Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings were rumored to have had a sexual relationship since Jefferson's time. Sally was a slave, the half-sister of Jefferson's late wife, who accompanied Jefferson to France and bore five children after returning to America. DNA evidence in 1998 confirmed that Jefferson was likely the father of Sally's last son Eston, though not her first son Thomas. The Jefferson-Hemings relationship demonstrated the prevalence of interracial families in early American history due to slavery, though some of their descendants passed as white to gain advantages.

1. Learning Unit #11 Lecture
“Were Thomas Jefferson & Sally
Hemings Lovers?”

2. Since Jefferson’s time, rumors of A Recent
Hollywood
his sexual involvement with Sally Drama
Hemings, a slave, have existed. starring
Sally—described as appearing Sam Neill &
Carmen
“mighty near white” in one Ejogo
primary source—was the half-
sister of Jefferson’s wife, Martha,
who died in 1781 when Thomas
was 39. (Yes, Jefferson’s father-
in-law impregnated a slave, who
bore Sally, who entered the world
as her father’s property.) Sally
was inherited by Martha &
accompanied her half-sister to
Monticello after the Jeffersons’
marriage. Sally’s relationship with Jefferson may have
begun when he was ambassador to France (1787-89) & she was
14-16 years old, acting as maid to Jefferson’s daughters.

4. In France,
Sally and her
brother James
earned wages
& under
French law
could have
petitioned for
their freedom.
A Hemings
family oral
tradition
claims that
Sally was
already pregnant & returned to the USA on the condition that her
children would be freed & she would have an easy life at
Monticello, both of which happened. Jefferson came back from
Paris & became Secretary of State in Pres. Washington’s Cabinet.

5. Was Jefferson the Father of Sally
Hemings’ Children?
1786: Sally accompanied Jefferson to Paris as companion
for his daughter while Jefferson was ambassador to France
1789: Jefferson household returned to America
Sally remained in the Jefferson household.
She bore 5 children. The oldest was Tom in 1790 and
the youngest was Eston in 1808.
In 1802 Jefferson was accused of fathering Tom.
He never responded directly to the accusation but did say that
ALL the Federalists’ charges against him were false.
Jefferson’s grandson and granddaughter claimed that at least
some of Sally’s children were fathered by one of their cousins
on their mother’s side, the Carrs.

6. A Federalist
Political
Cartoon
from the
Election of
1804
Attacking
Jefferson for
his
relationship
with Sally
Hemings.
Jefferson’s political opponents linked him to the bloody
French Revolution by portraying him as a rooster, its symbol.

7. Was Jefferson the Father of Sally
Hemings’ Children?
Tom was sold to the Woodson family
and took the name Tom Woodson.
Eston was a slave, identified as ‘negro’ by
Virginia law. But he took the name Eston
Hemings Jefferson and moved to Madison
Wisconsin where he was accepted as a member
of white society.
(Harriet Hemings, Sally’s daughter, was freed
by Jefferson, moved to Philadelphia, and also
redefined herself as “white.”)

8. Interracial Families in the USA
• The Jefferson-Hemings affair demonstrates the
wider phenomenon of interracial or multiracial
families in America.
• Almost all African Americans have a large number
of European ancestors.
• Recent measures suggest that on average African
Americans have 17 - 20% European admixture.
• Also there could be as much as 10% American
Indian admixture.
• Some members of interracial families have sought
advantages in “passing” for white, which shows
that race has everything to do with performance
(in a social context) & nothing to do with biology.

9. What DNA Tells Us About the
Jefferson-Hemings Affair
In 1998, Dr. Eugene Forster and his team
investigated the descendants of Tom and Eston
and their prospective fathers. They tested:
DNA from the Carr family male descendants
DNA from the male descendants of Jefferson’s Uncle,
Field Jefferson
DNA from Tom Woodson’s male descendants
DNA from Eston Jefferson’s male descendants

12. What DNA Tells Us About the Jefferson-
Hemings Affair
Conclusions:
--Thomas Woodson was fathered by a Carr, so President
Jefferson did not lie when he denied being
the father of Thomas Woodson.
--Eston was fathered by a Jefferson. Are we sure he was
fathered by President Jefferson? All that can be said with
absolute certainty is that we are sure he was fathered by
a Jefferson male. So, defenders of our third president
point to Thomas Jefferson’s brother or nephew as the
likely source. BUT neither of them had the opportunities
with Sally that Jefferson himself had, and oral traditions
of the Hemings family have always pointed to Thomas
Jefferson. The burden of disproving T. Jefferson’s
paternity is now on his defenders.

13. The Monticello
Association, an
organization whose
members can
prove lineal
descent from
Thomas Jefferson,
have thus far voted
to exclude
members of the
Hemings family,
despite the 1998
DNA evidence. Not
all members,
however, agree
with the
Association’s
stance, & many of
them have
attended inclusive,
multiracial family
reunions, such as
the one pictured
here.