In September 1802, a newspaper from Richmond, Virginia, published an article that shook everyone the American nation. The president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, the man who had written the words All men are created equal, he kept one of his concubines as a concubine slaves His name was Sali, and there was had several children with her.
The scandal exploded in the middle of the Jefferson’s presidency. Your enemies politicians used history to destroy it. The newspapers published obscene caricatures. The sermons in The churches condemned him. but Jefferson never responded, never denied, never confirmed, just saved silence. And that silence lasted 200 years.
What the newspaper did not publish yet was worse. Sally Hemings was not just his slave, she was the half-sister of his dead wife The two women They shared the same father. When the Jefferson’s wife died, he inherited Sally. I was 9 years old. 18 years later, Sally had had six children. All of the same man, all children of the president, all born in slavery.
All with enough skin light enough to be confused with white, all with the face of Thomas Jefferson. As the author of the Declaration of Independence, ended up having a secret family with his sister dead wife Like a 16 year old girl she ended up pregnant by the older man powerful of America. Why did Sali he agreed to return from Paris when he could have been free? and how they lived for 38 years under the same roof without that no one would do anything to stop him.
The answer is in what began in 1787 when Thomas Jefferson took Sally Hemings to Paris. When she arrived at Paris was 14 years old and he was 44, when she was still legally his property and when he made a promise that would change the destiny of both forever. This is the story that America tried to bury for two centuries.
The story that only DNA could confirm. The history of the president and the slave who was his wife’s sister dead Virginia, United States, 1782. Thomas Jefferson was 39 years old. It was lawyer, politician, architect, philosopher. He had written the Declaration of Independence 6 years before. It was respected throughout the nation.
I had a plantation called Montichelo, with hundreds of acres who worked for him. He was a man of principles. Or at least that’s what he said. In September of that year, his wife Marta died after giving birth to her sixth son. Jefferson was devastated. passed three weeks locked in his room. When he finally came out, he made a promise. He would never marry again.
Never would replace Marta. He fulfilled that promise, but found another way not to be alone Martha Wales Jefferson had brought a considerable dowry to his marriage, land, money and slaves. Among those slaves was the family Hemings, Elizabeth Hemings and their children. One of those children was Sally. I was 9 years when Martha died.
It was small, thin, light-skinned, had hair long and smooth. I didn’t look like a slave African because it was not completely. His father was John Wales, the father of Martha, Jefferson’s father-in-law. Sally Hemings was the half-sister of Jefferson’s dead wife and was now your property. Before continuing with this story, we want to ask you something.
Yes You haven’t done it yet, subscribe to our channel and activate the bell to Don’t miss any story. Also Leave us in the comments since country you are watching us. It helps us a lot keep bringing these stories that don’t They must be forgotten. Now yes, let’s go back to 1782, to Montichelo, to the plantation where Thomas Jefferson had just inherited the 9-year-old sister of his dead wife and where 5 years later I would take a decision that would change both lives always.
When Martha Jefferson died, Thomas inherited everything she had brought to marriage. That included the Hemings family. Elizabeth Hemings was the matriarch He was 57 years old. had been slave of John Wales, the father of Martha. He had had 12 children. six of they were from John Wales. They were brothers of Martha.
half, brothers, slaves with the blood of his own father. one of those children was Sally. I was 9 years old when he arrived at Monticelo. I didn’t come out I worked in the fields, that was unusual. The slave children began to work in the fields since yes u 8 years. But Sally was assigned to the house main. I worked as a maid, helped in the kitchen, served the table, I cleaned the rooms, I was nearby of the white Jefferson family all the time. That was unusual too.
Jefferson had strict rules about what slaves could be in the house, but Sali and his brothers were different. They were Martha’s family, blood of Wales. That gave them certain privileges that other slaves they didn’t have The years passed. Sali grew. Jefferson spent most of of his time in politics.
I was traveling constantly, he was governor of Virginia. Later sent to France as minister. In 1784, Jefferson left for Paris. led with her eldest daughter, Patsi, who I was 11 years old. He left his two daughters minors in Virginia with relatives. Your plan was to stay in France only 2 years. He stayed five.
