Sally Hemings, the woman Thomas Jefferson enslaved.
She was called his "mistress," but how can you be a mistress when you were enslaved, a child, and could not consent? Had absolutely no choice?
A THREAD
She was called his "mistress," but how can you be a mistress when you were enslaved, a child, and could not consent? Had absolutely no choice?
A THREAD
Sally Hemings was born into slavery in Virginia. After the death of their master, Hemings family was inherited by the daughter of their master, Martha, who had married Thomas Jefferson and lived in Monticello.
When Jeffersonâs went to Paris, France on diplomatic service in 1784, Sally also went there 3 years later as a companion and maid to Jeffersonâs eight-year-old daughter Maria.
Sally and her older brother James, in Paris as Jeffersonâs personal servant, were paid a monthly wage and later she began a ârelationshipâ with Thomas and she later became pregnant.
Did a thread on his brother earlier:
Enslaved Female had no legal right to refuse unwanted sexual advances. Hemings, at 16 years & living free in Paris, had negotiated with Jefferson to return to enslavement in exchange for âextraordinary privileges" for herself and freedom for her unborn children.
Her babies were all born in a small room. All six of them. The four that lived and the two that didnât. She didnât have to worry about losing them, though.
She raised four children for years because daddy promised them for emancipation when they were grown. Sally Hemings was never freed, nor did she negotiate for her freedom.
Despite fathering her children, Jefferson argued against race mixing because black people were âinferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.â
(Quotes fact checked by
@Reuters
reuters.com)
(Quotes fact checked by
@Reuters
reuters.com)
Jefferson didnât agree with slavery, but he owned over 600 slavesâŚ
After the death of Jefferson, two of her children were allowed to leave Monticello for freedom elsewhere and two more were freed by the terms of Jeffersonâs will, two of only five slaves he ever formally emancipated.
Martha gave Sally Hemings her âtimeâ (she was listed as âfreeâ in 1826) and she moved with sons Eston and Madison to a house in Charlottesville where she died in 1835.
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