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Home , Betty Hemings, Sally Hemings

Thomas Jefferson and Author(s): Pearl M. Graham Source: The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Apr., 1961), pp. 89-103 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2716715 Accessed: 26-07-2018 16:00 UTC

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This content downloaded from 207.62.77.131 on Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:00:10 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms AND SALLY HEMINGS Thomas Jefferson had been only briefly in the when reports, long circulated in the neighborhoods of Richmond and Charlottesville, began to appear in print. Some of Jefferson's own slaves, it was agreed, bore a striking re- semblance to their master. And one name, that of Sally Hem- ings1, appeared as the most favored of the colored mistresses. Jefferson himself took, at least in public, a "No com- ment" attitude. But his own private holograph papers,2 now available for study, are consistent with the supposition that he was the father of all Sally Hemings' children. Sally was born in 1773 to ,3 a slave of of Charles City County, whose daughter, Martha, had been married, the preceding year, to Thomas Jefferson of .4 Jefferson's records make no note of Sally's paternity, and possibly with good reason. For Sally was so much lighter in color than her mother as to justify the presumption that her father was white. Local gossip assigned her paternity, and that of some of her older sib- lings, to their master, John Wayles. If gossip spoke truth, Sally Hemings was half-sister to Mrs. Thomas Jefferson.6 But John Wayles died within a few months of Sally's birth, and Betty Hemings, with her descendants, became, by right of his wife, the property of Thomas Jefferson.6 From this time forward, Monticello was 'home.' There were interesting hiatuses. The first came during the Revolution. Thomas Jefferson, , principal author of the Declaration of Independence, was an inevitable target of the British forces. Twice he, himself,

1 Spelled also, Hemmings. Jefferson used both spellings, but, most often, Henings. 2 Especially his Farm Book. 3 See Jefferson's Farm Book. 4 See R. B. Henry: Genealogies of the Families of the Presidents. 5 See Isaac Jefferson: Memoirs of a Monticello Slave, Univ. of Virginia Press, 1951. Sundry other commentators of the period noted the current belief that one of Jefferson's slave mistresses was 's half-sister. Not all of them mentioned Sally by name. 6According to the law of the day, a married woman could hold no property, but all of which she might, as maid or widow, have become possessed, became, on her marriage, the absolute property of her husband.

89

This content downloaded from 207.62.77.131 on Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:00:10 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 90 JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY escaped only by dint of expert horsemanship and the work of a skilled slave blacksmith who had taken the precaution of shoeing his master's horse backwards.7 Jefferson sent a num- ber of his slaves, including several of the Hemingses, to York for safety. The ruse was unsuccessful. Small Sally was among a group captured by the British, who presently con- signed a number of the able-bodied males for sale elsewhere.8 But the British army was in too precarious a position to bother much with little girls, and presently Sally and her mother were again at Monticello. Life was not too hard. Jefferson was a strict discipli- narian, but never a cruel one. There were warm beds and sufficient food.9 There were companions. One can hardly say 'playmates', for a child old enough to play was old enough to run errands. But in the social hierarchy of slavery, the choicest position was that of a competent and trusted . Betty Hemings held this envied place, and trained her daughters in good manners and household management. And if she, and one or more of her daughters, lived in , it must be remembered that a slave woman had no choice. When Mrs. Jefferson, a few years later, became a con- firmed invalid, Betty Hemings was in charge of the sick room, and Sally, under her mother's supervision, was the little er- rand girl, under call for small services.10 On Mrs. Jefferson's bedside table there stood a little bell, hand-wrought, of iron, at some slave blacksmith's forge. For many months the little girl was wont to come running to her task, at the tinkle of this bell. When Mrs. Jefferson died, nine-year-old Sally was in the room, one of the attendants at her bedside. Jefferson, to mark appreciation of the services rendered his wife, presented to each of her attendants some token of gratitude. To Sally was given the intriguing little bell, at whose call she had so often come running. For the rest of her life, that bell remained a cherished possession, to be handed down to her own daughter, and, in turn, to hers, even unto

7 Tradition of Sally's descendants. 8 See Jefferson's letters in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Ed. Dr. Julian Boyd. The Princeton Press. 9 See Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book, Ed. Edwin Betts. 10 Tradition of Sally's descendants.

