Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy Book

This book was originally written before DNA testing were completed which ultimately showed that Sally Heming's children were indeed Jefferson children. It must be emphasized that although tests confirm that Sally Hemings did indeed have children which were a match to Jefferson DNA, it is not necessarily so that Heming's children were the offspring of THOMAS Jefferson. This book, although repetitious and sometimes dry, was very interesting. Dr. Gordon Reed is an attorney and therefore wrote the book as if she were presenting a case in court. I can't say, however, that she convinced me with her arguments. Her main argument which was repeated many times is that racism and the idea of 'white supremacy' are so ingrained in our society and consequently, most historians cannot look at the evidence presented regarding the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings in an objective manner. I am not disputing that racism is ingrained in many levels in our society. I was just not swayed by Dr. Gordon-Reed's arguments.

In the end, I found the book to be very interesting as far as the historical perspective she gave. She provided a great deal of information about the background of slavery in Virginia. And I found the little pieces of information she uncovered about Heming's children which were told in their own words to be fascinating. All in all, the book demonstrates what I (and probably MOST people)already knew.... there were ALWAYS relationships (sexual or romantic) between slave owners and the women they 'owned' as slaves. This relationship just happened to be between the third President of the United States and a woman who was his slave.