During those years, Jefferson lived in Paris as diplomat. He had an elegant house in the Elean fields. I attended dinners with French nobles, knew philosophers and artists, enjoyed culture European, but she missed her daughters. In 1787 decided it was time to bring Poly, his 9-year-old daughter, to Paris. He wrote to him to his brother-in-law in Virginia.
I needed that They were sending the girl by boat and she needed to travel with a companion, a responsible adult woman who could take care of her during the six weeks of crossing. But when the ship reached London in June 1787, Whoever came down with Poly was not a woman adult, she was Sally Hemings. I was 14 years.
The captain of the ship wrote a letter to Jefferson explaining the situation. The woman who was supposed to accompany Poly had gotten sick in the last moment. The family decided to send Sally instead. The captain wrote that Sally was a very girl nice, who had taken good care of Poly throughout the trip, that the girl I was healthy and happy.
Jefferson received the letter, he did not express anger at the change of plans, he simply made the arrangements for both to travel from London to Paris. Sally arrived in Paris in the middle of July. It was hot. The city was full of life Sally had never gone out of Virginia. I had never seen one such a big city, I have never seen so many people.
Jefferson received them at home, he hugged Poly, then looked to Sally. She had changed. It was no longer the 9 year old girl I remembered. had 14 years now. She was tall, thin, had long straight hair, fair skin, the delicate features. It looked like someone, to Marta, the dead wife of Jefferson. That was no coincidence. Sali and Marta were sisters.
They shared the same genes, same traits. Sali It was like a ghost from the past, a living memory of the woman who Jefferson had loved. Jefferson decided that Sally would stay in Paris, not her would send back to Virginia. Poly I needed a constant companion, someone to take care of her. Sally would comply that role.
But Sally also needed training. In France the servants They were more refined than in Virginia. Jefferson paid for Sali to learn French, so that I could learn to sew better, so he could learn manners French. Sali spent 2 years in Paris learning, growing, living in a city where slavery did not exist legally, where slaves could ask for his freedom before a court, where they could be free.
Sally lived in Jefferson’s house. I slept in one small room on the top floor. I helped dress Patsi and Poly. The I went to school, I shopped at markets, I learned the language. The neighbors saw her as a servant, no like a slave, because technically not it was. On French soil, Sali was free. He could leave if he wanted.
I could stay in France, he could request asylum. I could start a new life. but I was 14 years old. I was alone, I didn’t know nobody, had no money, had no family, except the Jeffersons. where would I go? Jefferson spent a lot of time in home during those years. I didn’t travel that much as before.
He worked from his studio, received visitors, wrote letters and I watched, I watched Sali move around the house. I watched him learn French quickly. I watched as Poly adored I noticed how similar each one was. another day to Marta. Every gesture, every movement, every smile. It was like having Marta back, but younger, older vulnerable and completely dependent of him.
It is not clear exactly when began. The records do not say so, documents are vague, but somewhere time between 1787 and 1789, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings They started a relationship. He was 44 years. She was 16. He was the minister of the United States in France. she She was his slave. He was free to do what that I would like.
She had no options real. That is the nature of power. That is the nature of slavery. It doesn’t matter that they were in France, no It matters that technically she was free. The power between them was so unequal than the word consent It had no real meaning. in the fall from 1789, Jefferson received news from the United States United.
George Washington had been elected president and Washington wanted Jefferson in his cabinet as secretary of State. Jefferson would have to return to Virginia, I would have to leave Paris. He began to make preparations, He packed his books, his furniture, his documents. bought tickets on a boat that would come out in October.
Two tickets for her daughters, one for James Hemings, the Sally’s brother, who worked as her chef, and one for Sally. But not Sally. he wanted to leave. For the first time in his life It had something like freedom. In Paris, no one treated her like a slave. I could walk the streets alone. could talk to whoever I wanted, I could dream with a different future.
If I returned to Virginia, all that would end. I would return to be property, I would be a slave again, I would have no rights again, I would again not having a voice and there was something else. Sali I was pregnant. I was 16 years old. I was in a foreign country and carried in his womb the son of man who technically he owned it.
According to the testimony of his son Madison Hemings, given many years later, Sally refused to return. He told Jefferson to would stay in France, which could be free there, that his son would be born free. Jefferson couldn’t force her. No legally, not in France. Then he did the only thing I could do. He begged him, He made promises, he promised yes returned to Virginia I would treat her well, that I would have privileges, that I would never I would work in the fields.