This content downloaded from 207.62.77.131 on Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:00:10 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms THOMAS JEFFERSON AND SALLY HEMINGS 91 the fourth generation. One hundred seventy years later, this bell was presented, by a great-granddaughter of Sally Hem- ings and Thomas Jefferson,1 to the library of Howard Uni- versity, where it is now to be seen. After Mrs. Jefferson's death, Monticello was deserted of its owners. Jefferson accepted an appointment to France, and with him he carried his eldest daughter, twelve-year-old Martha. His other surviving children, five-year-old Polly, and the baby, Lucy Elizabeth, were left in care of a kindly maternal aunt.l2 But the baby, Lucy, died, and when Polly was nine, Jefferson wrote directions that she be sent to him in France.13 Fourteen-year-old Sally was chosen to accompany Polly Jefferson.14 This, Jefferson had not intended. He had desig- nated an older servant, sensible and reliable, to be Polly's companion, but at sailing time, Isabel was ill. Ships did not sail often, for the Old World, and, almost on the spur of the moment, Sally was substituted.15 It was a heady experience for the little slave girl, wont to be at everybody's beck and call, suddenly to find herself on shipboard, with no one at hand whose orders she must obey, her only companion the shy, pretty little girl who had won her affection. Sally must have issued her own declaration of independence, for good Captain Ramsay, in whose care the two girls had been put, made his laments later.'6 They debarked at London, where they were taken in charge by , wife of , later to be second President of the United States.17 Jefferson had ar- ranged that, till he could send a courier to escort them to , the girls should be under Mrs. Adams' chaperonage. Moreover, she was to purchase for Polly a wardrobe suitable

11 Mrs. Lucy Williams Coles. 12 Elizabeth, wife of Frances Eppes of Eppington. 13 See Pierson: Jefferson at Monticello. See Jefferson's letters in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Ed. Dr. Julian Boyd. Princeton Press. 14 See correspondence of Abigail Adams with T. Jefferson, in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, supra. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid. See also, Polly Jefferson and Her Father by Dudley Malone. Vir- ginia Quarterly Review, Vol. VII, Jan. 1931.

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for the small daughter of a minister to the court of Louis XVI. This she did, and we have in her own handwriting the list of purchases, with the prices, for which Jefferson was to reimburse her. The Adams quarters were presently over- flowing with juvenile finery, whose care Sally, no doubt, was expected to assume. But no purchase, not so much as a far- thing's worth, was made for Sally. Sally won no approval from Abigail Adams, beyond the somewhat grudging "she seems good-natured and fond of the child." She wrote Jefferson that Sally required more care than the child, and was wholly incapable of looking after Polly without some supervisor to direct her. Sally at this time looked older than her actual age, else one might wonder just how much Mrs. Adams expected of a fourteen-year-old. We have no details of Sally's sojourn in France. An older brother had accompanied the Jeffersons on their voyage four years earlier, and we may hope that he aided his sister in ad- justing to conditions which must have been as strange to her as would have been a transfer to another planet. Some fash- ionable boarding schools of the day permitted pupils to be accompanied by their personal maids; hence it is possible that Sally may have spent some time in the aristocratic L'Abbaye Royale de Panthemont, where Jefferson's daugh- ters were being educated. She must have acquired some knowledge of French. Her liaison with Jefferson may have begun in France-this possibility will be considered later. She was pitifully young, but was said to be beautiful, and both she and Jefferson must have been lonely, at times, with long- ing for Monticello. She returned two years later with the family, and possibly, though not certainly, with an infant son, and was installed as one of the house servants at Monticello. For some years to come, she faded into the background, and what little we know of her is confined mostly to Jefferson's occasional notations in his Farm Book. Almost immediately, Jefferson left for Philadelphia to take up his duties as Secretary of State under President ; and as Cabinet member, Vice President, and President, Monticello saw little of him for the next twenty years ensuing. Martha soon married her cousin, Thomas Mann Randolph, was installed as mistress of Monticello, and

