Cultural depictions of Sally Hemings

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Sally Hemings has been represented in the media in popular culture due to her relationship with American Founding Father and president Thomas Jefferson. She has been portrayed in films and the inspiration for novels, plays and music.

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Literature

In television

In film

In opera

In theater

In music

In art

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Sarah "Sally" Hemings was a female slave with one-quarter African ancestry enslaved by president of the United States Thomas Jefferson, one of many he inherited from his father-in-law, John Wayles.

Martha Skelton Jefferson was the wife of Thomas Jefferson from 1772 until her death. She served as First Lady of Virginia during Jefferson's term as governor from 1779 to 1781. She died in 1782, 19 years before he became president.

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Martha "Patsy" Randolph was the eldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, and his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. She was born at Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia.

<i>Jefferson in Paris</i> 1995 French film

Jefferson in Paris is a 1995 historical drama film, directed by James Ivory, and previously entitled Head and Heart. The screenplay, by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, is a semi-fictional account of Thomas Jefferson's tenure as the Ambassador of the United States to France before his presidency and of his alleged relationships with Italian-English artist Maria Cosway and his slave, Sally Hemings.

Eston Hemings Jefferson was born into slavery at Monticello, the youngest son of Sally Hemings, a mixed-race enslaved woman. Most historians who have considered the question believe that his father was Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. Evidence from a 1998 DNA test showed that a descendant of Eston matched the Jefferson male line, and historical evidence also supports the conclusion that Thomas Jefferson was probably Eston's father. Many historians believe that Jefferson and Sally Hemings had six children together, four of whom survived to adulthood. Other historians disagree.

The Jefferson–Hemings controversy is a historical debate over whether there was a sexual relationship between the widowed U.S. President Thomas Jefferson and his slave and sister-in-law, Sally Hemings, and whether he fathered some or all of her six recorded children. For more than 150 years, most historians denied rumors that he had a slave concubine, Sally Hemings. Based on his grandson's report, they said that one of his nephews had been the father of Hemings's children. In the 21st century, most historians agree that Jefferson is the father of one or more of Sally's children.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madison Hemings</span> American freed slave (1805–1877)

Madison Hemings was the son of the mixed-race enslaved woman Sally Hemings and, according to most Jefferson scholars, her enslaver, President Thomas Jefferson. He was the third of her four children to survive to adulthood. Born into slavery, according to partus sequitur ventrem, Hemings grew up on Jefferson's Monticello plantation, where his mother was also enslaved. After some light duties as a young boy, Hemings became a carpenter and fine woodwork apprentice at around age 14 and worked in the joiner's shop until he was about 21. He learned to play the violin and was able to earn money by growing cabbages. Jefferson died in 1826, after which Sally Hemings was "given her time" by Jefferson's surviving daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph.

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The Monticello Association is a non-profit organization founded in 1913 to care for, preserve, and continue the use of the family graveyard at Monticello, the primary plantation of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. The organization's members are lineal descendants of Thomas Jefferson and his wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. The site is located just outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson was the designer, builder, owner, and, with his family, a first resident of Monticello.

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American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, is a 1996 book written by Joseph Ellis, a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College. It won the 1997 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

Mary Hemings Bell was born into slavery, most likely in Charles City County, Virginia, as the oldest child of Elizabeth Hemings, a mixed-race slave held by John Wayles. After the death of Wayles in 1773, Elizabeth, Mary, and her family were inherited by Thomas Jefferson, the husband of Martha Wayles Skelton, a daughter of Wayles, and all moved to Monticello.

Barbara Chase-Riboud is an American visual artist and sculptor, novelist, and poet.

Elizabeth Hemings was a female slave of mixed-ethnicity in colonial Virginia. With her owner, planter John Wayles, she had six children, including Sally Hemings. These children were three-quarters white, and, following the condition of their mother, they were considered slaves from birth; they were half-siblings to Wayles's daughter, Martha Jefferson. After Wayles died, the Hemings family and some 120 other slaves were inherited, along with 11,000 acres and £4,000 debt, as part of his estate by his daughter Martha and her husband Thomas Jefferson.

Tina Andrews is an American actress, television producer, screenwriter, author and playwright. She played Valerie Grant in the series Days of Our Lives from 1975 until 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annette Gordon-Reed</span> American historian

Annette Gordon-Reed is an American historian and law professor. She is currently the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University and a professor of history in the university's Faculty of Arts & Sciences. She is formerly the Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History at Harvard University and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Gordon-Reed is noted for changing scholarship on Thomas Jefferson regarding his relationship with Sally Hemings and her children.

