Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings: An American Controversy (Paperback)

The recent DNA test results published in NATURE magazine have been taken by many historians as conclusive evidence of the Jefferson-Hemings liaison. My only disagreement with this position is that it slights this fine book; anyone who reads THOMAS JEFFERSON AND SALLY HEMINGS: AN AMERICAN CONTROVERSY will realize that the DNA test results reported by NATURE are only the icing on the cake, and that we knew or should have known that the Jefferson-Hemings liaison was historical fact and not historical fiction long before now.

Annette Gordon-Reed's book deserves a wide audience and close, attentive, respectful reading; it is a masterpiece.

-- Richard B. Bernstein, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York Law School (and, I admit, a colleague and friend of Annette Gordon-Reed, who does NOT teach at New York University Law School)

1-Falsely praised as thorough research by Annette Gordon-Reed, a simple test by the reader can prove otherwise. Look to page 285-6 to see zero index entries for brother Randolph Jefferson, his five adult sons, or President Jefferson's nephew and business agent, George Jefferson, Jr. who was educated at Monticello as a youth and was just two years older than Sally Hemings.

2-Her emphasis on "TJ At Monticello 9 months before each birth" is a shallow analysis. This is the primary basis of her argument. More careful study shows significant gaps in Hemings conception pattern when Thomas Jefferson was at Monticello (1790-1795, 1801-1805, and 1809-on). However, if one studies the conception pattern of Randolph Jefferson and Sally Hemings, a more consistent pattern is revealed. But then there is no prestige, publicity value, or money in a book about a slave child being fathered by the not so successful brother of a president.

3-Author Reed criticizes white historians for not giving sufficient weight to Black oral history. A reasonable concern, except that Mrs. Reed ignores two significant stories from Black oral history which tend to acquit Thomas Jefferson. She has a clear double standard; if the truth does not support her story, she omits the truth.

4-When boiled down, Author Reed's arguments consist of only two legs. The second leg says only Sally Hemings children were given their freedom. That is provably FALSE. Her brothers Robert, James, and John were freed by Jefferson. Also her cousins Joe Fosset and Burwell Colbert. The genealogy charts are deceptive, though they do provide some interesting information about the names of Sally's children matching names of Randolph, not Jefferson, family members. A far better family tree is in the book "Jefferson at Monticello".

A final note, Mrs. Reed has appeared on TV talk shows often since the Jefferson DNA fraud was published. If she was truly trying to present both sides of the issues as she claims, why has she not told TV viewers that any of 25 Jefferson adult males would have the same Y chromosome pattern. Where Clinton's DNA match ratio was 7.87 trillion to 1, O J Simpson's DNA match ratio was 35 million to 1, the Nature article said there was a 1.5% factor, which calculated out would yield a 67 to 1 DNA match ratio for the Jefferson DNA test. Not very reliable in light of other DNA results.

Sometimes a reader can learn a lot by digging through piles of conjecture, suppositions, and biased opinions. For this method of learning about the Jefferson-Hemings myth, Mrs. Reed's book is a satisfactory read.