This content downloaded from 207.62.77.131 on Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:00:10 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms THOMAS JEFFERSON AND SALLY HEMINGS 93 gave birth, in fairly prompt succession, to twelve children.18 She was hostess to all the neighbors and relatives who de- scended upon the now re-established family, and presently one large room of the mansion was set aside as a schoolroom, where Martha herself tutored her numerous brood. It may be assumed that, except for general directions, she was glad to leave housekeeping details in the hands of capable and experienced servants, among whom Betty Hemings held first place. But there was nothing informal about Monticello so- cial life. Martha had been reared with the daughters of French aristocrats, and in the stately tradition of the court of Louis XVI. Probably even Betty found it well, at times, to consult with her daughter Sally, and with her son Robert, who, while in France, had learned the art of French cooking, for which Jefferson had formed a particular liking. During Jefferson's own visits, necessarily few, to Monti- cello, he entered upon or, it may be, resumed, his relations with Sally. By the time he turned the reins of government over to in 1809, Sally was the busy mother of several younglings who closely resembled Jefferson;19 poets were writing condemnatory verses ;20 newspapers from Rich- mond to Boston were expressing disapproval;21 and in the taverns male voices were singing lustily, to the tune of Yankee Doodle, a popular ditty of the day: Of all the damsels on the green, On mountain or in valley, A lass so lucious ne'er was seen As Monticellian Sally. Yankee Doodle, who's the noodle? What wife was half so handy? To breed a flock of slaves for stock A blackamoor's a dandy.

18 See R. B. Henry: Genealogies of the Families of the Presidents. 19 See Edwin Betts, Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book. 20 William Cullen Bryant, The Embargo (now usually omitted from his col- lected works) mentions Sally by name. Thomas Moore, in a poem usually omitted from American editions, refers to her under the term, "Blaek Asphasia." 21 Among the newspapers: Richmond Examiner, Richmond Recorder, New York Evening Post, Boston Gazette. See also: Fessenden, Thos. G. Democracy Unveiled, Portfolio, 1803, p. 35.

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Sally bore to Jefferson at least four children, possibly six. He himself, in his Farm Book lists of slaves, has many times recorded:

Hemings, Sally, 1773 Beverley, 1798 Harriet, May 1801 Madison, Jan. 1805 Eston, May 1808 The dates are those of birth. Jefferson may have been un- certain of the exact date of Beverley's birth; he records different months, but the year is always, 1798. He never names the father of these children. He made another entry: Harriet, Sally's, Oct. 5, 1795, but did not specifically identify this Sally as Sally Hemings, and he had other slaves called Sally. This child disappears from the Farm Book within a few months; we must suppose that she either died or was sold. I incline to concur with the conclusion of W. Edward Farrison of North Carolina State College at Durham, who first called this entry to my attention, that 'Harriet' was probably a favorite name with Sally Hemings, who be- stowed upon her second daughter the same name as that of her lost child. But this remains speculation, only. Then there was, possibly, 'Tom'. The only authority for his existence seems to be James Thompson Callender of the Richmond Recorder who, writing in 1802, said that Tom, then about twelve years old, was Sally's eldest child by Jefferson, whom he closely resembled. Callender pretended to no first- hand knowledge, but only to report statements made to him by what newsmen of to-day call "informed sources." Im- peccable authorities, including Jefferson himself, show Cal- lender's information to have been correct, save in his account of 'Tom', who is not elsewhere mentioned. In this instance, Callender may have been misinformed, but there is another, and more intriguing, possibility. Tom, if 12 years old, must have been born in France. I presented to the Consulate Gen- eral de France in New York City the query: what would have been the status, under French law, of a child born in France to the slave of a foreign diplomat officially accredited to the court of Louis XVI? I received the reply: "Since the Middle