And the most Importantly, he promised that all his children would be released when they turned 21 years old. That was the promise, freedom, not for her, but for her children, for the next generation. Sali had 16 years old, I was pregnant, I was alone, I didn’t know anyone in France except the Jeffersons.
I didn’t have money, I didn’t have a place to go. The promises of Jefferson were all he had. So he accepted. In October 1789, Sally Hemings boarded a boat with destination to Virginia. I was pregnant with three months. He was traveling with his father son, the man who owned him, the man who had been her husband half sister I was returning to a life of slavery because it was the only option I had, or at least the only option that I could see.
Sally Hemings arrived from return to Montichelo in November 1789. I was 5 months pregnant. nobody did questions. The slaves knew it was better not to ask. The white family of Jefferson didn’t ask either. Or yes They suspected something, they remained silent. Sally was assigned back to the house main, not to the fields, not to the slave kitchens, to the house nearby of Jefferson.
close to his daughters, like if nothing had changed. but everything had changed. In 1790, Sally gave birth to her first child. there is no name registration, no registration the exact date, just a short note on Jefferson’s papers indicating that a baby had been born. And then another note. The baby died a few weeks after birth.
It is not known about what. Childhood illnesses were common, mortality was high, especially among slaves. Sali I was 17 years old. He had lost his first son. Jefferson wrote nothing about that in his private letters. Did not mention birth, did not mention death as if it hadn’t happened. Jefferson was appointed Secretary of State under the presidency of George Washington.
That It meant that I would spend a lot of time in Philadelphia, where the capital was in that moment, but he returned to Montichelo frequently, every few months, weeks, sometimes months, and each Every time I came back, Sally was there. waiting, working, living in a small room in the south building the plantation, a room next to the of Jefferson. That wasn’t normal.
The slaves did not live in rooms together to her masters, but Sali was not a slave normal and everyone in Montichelo knew it. In 1795, Sali gave birth to a girl. They called her Harriet. He had light skin, very light, so much so that she could pass for white. had Jefferson’s features, eyes, face shape.
Anyone who seen together could notice it, but no one He said nothing. Harriet lived 2 years, then he died. Again, no record. of the cause. Again, Jefferson does not wrote about it. Two children dead. Sally was 22 years old, she had lost two babies and was still a slave. In 1798, Sally gave birth to a boy.
They called him Beverly. This time the baby survived. He grew up strong, healthy, with light skin like his sister, with the features of Jefferson. Beverly didn’t work in the fields. He worked as a carpenter, as musician. He lived in the big house, not in the slave cabins. It was treated different.
Better, because everyone knew who was his father. Although no one say out loud. In 1799, Sali gave birth to a girl. there is no name registration. The baby died in childhood. Three sons dead now, one living son Sally was 26 years old. Jefferson was 56. He was now the vice president of the United States, the second most powerful man in the world nation.
and kept coming back to Monticielo, kept returning to Sali. In 180, Sali gave birth to another girl. Also the called Harriet, like the first one had died. This Harriet survived. She was beautiful, with light skin, hair smooth, blue eyes. She didn’t look like a slave, she looked like a good white girl family.
And that was exactly what It was, at least half. that same year, Thomas Jefferson was elected president of the United States. If moved to Washington DC. Lived in the House White, but kept coming back to Montichelo every few months. I was passing weeks there, sometimes months, during the summer when the heat in Washington was unbearable And every time I came back, Sally was there waiting for him.
During these years Jefferson was the most powerful of America. But in Monticelo, in that small room, next to the his, he lived his secret. The slaves of Montichelo knew, the neighbors were suspicious, visitors noticed the light-skinned children who looked alike to the president, but no one spoke. no publicly until someone did.
In September 1802, a journalist named James Callender published an article in the newspaper Recorder. Cender Jefferson’s ally, had supported politically, but the two had had a fight. Turn on I wanted revenge and I had the story perfect to destroy Jefferson. The article said that the president Jefferson kept a concubine of her slaves, whose name was Sally, who had had several children with her, that those children lived in Montichelo, who looked like Jefferson, that everyone in Virginia knew it, but no one dared to say it. Calender
wrote with specific details, names, ages, descriptions. I was inventing, I was reporting that I had heard, what many they knew, what no one had dared to publish. The scandal exploded. The newspapers throughout the country reproduced the story. The political enemies of Jefferson, the Federalists, used the item to attack him.
