the
  • 00:33:51
    man whom it delighted the people to
  • 00:33:53
    honor keeps and for many years has kept
  • 00:33:56
    as his concubine one of his slaves her
  • 00:33:59
    name is Sally
  • 00:34:01
    newspapers across the country picked up
  • 00:34:04
    the story as calendar knew the scandal
  • 00:34:08
    in Virginia was not so much that the
  • 00:34:12
    plantation owner was making use sexually
  • 00:34:16
    of a Slave
  • 00:34:17
    because that happened all the time it
  • 00:34:20
    was that he treated her with respect
  • 00:34:22
    Jefferson himself never directly denied
  • 00:34:26
    the allegation but his supporters did
  • 00:34:28
    what they could not deny was that there
  • 00:34:31
    was a slave at Jefferson's home in
  • 00:34:33
    Virginia named Sally and that her
  • 00:34:35
    children bore an uncanny resemblance to
  • 00:34:39
    the president of the United States the
  • 00:34:41
    public was titillated but Jefferson
  • 00:34:43
    played the Scandal perfectly he did
  • 00:34:47
    things according to the rules of that
  • 00:34:49
    game as long as he didn't take Sally
  • 00:34:50
    down to the church and say we're going
  • 00:34:52
    to get married things were fine the
  • 00:34:55
    story had no long lasting effect on
  • 00:34:58
    Jefferson's presidency and in 1804 he
  • 00:35:01
    won re-election by a landslide
  • 00:35:04
    as for Sally Hemmings no one knows if
  • 00:35:07
    she had any reaction to the Scandal or
  • 00:35:09
    even saw the articles about herself
  • 00:35:13
    questions as to whether or not Sally was
  • 00:35:16
    littered or not with could she read and
  • 00:35:18
    write
  • 00:35:18
    I I question if she really did
  • 00:35:21
    even if Sally was literate she left no
  • 00:35:25
    documents behind but almost 200 years
  • 00:35:28
    later DNA test would speak louder than
  • 00:35:31
    any letter in her own hand ever could
  • 00:35:36
    [Music]
  • 00:35:39
    the Jefferson hemming sex scandal was
  • 00:35:42
    still circulating in the newspapers of
  • 00:35:44
    1805 but Sally heming's life at
  • 00:35:47
    Monticello maintained its normal pace
  • 00:35:51
    the 35 year old gave birth to a son
  • 00:35:54
    Madison that year three years later
  • 00:35:56
    another boy Aston was born Sally's
  • 00:35:59
    Master Thomas Jefferson was now 65 and
  • 00:36:03
    starting to slow down his second term as
  • 00:36:06
    president ended in 1809 and Jefferson
  • 00:36:09
    returned to Monticello for good
  • 00:36:12
    his oldest daughter Patsy had moved in
  • 00:36:15
    with her 11 children and Jefferson loved
  • 00:36:18
    his role as patriarch and doting
  • 00:36:20
    grandfather it was a part he never
  • 00:36:23
    played with Hemmings children something
  • 00:36:25
    that bothered Sally's son Madison a
  • 00:36:28
    great deal in his Memoirs he recalled
  • 00:36:31
    that Jefferson was not in the habit of
  • 00:36:33
    showing partiality or fatherly affection
  • 00:36:36
    to us children we were the only children
  • 00:36:39
    of his by a slave woman
  • 00:36:41
    he was affectionate toward his white
  • 00:36:44
    grandchildren
  • 00:36:46
    Jefferson never acknowledged his
  • 00:36:49
    paternity of Sally's children Jefferson
  • 00:36:51
    recognized that if he were to admit that
  • 00:36:54
    he was the father this would have been
  • 00:36:56
    politically disadvantageous very harmful
  • 00:36:59
    to him at that time but even more
  • 00:37:02
    important to Jefferson was his own
  • 00:37:04
    Survival in the memory of posterity
  • 00:37:07
    while Jefferson wasn't affectionate to
  • 00:37:09
    her children Sally Hemmings did achieve
  • 00:37:12
    one important Victory Jefferson kept the