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Ages, any person born in France, whatever the condition of his parents, was accounted a free person." Jefferson's Farm Book lists only his slaves. If 'Tom' were free, this fact would explain his omission, even though the lad may have been living with his mother at Monticello, as Callender states that he was. It is a favorite contention of Jefferson admirers who af- fect to believe it impossible that he should ever have been guilty of misconduct, that the dates of his movements prove it impossible that he should ever have fathered such-and-such colored offspring. In no case, however, does any such de- fender give a single date in support of his contention. And, acknowledging that all Sally's children closely resembled Jefferson, they ascribe paternity to some suppositions, but unnamed, Jefferson relative. The pertinent facts are these: 1. Tom-if he existed-was born in France. None of Jefferson's male relatives were in Europe at that time. 2. The first Harriet was born October 5, 1795. And 1794- 96 were the only years of Jefferson's active life which he spent almost continuously at Monticello.22 3. The second Harriet was born in May, 1801, and Eston in May, 1805. Jefferson regularly spent the month of August as a vacation period at Monticello.23 Each of these two births occurred precisely nine months after the August stay. 4. Madison was born in January, 1805, just nine months after the death, at Monticello, of Jefferson's daughter, Polly.24 Of all his household, Sally Hemings had been the one most intimately associated with this daughter. Presumably, Jefferson attended her funeral. Seemingly, the bereaved father and sorrowing slave turned to each other for comfort in their mutual grief. 5. The exact birth date of Beverley is uncertain, but Jeffer- son's last notation of him in the Farm Book, "Beverley '98, Ran away, 1822" would seem to confirm his own parentage. For two English writers, Captain Marryat in his Diary in

22 From his resignation, Dec. 31, 1793, as Secretary of State, till his inaugu- ration, 1797 as Vice President. 23 Authority, Sir Augustus John Foster. 24 See R. B. Henry: Genealogies of the Families of the Presidents.

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America, and Mrs. Trollope in Domestic Manners of the , have recorded being told that, when any one of Jefferson's own children ran away, he would merely laugh meaningfully, and let it be known to his guests that he should not attempt pursuit. Habitually, he called upon officers of the law to aid in the return of fugitive slaves. Had he intended this action in Beverley's case, there would have been no occasion for the notation mentioned. As slave usage went, time passed not too unpleasantly for the Hemingses. Tom vanished, we know not how or when. Virginia did not look kindly upon the residence within her borders of , and after maturity, Tom's station at Monticello would have been anomalous. Probably he left the State. Beverley, listed in the Farm Book as having a skilled trade, was allowed to escape to freedom. Madison and Eston were apprenticed at an early age to Sally's brother, John, who was the most skilled of Jefferson's carpenters, and who, as his extant correspondence with Jefferson proves, was a man of character and integrity.25 Sally's only daughter, Harriet, was trained in household skills, and became, with her mother, one of the more favored house servants. Like Sally herself, Harriet was said to have been very beautiful. Not all their days were spent at busy Monticello. Sally and Harriet were sometimes among the small staff assigned to ,26 Jefferson's quiet re- treat from the turmoil of the many house guests that overran Monticello. One of Harriet's granddaughters has told me that, accord- ing to her family tradition, Monticello slaves enjoyed many simple pleasures. Certainly their surroundings were beauti- ful, and no overseer was ever allowed to exercise authority over the Jefferson house servants.7 There were no physical cruelties; a slave practiced courtesy and obedience, or he was sold.28 It is probable that Madison and Eston were tutored in the

25 See Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Ed. Julian Boyd. Correspondence of John Hemings with Thomas Jefferson. 26 See Jefferson's Farm Book. 27 See Hamilton Pierson: Jefferson at Monticello. 28 See The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Princeton Press.

This content downloaded from 207.62.77.131 on Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:00:10 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms THOMAS JEFFERSON AND SALLY HEMINGS 97 elements of the three R's by Virginia Randolph, Jefferson's granddaughter. A carpenter had need to know these things, and, though Virginia laws discouraged slave education, ex- ceptions were often made in favor of masters of good repute and with no tendencies towards abolitionism, who might be having slaves trained for some useful trade wherein such specific skills would be required. 'Miss Virginia' conducted such a class for a few slave lads.29 Her pupils were enjoined to solemn secrecy, and warned that discovery would bring down upon their teacher the dread displeasure of the law. Actually, no doubt, Miss Randolph had secured legal permis- sion for her class, though it may have been deemed inadvis- able to let her work be known to the slaves in general. In any case, the enjoined secrecy proved an excellent educational device. Forbidden knowledge is always delicious to boyhood, and my informant painted an enchanting picture of two small colored boys, one of them his own father, stealing away after nightfall to an abandoned Monticello shack, where, by torch- light, they labored earnestly with the mysteries of letters and figures. During Jefferson's later years, he was instrumental in founding the at near-by Charlottes- ville, and some of his own slaves were employed in the work of construction on the campus. At his death, this fact became a matter of some importance to the Hemingses. He died July 4, 1826, fifty years to a day from the histori- cal signing of the Declaration with which his name is so closely associated. His will had been drawn with the main purpose of protecting the future of his daughter, Martha, who had many chidren and grandchildren, but whose husband, Thomas Mann Randolph, though prominent in Virginia poli- tics, had shown little aptitude for business management. Jefferson had more confidence in his eldest grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, whom he named executor. The will freed Sally's sons, Madison and Eston, and her brother, John, who was also named guardian of the two boys

