Sally Hemings

by Barbara Chase-Riboud

Book Overview

WINNER OF THE KAFKA PRIZE FOR BEST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN WOMAN "One of the great American stories . . . . Gives new luster to the words 'historical novel' . . . Vastly enjoyable." -- The New York Times "Exquisitely crafted . . . . A sensitive life study of a truly exceptional woman: complex, courageous, irresistibly attractive, . . . elegantly self-possessed." -- Cosmopolitan One of the greatest love stories in Amercian history is also one of the least...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670616052
• ISBN13: 9780670616053
• Release Date: June 1979
• Publisher: Viking
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The storm of controversy still rages on....

as to whether or not Thomas Jefferson fathered children on Sally Hemings, half-sister to his deceased wife (and by all accounts, who bore a striking resemblance to her). I tend to think so although there is currently a dispute raging over whether or not the DNA evidence was accurately tested/handled or if it actually proved that the Woodson & Hemings descendants are actually related to Thomas Jefferson's descendants. Ms. Chase-Riboud's meticulous research and a feel for history make it a FASCINATING read ~~ I had never before seen Jefferson's enigmatic character so fully fleshed out and captured on paper before.. The contradiction that is Thomas Jefferson will break your heart -- how he [later] wanted freedom for all slaves in America but would not acknowledge his own second, 'black' family. The narrative is told by Sally herself, which is an interesting insight into the social pressures of the times, slave culture, the prevailing political atmosphere, and things in slave-holding society that EVERYONE knew about (but no one talked about - i.e., rape or sexual coercion of female black slaves and abuses suffered by slaves at the hands of their owners and overseers), during Jefferson's span of Ambassador to the Court of France through Madison Heming's relating the true story of his parentage to a government census taker. If you saw the TV movie with Sam Neill & Carmen Ejogo & think you know the story -- think again. The movie was a pale imitation (although it needed to be seen, and was overdue at that). Read this book instead. Also, the sequel to 'Sally Hemings', 'The President's Daughter' is another can't-put-it-down tale of Harriet Hemings, the fictional (?) daughter of Sally and America's third president and her story of "passing for white" in Civil War-era America. Historians may scoff, but to (mis)quote the words of another President, Bill Clinton, I believe Thomas Jefferson DID have sexual relations with that woman [Sally Hemings], what I don't understand why is this particular truth so hard to accept, several generations later?

great historical fiction...

Barbara Chase-Riboud did an amazing job with creating fiction using true historical documentation. It was a compelling and informational read. One of my friends recommended it, and I am glad she did. If you want to read about Sally Hemings and get as close to an accurate information, this is probably as close as you can get. The quotes from Jefferson's writings and other documents connect this story like nothing else I have read. Definitely a must for history buffs.

Why hasn't this sort of story been more widely told?

I always vaguely admired Thomas Jefferson and knew that he was an interesting sort of man and quite the genius. However, I was completely surprised and interested to read about his relationship with Sally Hemings. I couldn't put this book down and I resolved to read more about Sally Hemings. How sickening and dreadful we "humans" have treated each other and still treat each other! How could Jefferson had slaves? (How could anyone?)I think that this sort of book should be required reading in high schools and colleges instead of some of the deadly boring books assigned in Lit classes. Most people don't think about and don't know how people of color and how women have been so ignored, disrespected and hidden in American history.SALLY HEMINGS is a novel, but this story tells the sad truth of slaves and women. I'd recommend it for men and women... It's a good read and it's thought-provoking... There are women in parts of the world in similar circumstance right now and we are oblivious to their situations. Hopefully, their stories won't stay buried as the story of SALLY HEMINGS has been.Good book. I really recommend it.

Facinating! "Proved" what I encountered at age 12.

When I was a young adolescent, my Illini-Germanic American and immigrant family and I went to Monticello. I inquired as to why there was a "trap door" into Jefferson's bedroom and was told that Mr. Jefferson used the space above his bedroom to store clothing, etc. I didn't believe it, Thanks be to God! Many years later, I learned of this book while living in Durham, NC. I found a copy in a used bookstore and read it and realized that my adolescent suspicions were grounded in hidden truths! Barbara Chase-Riboud charaturization of the Life of Jefferson is NOW something that the tour guides of Monticellio do reference. (Wonders never Cease!) The recent DNA studies and the fact that the some of the members of Thomas Jefferson's family have acknowledged the Hemmings as their Family members will no doubt bring this "long forgotten" historical-"fiction" novel into it's own. Hopefully, the re-publication of the work will benifit the Great-great-grand children of Sally Hemmings and will likewise recognize the other works of Barbara Chase-Riboud as well as other "Afro-American" Female writers who dared/dare to record American History NOT as "An American Controversy" but as This United State s of American History. Sally Hemmings is clearly in this work a Beacon of Light for the WOMEN of this Nation as Rosa Parks was/is. WOMEN of this Nation who dare to explore "where they came from" and "where their Strength" lies Embodied" will find in Sally Hemmings, as she speaks today from Barbara's novel, a Woman who lives more fully than she could enjoy herself when she was alive: in the world she was birthed into, she was not recognized as a Woman. Sally Hemmings today cannot escape the attention of any man or woman of Integrity. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings are NOT "An American Contoversery". Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings are, for those of us of Integrity, Founders of THIS Unitied States of America -- now fighting against the "ethnic cleansing" elsewhere!

I loved this exquisite book!

It is one the most beautifully written novels I have ever read. A tale of a forbidden love that not even chains of bondage could contain. It is certainly a modern classic that I will cherish for as long as I live.