The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed
In the mid-1700s the English captain of a trading ship that made runs between England and the Virginia colony fathered a child by an enslaved woman living near Williamsburg. The woman, whose name is unknown and who is believed to have been born in Africa, was owned by the Eppeses, a prominent Virginia family. The captain, whose surname was Hemings, and the woman had a daughter. They named her Elizabeth.
So begins The Hemingses of Monticello, Annette Gordon-Reed’s “riveting history” of the Hemings family, whose story comes to vivid life in this brilliantly researched and deeply moving work. Gordon-Reed, author of the highly acclaimed historiography Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, unearths startling new information about the Hemingses, Jefferson, and his white family. Although the book presents the most detailed and richly drawn portrait ever written of Sarah Hemings, better known by her nickname Sally, who bore seven children by Jefferson over the course of their thirty-eight-year liaison, The Hemingses of Monticello tells more than the story of her life with Jefferson and their children. The Hemingses as a whole take their rightful place in the narrative of the family’s extraordinary engagement with one of history’s most important figures.
Not only do we meet Elizabeth Hemings—the family matriarch and mother to twelve children, six by John Wayles, a poor English immigrant who rose to great wealth in the Virginia colony—but we follow the Hemings family as they become the property of Jefferson through his marriage to Martha Wayles. The Hemings-Wayles children, siblings to Martha, played pivotal roles in the life at Jefferson’s estate.
We follow the Hemingses to Paris, where James Hemings trained as a chef in one of the most prestigious kitchens in France and where Sally arrived as a fourteen-year-old chaperone for Jefferson’s daughter Polly; to Philadelphia, where James Hemings acted as the major domo to the newly appointed secretary of state; to Charlottesville, where Mary Hemings lived with her partner, a prosperous white merchant who left her and their children a home and property; to Richmond, where Robert Hemings engineered a plan for his freedom; and finally to Monticello, that iconic home on the mountain, from where most of Jefferson’s slaves, many of them Hemings family members, were sold at auction six months after his death in 1826.
As The Hemingses of Monticello makes vividly clear, Monticello can no longer be known only as the home of a remarkable American leader, the author of the Declaration of Independence; nor can the story of the Hemingses, whose close blood ties to our third president have been expunged from history until very recently, be left out of the telling of America’s story. With its empathetic and insightful consideration of human beings acting in almost unimaginably difficult and complicated family circumstances, The Hemingses of Monticello is history as great literature. It is a remarkable achievement.
Review: This well researched work is a family biography of the Hemingses family, whose name has remained prominent throughout history because of their association with Thomas Jefferson. Their story began in the mid-1700s, when an English captain of a trading ship who was named Hemings had a daughter with an enslaved woman. That woman was born in Africa and owned by a prominent Virginia family, the Eppeses. The captain and the enslaved woman named their daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth became the matriarch of the Hemingses family. She went on to become a mother of twelve children, six of which with John Wayles, a wealthy white Virginia landowner. Over time, the Hemings family became the property of Thomas Jefferson through his marriage to Martha Wayles. And eventually, after Martha died, the youngest Hemings, Sally, began a relationship with Thomas Jefferson that resulted in multiple children and lasted until his death thirty-eight years later. This is the collective story of the Hemings family, who were not only enslaved but caught up in exceedingly complicated family circumstances.
I loved that this book wasn't just about Sally Hemings but was a broader look at the whole family. I really liked hearing about all the Hemings, especially the men, who in many ways had so much more freedom and thus more interesting lives than Sally, who spent the vast majority of her life at home at Monticello. Theirs is such a complicated story of enslavement, white masters fathering children on enslaved women, family members scattered, and a few that disappeared from the record because they choose to pass as white. Although much information has been lost to time or never documented because of their racial status, Gordon-Reed did an excellent job at tracking down what can be known and filling in gaps when possible.
My biggest disappointment with this book is similar to what other readers have also said. For every fact shared, the author spends multiple paragraphs lecturing the reader about why slavery is bad and going on long asides about the implications of every movement from a racial and slavery perspective. While obviously historical context is critical and providing context is important for understanding, it felt very overboard. I found myself wanting to skip ahead to where the family story would finally continue and get past what felt like ceaseless lecturing about how slavery was bad.
I also wish that a little more time had spent on what happened to the family in decades following Jefferson's death. While the author does briefly review where many of the slaves ended up or who bought or freed them after his death, that is where the story ends. Since this was intended to be a family biography, it would have been interesting to see the story go on and even have included more present-day developments in the family history and where descendants have ended up.
Stars: 4
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