They published obscene caricatures. They wrote poems satirists, called him a hypocrite. They said that the man who had written that all men are created equal, had slave children, that the president of the nation kept a mistress slave, who was a liar, a fraud, a man without morals. Jefferson He did not respond, he never denied the article, never confirmed anything, just saved silence.
His daughters defended their father, they said it was impossible, that he I would never do something like that, that the children of light-skinned in Montichelo were children of Jefferson’s nephews, not his, who Calender was lying for revenge. But Jefferson himself never said anything, nor a single public word about Sally Hemings, not a single denial, not a single confirmation.
The scandal eventually passed. Jefferson was re-elected in 1804, served his second full term and he kept coming back to Montelo, he kept Seeing Sali, she continued having children with her because power protects. and Jefferson had all the power. I didn’t come out I had none. In 1805, Sally gave birth to a boy.
They called him Madison. He was their fifth living child. Beverly was 7 years old. Harriet had four. Madison grew up knowing who It was his father. Years later, when it was adult and free, he gave an interview to a newspaper. He told the whole story. He said that his father was Thomas Jefferson, who His mother was Sally Hemings, who had grew up in Montichelo knowing this, that everyone knew it, that no one talked about that, but it was true.
In 1808, Sally gave birth to her last child. It They called Eston. I had lighter skin of everyone. I could completely pass by white. Years later, when he was free, changed his last name. He called himself This is Hemings Jefferson. took the his father’s last name, the last name legally never had the right to use, but that it was his by blood.
Sally Hemings had children by Thomas Jefferson. Four survived until adulthood. Beverly, Harriet, Madison and Eston. All light skinned. all with Jefferson’s traits. All slaves by birth. Because the law said that the children followed the condition of the mother. It didn’t matter who he was father.
If the mother was a slave, the children were slaves. Even if the Father He was the president of the United States, even if the Father had written that all men are created equal. The law was clear and the law protected the men like Jefferson, never at women like Sally. After the 180 scandal, Thomas Jefferson served two terms complete as president, 8 years.
During those years he traveled constantly between Washington DC and Monticelo. I was passing months in the capital. Then he returned to Virginia and every time Sally came back It was there. The scandal didn’t change anything. Jefferson didn’t sell it, he didn’t send it away, the relationship did not end, He just continued as if nothing had happened.
it would have happened because it could, because no one could force him to do anything different. In 1809, Jefferson ended his presidency. had 66 years old. He was tired of politics. returned to Montichelo to stay, to live his last years on his plantation with his white family and with Sali. she He was 36 years old, he had spent half of her life with Jefferson.
had had six his children. He had lost two. There was raised four and remained his slave Life in Monticelo had a strange routine Jefferson lived in main house with his white daughters and his grandchildren. Sally lived in a small room in the south building, connected to the house by a hallway. Your children lived nearby.
Beverly worked as a carpenter. Harriet helped house. Madison and Eston were still children. Everyone worked, but not like the other slaves, not in the fields under the sun, not being beaten by the foremen, they worked in the house, They learned trades, they had privileges that the other 300 slaves of Monticelo they didn’t have Visitors noticed the light-skinned children, they asked who were the slaves responded with evasive.
They are part of the family Hemings. They are good workers. They have white blood, but they never said who. Everyone knew it, but no one he said out loud. It was the secret that everyone shared the secret that they protected. Because Jefferson was power Jefferson was respected, because saying the truth out loud would mean destroy everything.
A slave named Isaac Jefferson, who worked in Montichelo For years, he gave an interview many years later. spoke about life in plantation, mentioned Sally Hemings. He said she was the chambermaid of Jefferson’s daughters, who were very loved by the family, who never he worked in the fields, he always He was close to Mr. Jefferson.
but Isaac never said that Sali was the Jefferson’s concubine. He never said that his children were from Jefferson, although I clearly knew it because everyone they knew. Jefferson’s White Daughters they also knew, or at least suspected. They saw the Hemings children every days. They saw how they looked like their father.
