| Episodes |
- Bay, Mia. "In Search of Sally Hemings in the Post-DNA Era." Reviews in American History 34.4 (2006): 407-28.
- Block, Sharon. Review of Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture, by Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf. Journal of American History 87.4 (2001): 1476.
- Block praises the book but is a bit skeptical about the lack of historical references regarding enslaved women and sexuality. The essays are focused primarily upon Jefferson’s identity rather than the sexuality of Sally Hemings. Block encourages readers to think about the historians’ points of view but to also be aware of what they are leaving out and why.
- Butterfield, Kevin. Review of Seeing Jefferson Anew: In His Time and Ours, Edited by John B. Boles and Randal L. Hall. H-Law. April 2011.
- https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=31509
- "Hemings appears early and often in this book: she is discussed as early as the second page of the first essay (Onuf's), and she figures prominently in three of the remaining six contributions. She has as many page citations in the index as Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Jefferson's wife, Martha--combined. Clearly, we have entered a new phase in Jefferson studies, and Hemings has a lead role."
- Camp, Stephanie M. H. “Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson.†Mississippi Quarterly 53.2 (2000): 275-82.
- Camp offers her own thoughts about the controversy, shedding light on the “crime and seduction of miscegenation; the ambiguities of black and white racial identities and meaning; the coexistence of prejudice and power with family, intimacy, and sex.†She also provides commentary on Annette Gordon-Reed’s Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, applauding her for lawyer’s precision and detective work that goes beyond the surface of the DNA.
- Dunn, Elizabeth Bramm. Review of Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture, by Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf. North Carolina Historical Review 77.2 (2000): 260.
- Egerton, Douglas R. Review of Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture, by Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf. Journal of Southern History 67.3 (2001): 640-42.
- Egerton wastes little time in addressing the faults of this compilation of essays. He points out simple editorial errors that were overlooked because of the rush in printing immediately after the DNA results. He finds insufficient evidence in the historians' arguments, especially the claim that this collection was all about taking a closer look at Sally Hemings (considering her name appears first in the title), but none of the articles go further than mentioning her in a couple of paragraphs. He doesn't seem convinced that the best they could come up with is more questions, such as the kind of relationship that most likely existed. Though the hypotheses are numerous, the proof in this area, is not. Like any good critic, Egerton demands more.
- Fryer, Darcy R. Review of Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture, by Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf. Georgia Historical Quarterly 84.1 (2000): 148-49.
- Garrett, Aaron. "Of Racism and Remembrance: Jefferson's Legacy." Common-Place 1.4 (2001).
- http://www.common-place.org/vol-01/no-04/garrett/
- This comprehensive review of Lewis and Onuf offers a number of insights and add-ons to the arguments that the historians have already provided, though Garrett seems disappointed that the DNA evidence does not give more conclusive evidence. His frustration can be felt that this controversy will never seem to have an end, something he commends the historian efforts for on their endless research.
- Hatzenbuehler, Ronald L. "I Tremble for My Country": Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Gentry. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2006.
- Hodes, Martha. Review of Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture, by Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf. William and Mary Quarterly 57.4 (2000): 883-86.
- Hodes does a good job of analyzing not only what is being said but how the historians are saying it. Does poetic language have a place in academic essays when the answers have proven to be uncertain? Does this make up for a lack in the argument? The essays expand America's mode of thinking, we but are still in the realm of hints and guesses.
- Levine, Robert. Review: Slavery, Race, and American Literary Genealogies. Early American Literature 36.1 (2001): 89-113.
- Multi-book review kicked off by assessment of Lewis and Onuf, Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture.
- Lewis, Jan Ellen. “The White Jeffersons.†Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture. Ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1999.
- Every family has its story. Every story has two sides. Lewis explores the inner and outer circles of Jefferson’s family, which are distinct in their race and color. Is it possible to reconcile the two? That is exactly what historians are trying to facilitate, and they are also discovering that one family’s legacy is just another part of the American story too. The issues that the Jeffersons are dealing with are also reflective on the issues the country is dealing with. Denial by the White Jeffersons is the unique perspective that Lewis takes when revealing the dynamics of a long stream of steady lies that have been gossiped about for centuries.
- Oberg, Barbara. Review of Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture, by Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf. Journal of the Early Republic 20.3 (2000): 566-69.
- Praises the collection of essays, evaluates all twelve arguments, touching upon their most riveting points. Oberg sees hardly any room for improvement because they all provide a range of in-depth perspective, but she also hints that this American controversy is far from being over.
- Pasley, Jeffrey L. "Politics and the Misadventures of Thomas Jefferson's Modern Reputation: A Review Essay." Journal of Southern History 72 (2006): 871"908.
- The Radical Mind of Thomas Jefferson. Special issue of Time 5 July 2004.
- Thomas Jefferson. Ken Burns. Alexandria: PBS Home Video: Turner Home Entertainment, 1997.
- Burns is America's premier historical documentarian. This video comes before Annette Gordon-Reed's book and the DNA but no doubt remains a prime source of general knowledge about Jefferson. Historian John Hope Franklin is the prominent "talking head" on racial issues.
- Thomas Jefferson: A View from the Mountain. Martin Doblmeier. First Run Features, 2004.
- This video has a substantial emphasis on Jefferson and race and slavery. The 10-minute section on the Hemings controversy (beginning at 1.25 in the film) is quite balanced, providing views on both sides of the relationship.
- Whooley, Owen. "Objectivity and its Discontents: Knowledge Advocacy in the Sally Hemings Controversy." Social Forces 86.4 (2008): 1367-89.
- "The sociology of knowledge, derived from research on the hard sciences, overlooks the potential for outsiders to determine the content of knowledge within professional disciplines. Using the case of the Sally Hemings affair, I introduce the concept of 'knowledge advocacy' to analyze how outside groups shape historical knowledge. The Hemings controversy involved not only historical evidence, but also the understanding of objectivity in historical research. Unfolding against the backdrop of the professionalization of history, outside advocates successfully challenged the discipline's understanding of 'objectivity as neutrality' eventually embracing 'objectivity as the scientific method' in their appeal to DNA testing. This study illuminates the strategic interplay between professional historians and outsiders engaged in knowledge advocacy, the role of objectivity in this struggle, and the potential vulnerability a discipline faces when the ideal of objectivity is compromised."
- Wiencek, Henry. Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2012.
- Wills, Garry. "Negro President": Jefferson and the Slave Power. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. 2006.
