How Annette Gordon-Reed Retold the Story of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson
In the preface to her 2008 book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family , Annette Gordon-Reed argues that the titular family provide ideal subjects through which to view slave life because they “escaped the enforced anonymity of slavery” due to several reasons, among them being their ownership by a well-known historical figure; their existence at Monticello itself (a house that was built and maintained by the Hemingses); and the public knowledge of Thomas Jefferson’s sexual relationship with Sally Hemings during the time period it actually occurred. [1] In addition, the Hemingses were able to “achieve and maintain a coherent family identity that existed within slavery and survived it.” [2] The Hemingses of Monticello is breathtaking in scope, covering the lives of three generations of a slave family connected in both proximity and blood to arguably the most legendary of American founders. However, up until Gordon-Reed’s publication of Thomas Jefferson and Sally H