I was glad to see Steven T. Corneliussen's post because I'm writing the
Hemings chapter of my book on Jefferson and his slaves right now, so these
are the issues on my mind every morning. It's hard to say where public
opinion stands on the Hemings issue because I haven't seen any polls on
this. Jefferson's defenders (a phrase I use neutrally, to distinguish them
from the folks I call "the Hemings partisans") believe they have made some
headway in getting the media to acknowledge that DNA all by itself did not
prove a Hemings/Thomas Jefferson link. My ballpark guess is that most
historians who study slavery, plantations, and the antebellum South are
persuaded that Thomas Jefferson fathered all of Hemings's children. If there
are any doubters among prominent southern-studies specialists they are
keeping their mouths shut. There are some political and legal historians who
don't believe it, such as the members of the scholars committee chaired by
Robert Turner of UVA law school.  Then there are the unaffiliated defenders
such as Herb Barger, Richard Dixon, Cynthia Burton, Ken Wallenborn, and the
McMurrys, who have carried out herculean labors of research. My hat is off
to these defenders because they have made a really good case. Their
arguments convinced me that the question is still open; that's one reason I
decided to write the book.

I have nearly gone mad trying to figure out this Hemings business because,
as the defenders have shown, the documentary records (specifically the
Callender articles and Madison Hemings's memoir) are really full of holes,
to an extent which the Hemings partisans have not acknowledged. But on the
other side, the defenders suggest that any one of seven Jeffersons (I think
Ann Coulter will tell you 25) could have fathered the Hemings children, but
some of these paternity candidates might as well be the Man in the Moon,
they were so far off.  Poisoning all of this discussion is the
politics--politically correct on one side, patriotically correct on the
other side. If you believe this, you're racist; if you believe that, you
hate America.  

Corneliussen is correct--the DNA test by itself did not prove that Thomas
was the father, and the DNA test by itself does not clear the Carrs from
paternity of Hemings's older children. (One lingering mystery, which will
probably never be solved: Jefferson's grandson TJ Randolph said that Sally's
sister (or niece) also had children who resembled Jefferson: Who were these
children? Who was their father? For that matter, who was their mother--the
sister or the niece?) The question for me has been: can we navigate through
the errors, lies, and false memories in the documents and come to a really
firm conclusion? I think we can. My thinking is that the most important
"witnesses" are not Callender and Madison Hemings, but Edmund Bacon and
Isaac Jefferson. The specialists on the list will know what I'm talking
about, the rest of you will have to wait for the book.  

For those of you who missed the BookTV showing of the panel, Jon Kukla made
a very funny remark on the subject of paternity, evidence, testimony, etc. 
I paraphrase: "I have three children, and I certainly hope there were no
witnesses."  

Henry Wiencek
Charlottesville

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