The Jefferson - Hemings Controversy

Episodes

The 2010 Common Ground Awards: Descendents of Thomas Jefferson David Works, Shay Banks-Young & Julia Jefferson Westerinen to Receive Award for Racial Healing: http://www.monticellocommunity.com/scfg.html; "David Works, Shay Banks-Young and Julia Jefferson Westerinen are descendants of Thomas Jefferson. Their complicated relationships illustrate the legacy and inequity of Americaâ€™s slave past. Shay, a black woman and Julia, a white woman, trace their roots to the relationship between Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings, while Davidâ€™s ancestry comes from Jefferson and his wife Martha. It was Juliaâ€™s brother who provided the DNA proving what Shayâ€™s family had long known: that Thomas Jefferson had children with Sally Hemings. Juliaâ€™s line is from their son, Eston, who passed for white, obscuring his connection to Jefferson. In contrast Estonâ€™s brother Madison (Shayâ€™s direct ancestor) lived as a man of color. Dialogue about race in America has been contentious and often painful. But together and separately, David, Shay, and Julia have worked to bridge the divide of mistrust within their own family and beyond. There has been resistance to including the Jefferson-Hemings descendants at Jefferson family gatherings. But in 2003, after a successful reunion that brought both sides together, David and other family members created The Monticello Community, an inclusive group that hosts gatherings at Monticello. Shay and Julia appear together publicly, lecturing and holding seminars around the country, telling their story and its implications for race-relations. Shay and David have participated in â€œComing to the Table,â€ a program that seeks to understand, acknowledge, and heal the persistent wounds of slavery. Julia Jefferson Westerinen, Shay Banks-Young and David Works have begun the wider dialogue about race by starting with one conversation. They show that black and white Americans cannot be viewed as wholly separate people because they share common culture, common land, and often, even a common blood line." (See "Jefferson Descendants" video below in this bibliography.)
Bennett, Lerone. "Thomas Jefferson's Negro Grandchildren." Ebony November 1954: 78-80.: Many historians agree that Jefferson did have children by his slaves at Monticello. Bennett details the whereabouts of some of the African American descendants of Jefferson. Bessie Curtis, one of the descendants interviewed in Bennett's article, notes the awkward feelings that come along with being a Jefferson descendant. However, Curtis is not ashamed of her ancestry; she just concedes that "it is rather hard, though, to live up to what people expect."
Brodie, Fawn M. "Thomas Jefferson's Unknown Grandchildren: A Study in Historical Silences." American Heritage 27.10 (October 1976): 28-33, 94-99.: Paternity of slave children by owners was commonplace in Jefferson's time. Unfortunately, severe penalties for public acknowledgment of this paternity were just as commonplace. Jefferson knew that the only way to save his slave children was to let them go free and not acknowledge his paternity. The Jefferson-Hemings descendants highlight the gray areas in determining race, and the accounts of the members of the slave community "passing" into the white community demonstrate the obscurities of this problem. The cost was simply too high for Jefferson to acknowledge his black family, but he is not the heartless man who impregnated multiple slave women some scholars of the controversy make him out to be. Information here about Jefferson-Hemings descendants who came forward after Brodie's 1974 biography of Jefferson.
Ellis, Joseph J. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997. 20-21.: Contains an account of Cooley's intervention: "When he sat down, the applause from the audience rang throughout the auditorium."
Finkelman, Paul. "Jefferson and Slavery: Treason against the Hopes of the World." Jeffersonian Legacies. Ed. Peter S. Onuf. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1993. 181-221.: Fiercely negative assessment about Jefferson's relationship with slavery, an article based on a paper delivered at the Jeffersonian Legacies conference at which Robert Cooley identified himself as a Hemings descendant.
Getting Word: African-American Family Histories. Monticello.org.: http://www.monticello.org/getting-word; A project to collect and record the oral histories of the descendants of Monticello slaves.
Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2008.
Graham, Pearl M. "Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings." Journal of Negro History 46.2 (1961): 89-103.: The facts of the Jefferson-Hemings relationship are fairly straightforward, and there are several things that we can deduce about the existence of the Jefferson-Hemings children based on details of their existence at Monticello. The Hemingses were treated differentlyâ€”they were given different jobs and seemed to be favored by Jefferson, and these details must mean something. Graham's search for the descendants of Harriet Hemings takes her to Canada, where she believes she has found Harriet's granddaughters with credible oral tradition. Despite the good leader Jefferson was, he attempted to hide his life with these Hemings slaves as best as he could, which is why it is so challenging to piece together the family's tradition today.
Hendricks, Melissa. "A Daughter's Declaration." Johns Hopkins Magazine. September 1999.: http://www.jhu.edu/~jhumag/0999web/roots.html; Interview of Michele Cooley-Quille, daughter of Robert Cooley, III, who describes when he told his children of their relation to Jefferson. The interview also recounts Cooley-Quille's attempts to get her father buried in the Monticello Ceremony, her involvement in encounters with the Monticello Association after the DNA results were published, and plans for further testing of Woodsons.