29 Authority, the late Mr. Charles Bullock, lifetime leader in the colored YMCA. Mr. Bullock's own father, born a slave on a near-by plantation, had been secretly tutored by a little chum, one of Virginia Randolph's pupils.

This content downloaded from 207.62.77.131 on Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:00:10 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 98 JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY during their minority. He prayed the Virginia legislature to grant them permission to remain in the State, giving assur- ance that they would not become public charges, since all had permanent employment on the campus of the University of Virginia. He made no provision for Sally, or for her daugh- ter, Harriet. They, with most of his slaves, were intended by him to remain in the possession of his daughter, Martha. It need not have been too unpleasant a fate. Martha Jeff- erson Randolph was admitted to be a considerate mistress; the work required of them would be that to which they had been long accustomed, and would certainly be no heavier than what they must expect if they had to seek new employment in unaccustomed surroundings. And in those days, it was only the slave who possessed as of legal right what we now term 'social security', for, when disabled or superannuated, he was still entitled to support from his master for the term of his natural life. Jefferson had, therefore, every reason to suppose that his mistress and daughter would be better as- sured, both of personal happiness and of material welfare, as slaves, rather than as indigent freedwomen. But one cir- cumstance, unforeseen by him, nullified his intent. He died bankrupt. The emancipation of the three Hemings males was allowed to proceed, but this can have been only by sufferance of his creditors. Very little of the Jefferson estate could be saved for Martha, and for some years young Randolph was hard put to it to insure for his mother and his younger siblings the mere necessities of life. Monticello had to be sold, and so, too, did most of the slaves. I have been unable to locate any official account of the disposal of individual slaves, but it can hardly be doubted that both Sally and Harriet were among those auctioned off on the block. Sally was 53 years old when Jefferson died. From this moment, she disappears from history. But not so, Harriet. I was fortunate in contacting four sisters,30 granddaughters of Harriet Hemings, two of whom still survive, and learning from them some account of their

30Mrs. Anna (Kenney) Ezell. Mrs. Lucy (Kenney) Williams Coles. Mrs. Gertrude Harriet (Kenney) Smith Watson. Mrs. Minnie (Kenney) Arbuckle.

This content downloaded from 207.62.77.131 on Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:00:10 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms THOMAS JEFFERSON AND SALLY HEMINGS 99 later family history. These ladies were good enough to be very cooperative, and we tried to distinguish between their mere general impressions, which might, or might not, be cor- rect, and their specific-and therefore more probably correct -family traditions. Their mother, Mary Frances Captain Coles, Harriet's daughter, had been born free in or near Charlottesville, in 1837. Ten years after Jefferson's death; therefore, we may be assured that Harriet Hemings had be- come a free woman, since these ladies would certainly have known the fact, had their mother been born a slave. I have not yet learned how Harriet gained her freedom. One sister was under the impression that she had been emancipated by Jefferson himself. But no record has yet been found of his ever having freed any female slave.31 A second sister thought Harriet had gained her freedom by an escape to Canada. But Canadian law did not hold in Virginia, and, on her return, Harriet would still have been a slave. On one point, however, all the sisters were agreed. Harriet had been married in Canada. That, they had been specifically told. The difficulties inherent in conducting an investigation such as this one are perfectly illustrated by the 'Canada' story. I needed corroboration, but the sisters had no tradi- tion regarding Harriet's experiences in Canada, aside from the mere fact of her marriage there. They had no ideas as to the length of her stay, or the reasons for her return. My inquiries addressed to Canadian archivists, Negro reference librarians, the Canadian Consulate in New York City, etc., brought no results; yet certainly there would have been an official record of such a marriage. It was only months later, when the problem was under group discussion, that someone suddenly exclaimed, "Canada!" and the problem was solved. 'Canada', it seems, is a section of Charlottesville, so-called originally because it had been first settled by colored freed- men. Over the decades, Harriet's descendants had come to