Harriet Hemings was born into slavery at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, in the first year of his presidency. Most historians believe her father was Jefferson, who is now believed to have fathered, with his slave Sally Hemings, four children who survived to adulthood.

Sandra Cecelia Seaton is an American playwright and librettist. She received the Mark Twain Award from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature in 2012. Seaton taught creative writing and African-American literature at Central Michigan University for 15 years as a professor of English.

From the Diary of Sally Hemings is a song cycle for voice and piano. The work, commissioned by mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar and Music Accord, is a collaboration between Pulitzer Prize winning composer William Bolcom and playwright Sandra Seaton. After being contacted by Quivar, Bolcom asked Seaton to write entries for a fictional diary kept by Sally Hemings throughout her life. Seaton's text for 18 entries of the imaginary diary were then set to music by Bolcom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titus Kaphar</span> American painter

Titus Kaphar is an American contemporary painter whose work reconfigures and regenerates art history to include the African-American subject. His paintings are held in the collections of Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, New Britain Museum of American Art, Seattle Art Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and University of Michigan Museum of Art.

<i>Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings</i> US fictional literature

Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings is a 2016 historical fiction novel by American writer Stephen O'Connor. The novel depicts the relationship between Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, and Sally Hemings, his slave and sister-in-law. The depiction, which portrayed the relationship as consensual and romantic, was the focus of controversy due to questions about Hemings's status as a slave and her age difference with Jefferson.

References

  1. ↑ Ishida, Yoriko (2010). Modern and Postmodern Narratives of Race, Gender, and Identity: The Descendants of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings (Modern American Literature). Peter Lang International Academic Publishers. p. 6. ISBN   978-1433108754.
  2. ↑ "A Popular but Controversial Biography". Pbs.org. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Thomas Jefferson's Unknown Grandchildren". americanheritage.com. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  4. ↑ Gordon-Reed (1998), pp. 182–83.
  5. ↑ "The Jeffersons - George And The President Pt 1 of 3". YouTube . Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Jeffersons - George And The President Part 2 of 3". YouTube . Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  7. ↑ "The Jeffersons - George And The President Part 3 of 3". YouTube . Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "Review: 'Sally Hemings: An American Scandal'". Variety.com. February 10, 2000. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  9. ↑ "The History of a Secret", 1995–2011, accessed 5 May 2011
  10. ↑ Shelby Steele (writer, narrator) (2000-05-03). "Jefferson's Blood". PBS Frontline documentary. PBS. WGBH, Boston.
  11. ↑ "Jefferson's Blood". pbs.org. 2 May 0200. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Thomas Jefferson Meets Sally Hemings - SNL". YouTube.
  13. ↑ Berkshire, Geoff (November 12, 2013). "Its Ichabod Versus the Internet and We all win". Hitfix. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  14. ↑ Travers, Peter (March 31, 1995). "Jefferson in Paris". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Sally". albany.edu. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  16. ↑ "World Premiere of From the Diary of Sally Hemings at Library of Congress". Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  17. ↑ "From the Diary of Sally Hemings". .sandraseaton.com. Archived from the original on February 28, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  18. ↑ ""Tom and Sally in Paris," Excerpt 1". YouTube. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  19. ↑ ""Tom and Sally in Paris" Opera Excerpt 2, "The Bastille"". YouTube. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  20. ↑ ""Tom and Sally in Paris," Opera excerpt 3". YouTube. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Tom and Sally in Paris," Opera excerpt 4 of 4". YouTube. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  22. ↑ ""Monticello Wakes: Luce and Char," Excerpt 1". YouTube. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  23. ↑ https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/seaton_sandra.html
  24. ↑
  25. ↑ https://www.broadwayworld.com/michigan/article/Performance-Network-Theatre-Announces-FIRESIDE-FESTIVAL-1258-20101123
  26. ↑ Janiak, Lily (2017-10-04). "'Thomas and Sally': How much did she choose?". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  27. ↑ Kost, Ryan (2017-10-22). "Marin play ignites debate about history and slavery". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  28. ↑ "Sally & Tom | Guthrie Theater".
  29. ↑ "Following up 'Hamilton': THEY'RE READY (The Ballad of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings)". YouTube .
  30. ↑ "They're Ready: The Ballad of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings". IMDb .
  31. ↑ "National Portrait Gallery: Titus Kaphar and Ken Gonzales-Day Explore 'UnSeen' Narratives in Historic Portraiture". 28 March 2018.
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