A new exhibit at the historical home of Thomas Jefferson is now open for viewing. Sally Hemings, a controversial figure in history, is being acknowledged at Jefferson’s sprawling Monticello Plantation, a place that was once home to 400 enslaved people during Jefferson’s lifetime. Jefferson also owned an additional 200 slaves that were held in bondage on his other properties. Among those that were enslaved at Monticello, the most well-known was Sally Hemings. A woman who is believed to be the mother of six children by the Founding Father.
Sally Hemings was born in 1773, the exact month and date of her birth is unknown. She was the child of John Wayles and Elizabeth Hemings, an enslaved woman owned by Wayles. This made her the half-sister of Jefferson’s wife Martha. Hemings and the rest of her family came to Monticello as Jefferson’s inheritance from his wife Martha. Hemings arrived at Monticello as a toddler, eventually becoming nursemaid to Jefferson’s daughter Maria while still at a young age herself. At 14, Hemings accompanied Maria to Paris, France. Once in Paris she was also reunited with her brother James who had come with Jefferson to Paris two years earlier to learn French cooking.
While in Paris, Hemings was legally free. In an interview with the Pike County Republican newspaper, published in 1873, Hemings’ son, Madison Hemings, explained his mother’s decision to return to enslavement in the states despite being legally free in France.
"But during that time (in Paris) my mother became Mr. Jefferson's concubine, and when he was called back home she was [pregnant] by him. He desired to bring my mother back to Virginia with him, but she demurred. She was just beginning to understand the French language well, and in France she was free, while if she returned to Virginia she would be re-enslaved. So, she refused to return with him. To induce her to do so he promised her extraordinary privileges and made a solemn pledge that her children should be freed at the age of twenty-one years. In consequence of his promise, on which she implicitly relied, she returned with him to Virginia."
Viewers of the exhibit will learn all about Sally Hemings’ life at Monticello and abroad. The tour will consist of the unveiling of newly restored spaces which includes the south wing and The Life of Sally Hemings. Visitors will be able to view the actual room in which Hemings occupied during her enslavement at Monticello. Previously, Monticello consisted of two tours. Visitors could choose to view the house or Mulberry Row, where the enslaved people of Monticello lived and worked. The options of the two tours allowed people to choose to see the dark side of life on the plantation or virtually ignore its existence and Jefferson’s role in America’s ugly past.
According to Gayle Jessup White, who not only helped launched the exhibit but is also a descendant of Sally Hemings' brother, and an ancestor of Thomas Jefferson, the new exhibits will be combined into one tour. "Going forward, guests will have a tour that is all-inclusive, that tells the story not only of Thomas Jefferson and his family but of the enslaved families as well," White says. "It's not just about Thomas Jefferson, it's about the people who made Thomas Jefferson's life possible. And that would've been the enslaved people who kept this plantation running. Many Americans don't want to confront our country's ugliest period,” she says. "But at Monticello we're giving humanity to people long forgotten. And the people to whom we're giving humanity are my people — they're my family."