They saw the privileges they had. They saw how sally lived in a room together to Jefferson, but they never talked about it. Years later, when Jefferson had died, Jefferson’s granddaughters They denied the whole story. They said that It was impossible, that his grandfather would never do something like that, that the Hemings children were children of Jefferson’s nephews.
They invented this story, they defended it for decades because admit the truth It meant admitting that his grandfather had had a slave family, who had kept his sister as a concubine his dead wife. That was too much shameful, too painful. then They lied and hoped that no one could prove the opposite. The years passed.
Jefferson grew old. I had debts huge. The plantation did not generate enough money. had lived for above their means for decades, buying books, building buildings, importing wines, collecting art, all with money borrowed. By 1826 owed the equivalent of more than 2 million of current dollars. I knew that when If Montichelo died it would have to be sold.
The slaves would have to be sold. Everything would be lost. Your family white would be left with nothing. But there was a something Jefferson could control. he could decide which slaves to free in his testament. Virginia law allowed that the masters freed their slaves die. Jefferson had released very few slaves during his life, but Now, knowing that I would die soon, I had to make decisions.
decided free five slaves, only five of the more than 100 that he owned at that time moment. Two of them were brothers of Sally, the other three were children of Sally. Beverly, Madison and Eston would release. He kept his promise had made Sali 37 years earlier in Paris, but did not release Sali. your name It does not appear in the will.
there is no no letter of freedom for her. Nothing. After 37 years, after six children, after a lifetime being his concubine, Jefferson did not released. Maybe you thought it wasn’t necessary. Maybe he thought that his daughters They would release her informally. maybe He just didn’t care enough. We don’t know.
What we know is that When Thomas Jefferson died on the 4th July 1826, Sally Hemings was still legally his slave Jefferson died in his bed in Monticelo. He was 83 years old. had lived an extraordinary life. He had written the statement of independence. He had been governor, minister, vice president, president.
He had founded the University of Virginia. He was considered one of the great men of America, one of the founding fathers, a genius, a visionary, a hero. He died the same day than John Adams, the second president. It was seen as a sign of destiny. two great men dying on the same day. The 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence was news throughout the world country.
The newspapers published praise, They talked about his greatness, his legacy, of its importance to the nation. nobody mentioned Sally Hemings. Nobody talked about the six children he had had with her. Nobody mentioned that it had been 37 years in a relationship with his slave, who that slave was his wife’s sister dead, who had promised to free his children, who had not freed the mother.
All that was ignored, buried, forgotten, because that was not the story What America wanted to tell about Thomas Jefferson. That was not the story made him a hero. So, that history disappeared. became rumor, gossip, something that people respectable did not mention and so it remained for almost 200 years. Sally Hemings was not officially released, but Jefferson’s daughter, Martha, told him allowed him to leave Montichelo, shortly after his father’s death.
Sally moved to Charlottesville, the city close. He lived with his children Madison and Eston. He was 53 years old. For the first time in his life did not live in Montichelo, no served the Jefferson family, he was not owned by no one, was de facto free, although legally she was still a slave until his death.
Sally Hemings lived 9 years later, he died in 1835, He was 62 years old. In the 1830 census, 5 years before her death, she was registered as a white woman, not as a mulatto, no like black, like white. Your children were registered as white, had crossed the color line, they had turned into what their skin allowed to be.
they had escaped from slavery, not only legally, but also socially. they had turned white and with that they had erased their connection with Sally, with Jefferson, with the whole story, because that was the only way to survive, that was the only way to be truly free. Sally Hemings’ four children, who They survived to adulthood, They took different paths after obtain your freedom.
They all had enough skin clear enough to pass for whites and everyone used that advantage to escape slavery in ways others don’t they could. Beverly Hemings disappeared in 1822. He was 24 years old. He just left Montichelo one day and never returned. Jefferson recorded in his books that Beverly had fled, but did not send no one to look for it. He let it go.
He fulfilled his promise in a strange way. Beverlye went north. He married a woman white. He lived as a white man. had children. Their descendants never knew who had African blood. Never They learned that their great-grandfather had been Thomas Jefferson. Beverly deleted that one. story deliberately. It was the only one way to be truly free.
Harriet Hemings also left in 1822. He was 21 years old. Jefferson gave him money for the trip. 50 enough to get there far away. Harriet went to Washington DC. If married a white man. lived like white woman He had children. Your family He never knew the truth. Harriet kept the secret until his death because reveal The truth meant losing everything, It meant being rejected by her husband, It meant that their children would be considered black.
