Let us see if we can agree on some basic facts--what can we say about Sally Hemings that no one is likely to dispute.

1.  She was a slave.
2.  She belonged to Thomas Jefferson
3.  She had several children
4.  She was the half sister of Jefferson's wife
5.  She accompanied Jefferson to France
6.  She had children by more than one man
7.  The father of one of her children was descended from Thomas Jefferson's paternal grandfather--that is to say, we can narrow the list of possible fathers for this child to Thomas Jefferson, his paternal uncles, and his paternal cousins
8.  Most (all?) of Heming's pregnancies correspond with times when Jefferson was at Monticello
9.  During the years when Hemings was having children, Jefferson was rarely at Monticello

Can we agree that we know these things with reasonable certitude?

All best,
Kevin
Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Department of History
James Madison University

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