31 In Hamilton Pierson's Jefferson at Monticello, Jefferson's former over- seer, Edmund Baker, is made to say that Jefferson freed one slave girl during his (Baker's) stay at Monticello. But no name or date is given, by which the state- ment might be cheeked. Harriet Hemings was still listed by Jefferson as among his slaves, after Baker's departure.

This content downloaded from 207.62.77.131 on Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:00:10 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 100 JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY identify their traditional 'Canada' with our northern neigh- bor. We are now agreed that Harriet Hemings spent her lifetime in, or near, Albemarle County, Virginia. But how she gained her freedom is still a moot question. These ladies' descent from Jefferson is further substanti- ated by the Mendelian Law of Heredity. I have been shown a daguerreotype of Mrs. Kenney-Harriet Hemings' daugh- ter-which so closely resembles some of the portraits of Jefferson himself, painted in his middle years, that it could easily be taken for his own likeness, save for the fact that the daguerreotype process was unknown in his lifetime. All de- scriptions of Jefferson in his youth agree that his hair was of a sandy red color. Hair of this shade occasionally appears among the descendants of Harriet Hemings. Gertrude Harri- et (Kenney) Watson was nicknamed by her mother "Jeffer- son hair Gertie" because her own hair was of precisely this shade. I have been unable to locate any descendants of Sally Hemings' sons, or even to learn whether they had any. My informants say they had a number of Hemings cousins in Charlottesville, all of whom have now died. But they do not know these cousins' exact line of descent, and Sally had so many siblings that there are probably numerous Hemingses related to, but not descended from her. In considering the various, and contradictory, accounts of the Jefferson-Hemings relationship, the mores of the era should be borne in mind. It was probably the exception, rather than the rule, to find a large plantation which did not have, among the slaves, some who owed paternity to the master or to some of his relatives or close friends. In private, this was understood. In public, the subject was taboo, and no Southerner of any standing willingly tolerated its mention in the public press. However clean his personal record, the Southern white man was fairly sure to have friends or kins- folk who might be keenly embarrassed by publicity. And so, when reference to what one of Sally's descendants has termed "the custom of the times" appeared at all, they came from the pens of those who could have only a second-hand knowl- edge of that whereof they wrote,-of recent immigrants like

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Callender, of Northern abolitionists, foreign travelers, and the like. It may be for this reason that there exists not a single anecdote regarding Sally Hemings. Few of those who wrote of her had seen her; most knew nothing of her appearance, and as often as not, referred to her as 'Black Sal' or 'Dusky Sally', though black she certainly was not. At the same time, no one spoke ill of her; it would be inconceivable that she should have seduced Thomas Jefferson against his will. She must have conducted herself discreetly, since the outside world knew so little of her. But she was no nonentity. Any woman who, willing or unwilling, held the close interest of Thomas Jefferson for at least 10 years, and probably well more than twice that time, was no casual light o' love. Former President Theodore Roosevelt seems to have been among the modern scholars convinced of Jefferson's pater- nity of mulatto children. His private letters32 refer to Jeffer- son with a degree of contempt seemingly unwarranted by anything in our third president's public life, but quite under- standable if Mr. Roosevelt had in mind Jefferson's private morals. T.R. was by far the best-read man ever to occupy the White House, and may well have come upon convincing accounts of Jefferson's relations with his female slaves. He may even have found them substantiated in his own house- hold. The late Mrs. Anna (Kenney) Ezell, a great-grand- daughter of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson, was frequently employed at the White House during T. R.'s ad- ministration, in the capacity of sempstress to the ladies of the family. She told me that she, herself, had never mentioned her ancestry to her employers and that, so far as she knew, they were ignorant of it. But it would not necessarily have followed that all colored members of the domestic staff were similarly discreet. And since Mr. Roosevelt was then living in the very rooms which Jefferson himself had so long occu- pied, this phase of his predecessor's life could not easily have been forgotten. Mr. Archibald Roosevelt, only surviving son of Theodore Roosevelt, says, commenting on the paragraph above, that