It meant going back to social slavery. So, Harriet chose silence, as her mother had chosen silence during all his life. Madison Hemings was different. He was officially released in Jefferson’s will in 1826. He was 21 years old. He stayed in Virginia. If married a free black woman. had children. He lived as a black man. and in 1873, when he was 68 years old, he gave an interview to a newspaper. He told the whole story.
He said his father was Thomas Jefferson. that his mother was Sally Hemings, who Sally had been the concubine of Jefferson for 37 years, that all his brothers were sons of Jefferson, who had grown up in Monticelo knowing This was not a secret to anyone. who lived there. Madison was the only one told the truth publicly, the only one who was not afraid, the only one who was not hid Eston Hemings was also released in 1826.
He was 18 years old. He stayed in Virginia for for a time, he got married. He had children. But in 1852 decided to move to Ohio and when he moved changed his last name. He called himself This is Hemings Jefferson. took the his father’s last name, the last name legally never had the right to use, but that it was his by blood.
In Ohio, Eston and his family lived as whites. Their children married white people. The descendants of They never knew they had blood African, but they always knew that They descended from Thomas Jefferson. They kept that part of the story. Sally’s story was erased. After Jefferson’s death, his white family denied the whole story for more than 150 years.
They said it was impossible, that Jefferson would never have had a relationship with a slave, who The Hemings children were children of the Jefferson’s nephews, not his. They invented complicated stories to explain why the children looked alike both to Jefferson. They said that the families look alike, cousins It seems like it was just a coincidence.
They attacked Madison’s credibility Hemings. They said I was lying, that I was looking for attention, that I wanted associate with a famous name. The white Jefferson family protected their reputation for decades and America believed because no one wanted to believe that a founding father had a family slave Historians too They denied the story for a long time time.
They said there was no evidence enough, that Madison’s testimony Hemings was not trustworthy, that the slaves lied, that Jefferson was a man of principles, who would never do something like that. Some historians admitted that was possible, but most denied. especially historians who admired Jefferson, who had dedicated their lives to studying his legacy.
Admit the truth about Sally Hemings meant admitting that Jefferson was a hypocrite, that the man who wrote about the equality kept his own children in slavery. That was too uncomfortable. So the story was ignored, minimized, denied. But in 1998 everything changed. A group of scientists performed DNA tests on descendants of Aston Hemings and in the descendants of the Jefferson family.
The results were clear. The Eston’s descendants had the DNA of the Jefferson line. It couldn’t be coincidence. It couldn’t be a nephew, It had to be Thomas Jefferson or someone very close to him in the direct line. and since Jefferson was the only man Jefferson who lived in Montichelo when This was conceived, the conclusion was obvious.
Thomas Jefferson was the father of Eston Hemings. And if he was the father of Eston was probably the father of all of Sally’s children. 172 years After Jefferson’s death, the science confirmed what Madison Hemings had said in 1873, what the slaves of Monticelo always had known, what Sally Hemings He had lived for 37 years. Thomas Jefferson had had six children with his slave The slave who was average sister of his dead wife.
the slave who had started having a relationship with him when he was 16 years old. The slave that was never free, the slave that was erased from official history during almost two centuries. In the year 2000, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which manages Monticelo as a museum, published an official report.
They recognized the relationship, they recognized the children, They recognized that the history they had denied for so long was true. They changed the exhibits in Montichelo. They added information about Sally Hemings, about her children, about room where he lived, about the promise that Jefferson made to him in Paris, about the 37 years they spent together, about the fact that he never released her.
Thomas Jefferson died as one of the greats men of America. Sally Hemins died like a forgotten ex-slave. Your children They were free, but they had to hide or deny who they were to live in peace Some chose to be white, others chose to be black, but they all carried the weight of a secret that America did not want to know.
The secret of the man who wrote that all men are created equals, he had six children with his slave and never publicly acknowledged them, He never released them until they turned 21 years and never freed his mother. This is the history that America buried during 200 years. The story that only science could confirm.
The history of president and the slave, of power and impotence, hypocrisy and survival, by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings and the six children she They were born in the shadow of the most man powerful of America. M.