"Jefferson Descendants.": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhc1xr3CEM4&feature=related; Video of David Works, Shay Banks-Young, and Julia Westerinen receiving the 2010 Common Grounds Award (see the first entry above in this bibliography).
Jefferson's Blood. Shelby Steele. PBS Frontline. 2000: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson; The documentary, which runs seventy-five minutes, is separated into four categories. Background about the Hemings family and Jefferson are provided, an outline of Jefferson's experience in Paris, a focus on each side of the family, and a final portion about the promise Jefferson made to Sally and what it means. Information about the descendants and where they are now, including excerpts and clips from reunions, is provided. Familial interaction between families who are accepting or rejecting the fact that they are all one family is interesting to note. Further resources about the documentary and the DNA's effects, as well as clips of the documentary, are available on the PBS website. A teacher's guide is also available.
Justus, Judith. Down from the Mountain: The Oral History of the Hemings Family. Perrysburg: Jeskurtara, Inc., 1990.: First provides an overview of slave life and society in the 1800's. Knowledge of social customs, religious traditions, and cooking and farming practices provide a better understanding of what type of world slaves like the Hemings ancestors considered home. Once this foundation is built, Justus provides an in-depth compilation of the Hemings descendants, complete with family photographs, letters, and important documents, in an attempt to put on paper an oral tradition that has been disputed throughout history.
Lanier, Shannon, and Jane Feldman. Jefferson's Children: The Story of One American Family. New York: Random House, 2000.: Descendants of both Jefferson and Hemings weigh in on their feelings regarding the legitimacy of the relationship between Thomas and Sally. Scholars like Dr. Eugene Foster give professional opinions on what the DNA and the hard facts really mean. Foster argues that "if you grow up with the belief that you are a descendant of whomever you admire, then that will have shaped your cultural heritage, your attitudes, and many other things about your life" (51). Jefferson descendant Herbert Barger argues that "this whole thing has been blown out of proportion" and "it could have been any one of eight Jeffersons" who fathered the children (54-55). Others, like Nina Balthazar-Boettcher, counter that "this is about a family. It's not a vehicle to make a political statement or headline stories or any of that other stuff" (111). The family members discuss issues such as inclusion of Hemings descendants at Monticello, what it means to be a family, and the significance of recent DNA findings. Descendants have been interviewed, photographed, and quoted, and many have contributed old pictures of relatives as well as historical family genealogical records.
Miller, Richard. "'I heard he owned slaves . . .' Jackson struggles with Jefferson's contradictory views." The Daily Progress (Charlottesville) 25 November 1990: A1, A13.: Interview with African American leader Jesse Jackson at Monticello.
Monticello Association: http://www.monticello-assoc.org/; The Monticello Association website gives information on how to apply for membership. The site gives updates on the annual family reunion and hotels that can be reserved around the area for this event. Additionally, a small amount of history on the graveyard is provided. No mention of the controversy over DNA or the Jefferson-Hemings relationship is visible on the site, and if you want to contact the site you must leave a message with your contact information before a representative will entertain your question or comment. The Association seems to be the symbolic community of the Jefferson, not the Jefferson-Hemings, family, and has resisted including the Hemingses.
The Monticello Community: http://www.monticellocommunity.com/index.html; "The Monticello Community Gathering is being organized by representatives of descendants of the various families with connections to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello plantation. . . . At the 2002 Annual Meeting of The Monticello Association, the Membership Advisory Committee presented its final report. Among its recommendations was the idea of the Monticello Association taking the lead in forming a new organization called the Families of Jefferson's Monticello. The Association overwhelmingly voted to not support the creation of such an organization. In 2003, the Hemings Family held a very successful reunion at Monticello. After this reunion, several people, including the late John H. Works, brought up the idea of some type of general gathering along these same lines. Over time, serious discussions ensued, an ad hoc group formed and plans were made."
Philadelphia Area Jefferson-Hemings Descendants: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/video?id=7981236&pid=7980914; Local ABC-TV station interviews two descendants with contrasting views of that knowledge (2011).
Remarks by the President During Event in Honor of Thomas Jefferson's Birthday. April 12, 2001.: http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/04/20010412-5.html; White House gathering to which Hemings descendants were invited at about the same time the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society report casting doubt on the relationship came out.
Robert Cooley -- Hemings Descendant.: http://www.pbs.org/jefferson/archives/interviews/frame.htm; Interview with Cooley done by Ken Burns for his 1997 Thomas Jefferson documentary. Full transcript is here, while excerpts appeared in the film.
Stanton, Lucia C. Free Some Day: The African-American Families of Monticello. Charlottesville: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2000.: The histories of six Monticello families complete with the additions of photographs and family trees. These stories are all tied together with general historical information that affected all of the African-Americans at Monticello. These stories are pieced together through the compilation of oral traditions from descendants of escaped slaves, letters, account histories, and archeological excavations in order to paint the clearest picture possible with limited information.
Stanton, Lucia C., and Dianne Swann-Wright. Getting Word: The Monticello African-American Oral History Project. Charlottesville: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2002.
