Sally Hemings: Redefining History
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Annette Gordon Reed
Beverly Gray
Harry Smith
Eugene A Foster
William Safire
Joseph Ellis
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Profile of Sally Hemings, the woman at the center of the very first presidential sex scandal. It had been rumored and speculated for over two centuries that Sally Hemings had a relationship with Thomas Jefferson that lasted 38 years. In 1998, an independent DNA study suggested that in all probability, Thomas Jefferson may have fathered the youngest child of Sally Hemings, Eston Hemings. Later, The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation concluded that it may have been possible that Jefferson fathered all four of her children. Although, she was a slave and a woman, it was her story, passed down through generations, that allowed the question to endure. Born in 1773 as a slave in Virginia, Sally Hemings led a life that was anything but charmed. She is said to have had five children. Four survived to adulthood. The memoirs of her son, Madison Hemings, provide insight into the life of his mother.