  • 00:37:15
    promise he made to her in Paris 30 years
  • 00:37:18
    earlier
  • 00:37:19
    in 1822 Sally's older children Beverly
  • 00:37:23
    and Harriet turned 21 and were noted in
  • 00:37:26
    Jefferson's Farm book as Runaways
  • 00:37:30
    there were runaways periodically over
  • 00:37:32
    the course of Jefferson's life as a
  • 00:37:35
    slave holder and he usually made an
  • 00:37:39
    attempt to recover his escaped slaves
  • 00:37:42
    and would expend considerable money to
  • 00:37:45
    bring them back to monticella
  • 00:37:47
    but not Sally's children they were
  • 00:37:51
    allowed to leave
  • 00:37:52
    Harriet was even given fifty dollars and
  • 00:37:55
    put on a stagecoach noting them as
  • 00:37:58
    runaways was an unofficial method of
  • 00:38:00
    freeing them
  • 00:38:02
    both passed as white later married and
  • 00:38:06
    lived in White Society
  • 00:38:08
    Jefferson's actions may have given them
  • 00:38:11
    their freedom but it was their mother
  • 00:38:13
    Sally who traded her freedom for theirs
  • 00:38:16
    and prepared them for Life After slavery
  • 00:38:19
    Sally did give her children a head start
  • 00:38:22
    in the world
  • 00:38:23
    uh she certainly raised them to be
  • 00:38:26
    hard-working and skillful and literate
  • 00:38:29
    she taught them a way to get around in
  • 00:38:31
    the world
  • 00:38:35
    on July 4th 1826 four years after
  • 00:38:39
    freeing Sally's children and 50 years to
  • 00:38:42
    the day after signing the Declaration of
  • 00:38:45
    Independence Thomas Jefferson died
  • 00:38:48
    [Music]
  • 00:38:52
    in Jefferson's will he freed only five
  • 00:38:55
    of his 130 slaves all were members of
  • 00:38:59
    the Hemmings Clan three were older men
  • 00:39:02
    well past their Prime the other two were
  • 00:39:05
    21 year old Madison Hemmings and 18 year
  • 00:39:08
    old Aston
  • 00:39:10
    not only did Thomas Jefferson free these
  • 00:39:12
    two boys he also made a petition to the
  • 00:39:15
    legislature to allow them to stay in the
  • 00:39:18
    state of Virginia the rule at that time
  • 00:39:20
    was that if you're a freed slave and you
  • 00:39:23
    stay in the state of Virginia past the
  • 00:39:25
    year you automatically could become
  • 00:39:26
    enslaved again
  • 00:39:29
    Madison and eston Hemmings did stay in
  • 00:39:32
    Virginia as free men
  • 00:39:35
    but Sally was not freed in Jefferson's
  • 00:39:38
    will
  • 00:39:39
    he actually told his daughter to free
  • 00:39:42
    Sally after he had died so she did
  • 00:39:44
    what's called giving her her time which
  • 00:39:47
    was letting a slave go and not requiring
  • 00:39:50
    that the slave be chased down and
  • 00:39:52
    recaptured
  • 00:39:53
    she could live away from Monticello and
  • 00:39:55
    she could live with her sons and live
  • 00:39:57
    out her days as as
  • 00:40:01
    a person who had
  • 00:40:03
    freedom but not quite
  • 00:40:07
    Hemmings and her two sons moved to the
  • 00:40:10
    town of Charlottesville near Monticello
  • 00:40:12
    she lived in a house on West Main Street
  • 00:40:15
    until she died at the age of 62 nine
  • 00:40:19
    years after Jefferson
  • 00:40:21
    there is no record of where she was
  • 00:40:23
    buried
  • 00:40:25
    foreign
  • 00:40:27
    s moved to Ohio after her death even
  • 00:40:31
    though they could have passed into white
  • 00:40:33
    Society like their siblings they lived
  • 00:40:36
    as black men
  • 00:40:37
    later Esten moved his family to
  • 00:40:40
    Wisconsin and into white Society
  • 00:40:43
    [Music]
  • 00:40:48
    before the DNA results the idea of
  • 00:40:51
    Thomas Jefferson and Sally heming's
