ABSTRACT
Sally (Sarah) Hemings’s name has been linked to Thomas Jefferson’s since the early nineteenth century, when political opponents of then President Jefferson revealed that she and Jefferson had children together. Until the end of the twentieth century, white historians denied this story. After newly gathered and analyzed historical evidence, combined with DNA, established that the pair did have children together, questions about the nature of the Hemings and Jefferson connection have come to the fore. What and how should we think about the pair? How do we describe Hemings’s situation? Should the words “relationship,” “mistress,” or “rape” be used when discussing her life? In the 1970s, novelist Barbara Chase-Riboud’s wildly popular novel Sally Hemings portrayed Hemings and Jefferson as lovers with a relationship doomed by white supremacy and the institution of slavery. How would such a portrayal fare in today’s world with heightened attention to the problem of sexual assault? This chapter will consider these questions along with the changing perceptions of Sally Hemings over time. It will argue that despite her iconic stature, Sally Hemings is a historical figure who deserves to be seen as an individual rather than as a symbol of enslaved African American women over time.
