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National History
Historians Find Slave Quarters Of Sarah ‘Sally’ Hemings Inside Thomas Jefferson’s Mansion
Sally Hemings, a young slave owned by the 3rd president of the United States Thomas Jefferson, gave birth to 7 of his children. The first one when she was 16.
Time has established the unset- tling fact that Thomas Jefferson was a slave holder who had an un- willing relationship with an enslaved woman by the name of Sarah “Sally” Hemings. Centuries later, more details have come to life about his hidden truths with the discovery of Hemings’ slave quarters.
NBC News reports the findings came to be on Monday (July 3) by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, which was also the name of his mansion where he kept 600 slaves.
Historians claim Hemings’ room was looked over in the 60’s when it was turned into a bathroom to accommodate the growing num- ber of visitors to the mansion.
Hemings and her family were inherited by Jefferson in 1775/76
Considered one of the founding fathers of America, and later the 3rd presi- dent of the U.S.A., Thomas Jefferson fathered 7 children with his slave, Sally Hemings. Her quarters were recently discovered.
to her first child at 16 during Jeffer- son’s (then 45) tenure in France. While Hemings could’ve stayed in the country, Jefferson promised her that any children she birthed by him would be free at the age of 21.
She died at the age of 60 and was never formally freed by Jefferson. While Jefferson historians tried to deny the existence of Hemings and her seven children by Jefferson, a DNA test in the late 90’s revealed decedents of Hemings were in fact related to Jefferson.
Gardiner Hallock, director of restoration for Jefferson’s moun- taintop plantation, says Hemings’ room could tell the young mother’s story in a new light. “This discovery gives us a sense of how enslaved people were living. Some of Sally’s children may have been born in this room,” Hallock said. “It’s impor- tant because it shows Sally as a human being — a mother, daughter, and sister — and brings out the rela- tionships in her life.”
after the death of his wife, Martha Jefferson. In addition to the then 14-year-old Hemings, Jefferson
inherited 134 other slaves he put to work at his Monticello mansion.
Hemings would later give birth
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