Stanton, Lucia, and Dianne Swann-Wright. "Bonds of Memory: Identity and the Hemings Family." Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture. Ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter S. Onuf. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1999.: Lucia Stanton, a white woman, and Dianne Swann-Wright, a black woman, created the Getting Word project, an effort to reconnect the descendants of Jefferson at Monticello. They interviewed families and looked at photographs and heard stories passed down from previous generations. This extensive study of the modern-day Jeffersons illustrates the dynamic of a family whose history is disrupted by their skin color as society remains skeptical of their race. The different ways that brothers Madison and Eston chose to accept their heritage is telling in the paths they chose later in their lives and, furthermore, by the decisions their descendants chose to either continue or discard family traditions.
Thomas Woodson Family Association: http://www.woodson.org/; Thomas Woodson is the disputed first child of Sally Hemings, conceived in Paris. The web site tell us that the Woodsons "have chosen Thomas Corbin Woodson, the issue of a union of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, as the first generation. . . . The family has documented hundreds of descendants of Thomas and Jemima and more are brought to our attention with each passing day. . . . Thomas and Jemima had eleven children, seventy grandchildren and, an approximate one thousand five hundred other descendants in the fourth through tenth generations." Much information, including a family tree, photos, a newsletter, and many links. A posting on the site as of this viewing in November 2012 announces a second family gathering at Monticello in 2013.
Truscott IV, Lucian K. "The Reunion Upon a Hill." New York Times 10 July 2003.
Truscott, Lucian K., IV. "Children of Monticello." American Heritage 52.1 (2001).: As the upcoming May 2001 family reunion at Monticello looms, Jefferson descendants must prepare for an important vote that will determine the fate of the quest of the Hemings descendants to be buried in the Monticello graveyard. The controversy that the DNA has sparked cannot be entirely boiled down to racism (as Truscott has argued in previous articles); the Monticello Association's different treatment of the two families has fanned the fire. The prevailing reason for denying the Hemings descendants membership in the association is that they lack the "paper trail" to prove their ancestry.
Truscott, Lucian K., IV. "Still Barred from the Main House." New York Times 19 May 1998.
Truscott, Lucian K., IV. "Time for Monticello to Open the Gate." New York Times 5 November 1998.
Truscott, Lucian K., IV. "Tom and Sally and Frank and Me." American Heritage 50.1 (1999).: Jefferson descendant Truscott reminisces on visiting Jefferson's grave with his younger brother Frank. The inherent racism he encountered growing up in the early 50's is similar to the racism that is standing in the way of the Hemings descendants rightfully claiming their history in the Jefferson-Hemings relationship. Truscott argues that "Prejudice separates us, and it always has. The difference in the treatment of the Jefferson-Hemings descendants boils down to luckâ€”some were born white, some were born black."
Turner, Robert F. The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission. Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2011.: Contains an account (361-68) of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello Association) activities considering and then rejecting Hemings family membership.
Woodson, Byron. A President in the Family: Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and Thomas Woodson. Westport: Praeger, 2001.: An account of the Woodson's family historyâ€”beginning with Tom Woodson's highly contested conception in France. The book traces the family's lineage, using anecdotes and facts as proof, from this debated moment in history. Woodson details the struggles his family faced during the publication of the DNAâ€”the Woodson family was left out of the media publicity and did not receive acknowledgement from major newspapers or stations, until Woodson himself went looking for them. The Woodson family frustration regarding disbelief of their family legitimacy is lessened by their strong family ties and foundation in history and oral tradition. The success of this written chronology of the Woodson family lineage is used as proof of the oral tradition's legitimacy. Ending in the present with his hopes for the future, Woodson notes that "[the Hemings/Jefferson controversy] will be resolved by a familyâ€”my family" (251).
Woodson, Minnie Shumate. The Sable Curtain. Washington: Stafford Lowery Press, 1987.: In this novel, Tom Woodson, the son of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, is sent away to live with Thomas Jefferson's first cousin, Josiah Woodson. Through the chronicle of Tom's life after leaving Monticello, Minnie Woodson retells the emotional struggles that Tom feels after being abandoned by his birth parents in order for Jefferson's second Presidential campaign to avoid a scandal such as an illegitimate slave child. Despite coping with the struggles of his family history and slavery, Tom marries Jemima, returns to Monticello to face his past, and eventually escapes with his family to begin a new life in Ohio.
Woodson, Minnie Shumate. The Woodson Source Book. Minnie Shumate Woodson, 1978, 1984, 1986, 1998.: Not seen, privately printed. Described as Woodson's compilation of genealogical information as a basis for creating family unity for the line thought to be descended from Sally Hemings's first child, Tom Woodson, conceived in Paris. From the Woodson Family web site: In pursuit of his executor duties Howard Dilworth Woodson did extensive research on the family, "made copious notes of his research and these notes aroused the curiosity of his daughter-in-law Minnie Shumate Woodson. Minnie continued her father-in-lawâ€™s work and developed contacts with Woodsons all over the United States, meticulously tracing their ancestry and documenting connections for those that were descendants of Thomas Woodson. Through her commitment and diligence Minnie was able to document all eleven of the children (lines) of Thomas and Jemima including their spouses and most of their children. Four of the eleven lines were traced right down to contemporary Woodsons."