Madison Hemings: Difference between revisions

Since 1998 and the DNA study, which affirmed the historical evidence, many historians have accepted that the widower Jefferson had a long, sexual relationship with Hemings, and fathered six children with her, four of whom survived to adulthood. The [[Thomas Jefferson Foundation]] (TJF), which runs Monticello, conducted an independent historic review in 2000, as did the [[National Genealogical Society]] in 2001; the scholars of both reviews concluded Jefferson was probably the father of all Hemings's children.<ref name="Sally Hemings 2011">[http://www.monticello.org/plantation/hemingscontro/hemings-jefferson_contro.html "Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: A Brief Account"], Monticello Website, accessed 22 June 2011, Quote: "Ten years later [referring to its 2000 report], TJF [Thomas Jefferson Foundation] and most historians now believe that, years after his wife's death, Thomas Jefferson was the father of the six children of Sally Hemings mentioned in Jefferson's records, including Beverly, Harriet, Madison and Eston Hemings."</ref><ref>Helen F. M. Leary, ''National Genealogical Society Quarterly'', Vol. 89, No. 3, September 2001, pp. 207, 214 - 218 Quote: Leary concluded that "the chain of evidence securely fastens Sally Hemings's children to their father, Thomas Jefferson."</ref>{{efn|Critics, such as the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society (TJHS) Scholars Commission (2001), have argued against these conclusions. They have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to determine that Jefferson was the father of Hemings's children. The TJHS report, which was not peer-reviewed, suggested that Jefferson's younger brother [[Randolph Jefferson]] could have been the father. This alternative was at one time recounted by twentieth-century descendants of Eston Hemings who were classified as white. Their fathers were trying to shield them from racism.<ref name="Turner">{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Also see Robert F. |title=The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission |orig-year=2001|year=2011 |publisher=Carolina Academic Press |location=Durham |isbn=978-0-89089-085-1 |pages=162}}</ref> The TJHS report also suggested that Hemings may have had multiple partners.<ref>[http://www.tjheritage.org/scholars.html "The Scholars Commission on the Jefferson-Hemings Issue"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915102147/http://www.tjheritage.org/scholars.html |date=2015-09-15 }}, 2001, Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society</ref>}}

 

 

In 2012, the [[Smithsonian Institution]] and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation held a major exhibit at the [[National Museum of American History]]: ''Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: The Paradox of Liberty.'' It said that "evidence strongly support[s] the conclusion that Jefferson was the father of Sally Hemings' children."<ref>[http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibition.cfm?key=38&exkey=1669 ''Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: The Paradox of Liberty,''] 27 January 2012-14 October 2012, Smithsonian Institution, accessed 23 March 2012. Quote: "The [DNA] test results show a genetic link between the Jefferson and Hemings descendants: A man with the Jefferson Y chromosome fathered Eston Hemings (born 1808). While there were other adult males with the Jefferson Y chromosome living in Virginia at that time, most historians now believe that the documentary and genetic evidence, considered together, strongly support the conclusion that Jefferson was the father of Sally Hemings's children."</ref>