32 See The Roosevelt Encyclopedia. Harvard University Press.

This content downloaded from 207.62.77.131 on Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:00:10 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 102 JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY he does not recall ever hearing his father talk about Jeffer- son's private morals, but "You are quite right that my father had no good opinion whatsoever of Mr. Jefferson. . . . my father considered Jefferson a physical coward. ... He also felt that Mr. Jefferson had the habit of stating all sorts of principles which he never lived up to...." The matter of Jefferson's physical cowardice, or lack of it, does not lie within the scope of this paper. But in his atti- tude toward the blacks-Jefferson rarely uses the word 'negro', and never 'Negro'-he himself admitted discrepancy between theory and practice. Though known to the world at large as the man who had once written, "... all men are cre- ated equal .. ." it simply did not occur to him that anyone could suppose the statement applicable to the blacks of Amer- ica, and he declared forthrightly that the blacks are inferior, not only to the whites, but also to the American Indians, and he insisted that "their inferiority is not the effect merely of their condition in life."33 He held that the mulattoes were superior to the blacks-thus reinforcing his conviction of black inferiority-yet, despite his own contrary practice and that of many of his friends, he professed to hold miscegena- tion in horror. He was opposed-so he said-to slavery; but even slavery he regarded as preferable to any system whereby free blacks should live side by side with whites under the same institu- tions. Such an attempt, he declared, would "produce convul- sions which will probably never end but in the extermination of one or the other race." He advocated emancipation, but insisted that freed blacks must be colonized outside the borders of the United States. (He seems, vaguely, to have envisioned the setting aside of some of the as yet undeveloped and almost unpopulated West- ern lands, to be organized into a separate nation for the use and occupancy of freedmen and their descendants.) Compar- ing the problem of emancipation in America with that in ancient Rome, where most of the slaves were white, he wrote, "Among the Romans, emancipation required but one effort. The slave, when freed, might mix with, without staining, the blood of his master, but with us, a second is necessary, un-

This content downloaded from 207.62.77.131 on Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:00:10 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms THOMAS JEFFERSON AND SALLY HEMINGS 103 known to history. When freed, he is to be removed beyond the reach of mixture."33 Translated into terms of today's racial problems, Jefferson would sanction South African apartheid, as well as Negro hegemony in central Africa, and the expulsion of whites from that territory. The present policies of the NAACP he would regard as a partial fulfillment of his prophecy of "convul- sions which will never end but in the extermination of one or the other race," and, reluctantly no doubt, he would decree that the blacks must be the race to be exterminated. How far he might be willing to go in carrying out these principles is problematic. He was a philosopher, rather than a potentate. In theory, he was not so far from Hitler, with his concept of a Master Race. But few men are ever wholly consistent in their attitudes and actions with regard to race relationships, and Jefferson-unlike Hitler-was not one of those few. He preached against miscegnation ... but practiced it. He preached the urgent necessity of removing all freed blacks from white-occupied lands . . . but besought Virginia to permit his own emancipated sons to remain in that state. But he sacrificed much for his country; and he did her great service. And for these things, his country--and I, think, his descendants-have long since forgiven him for the evil that he did. In addition to the persons mentioned in the body of this article, I am especially indebted for valuable suggestions and material to: the late Mrs. Catherine Allen Latimer, reference librarian of the Schomburg Collection; Mrs. Dorothy Porter, supervisor of the Moreland Collection, Howard University; the late Dr. Carter G. Woodson, editor, The Journal of Negro History, Mr. Robt. Vail, director, the New York Historical Society, and Dr. Julian Boyd of Princeton University, editor, the Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 33 See Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia. The English diplomat, Sir Augustus John Foster, says that in conversation with him, Jefferson defended slavery, saying that the blacks were totally unfit for freedom. This may, however, merely have reflected Jefferson's Anglophobia, and his irritation at England's holier-than-thou attitude since the abolition, only a few years before, of slavery in the British colonies. Sunset Beach PEARL M. GRAHAM California

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