  • 00:40:53
    relationship was widely discredited
  • 00:40:56
    a slow accumulation of letters and
  • 00:40:59
    documents over two centuries brought no
  • 00:41:01
    definite answer and oral histories were
  • 00:41:04
    often ignored
  • 00:41:06
    the simple answer to why no one has paid
  • 00:41:09
    attention to the Hemmings family history
  • 00:41:10
    or any of the other slave histories up
  • 00:41:13
    until now is racism I think that
  • 00:41:15
    historians presumed because it's not
  • 00:41:18
    written down and because it's oral
  • 00:41:20
    history and because the oral history
  • 00:41:22
    began with slaves that it can't be
  • 00:41:25
    trusted
  • 00:41:27
    Jefferson is so symbolic symbolic of the
  • 00:41:30
    contradictions in American history and
  • 00:41:33
    Society freedom and slavery at Sally
  • 00:41:36
    Hemmings has been a symbol as well often
  • 00:41:40
    of the denial of African-American oral
  • 00:41:44
    Traditions even of the African-American
  • 00:41:46
    presence
  • 00:41:49
    in 1998 science intervened new advances
  • 00:41:53
    in DNA testing allowed for a sort of
  • 00:41:56
    historical paternity test researchers
  • 00:42:00
    examined Y chromosomes which are the
  • 00:42:03
    same in all male members of Any Given
  • 00:42:05
    family blood from eston Hemmings great
  • 00:42:08
    great grandson was tested against that
  • 00:42:11
    of several Jefferson men to see if the Y
  • 00:42:14
    chromosomes matched
  • 00:42:16
    the test was positive they were all
  • 00:42:19
    genetic Jeffersons
  • 00:42:21
    taken together with all of the extensive
  • 00:42:26
    historical evidence this piece of
  • 00:42:28
    information kept the balance it seems
  • 00:42:31
    most probable that Thomas Jefferson was
  • 00:42:34
    the father
  • 00:42:35
    finally after all these years has gone
  • 00:42:38
    by they're going to have to spend their
  • 00:42:40
    time trying to disprove themself
  • 00:42:42
    rather than me
  • 00:42:44
    when we look at our family the
  • 00:42:47
    descendants of Sally Hemmings and Thomas
  • 00:42:49
    Jefferson we number probably anywhere
  • 00:42:52
    from a thousand to fifteen hundred
  • 00:42:54
    people
  • 00:42:55
    the relationship between Sally Hemmings
  • 00:42:58
    and Thomas Jefferson might never be
  • 00:43:00
    proven beyond the shadow of a doubt and
  • 00:43:04
    whether she loved Jefferson or simply
  • 00:43:06
    accepted her fate one thing is certain
  • 00:43:09
    Sally Hemmings left a legacy to her
  • 00:43:12
    children and the American people
  • 00:43:16
    she was able to do in her lifetime what
  • 00:43:19
    many other enslaved women wanted to do
  • 00:43:22
    in theirs which was to leave their
  • 00:43:24
    children a legacy of freedom it's not a
  • 00:43:28
    bad thing to have a mixed Heritage it's
  • 00:43:29
    a wonderful thing if America could just
  • 00:43:32
    see that in their own families
  • 00:43:34
    and it's not about color it's about
  • 00:43:36
    family and it's about loving and
  • 00:43:38
    relating to people as people America
  • 00:43:40
    herself was built on imperfect people
  • 00:43:43
    trying to come together as one and they
  • 00:43:45
    made so many mistakes along the way why
  • 00:43:47
    do we assume now that those same people
  • 00:43:49
    were perfect and we hope that we can
  • 00:43:51
    give somebody a gift from our heritage
  • 00:43:54
    to say it's okay to talk about it
  • 00:44:05
    [Music]
  • 00:44:15
    thank you
  • 00:44:21
    [Music]
Tags
  • Sally Hemmings
  • Thomas Jefferson
  • American History
  • Slavery
  • Legacy
  • DNA Evidence
  • Monticello
  • Relationships
  • Historical Analysis
  • African-American History