APOOO book club member, Beverly, had a chance to see Annette Gordon-Reed when she came to town to talk about her latest book, The Hemingses of Monticello.  Read her comments below.

Hi – Last night I went to Politics and Prose bookstore to see/hear Annette Gordon-Reed speak about her book – The Hemingses of Monticello. Politics and Prose is an independent bookstore located in a residential neighborhood in Northwest DC. This is outside of the downtown area in a neighborhood between UDC (University of the District of Columbia) and American University where the main street is lined with blocks of art deco apartment building along with small shops. It is a very cosmopolitan area. P&P has been in business for about 25 years and seems to have a loyal following and they try to have an author event every day of the year that they are open except for certain days around holidays. As the name indicates – the events involve both non-fiction and fiction authors and they always have a good turnout for their events.  Last night was no exception and there was a nice size crowd.  Barbara Meade (one of the owners – both are women) provided a wonderful introduction on how she first met Annette. Vernon Jordon who is a frequent visitor to P&P once in one Sunday (escaping from his grandchildren) and mentioned that he would be pursuing the shelves looking for an AA writer who could help him write his memoirs and he came across Annette’s first book on TJ & SH and thought she would do a good job. Barbara then went on to mention how Annette took on the white male establishment when she published her first book.

Her book took on the two most well known prominent Jefferson historians, Dumas Malone and Joseph Ellis, both of which denied that there was a “relationship” between Jefferson and Hemings. Malone died before the first book by Annette but Joseph Ellis did change his mind based on the new facts that brought to the fore front and the DNA testing.  Barbara praised Annette’s scholarship and research.

Notes from Annette Reed-Gordon’ s talk has always been concerned on how history was written; glad to see how history is being re-examined especially this history that concerns black people – starting with Kenneth Stamp found it offensive that Sally Hemings referred to as “slave girl” as if all black women had the same experience in slavery and by using the term “slave girl” that you would understand all there is about SH without research.

Also thought it was very dismissive of historians to say there was “no evidence” regarding the TJ/SH relationship – so she wrote the first book to document the “evidence.”  Felt she was not taking a stand pro or con on the issue but was just dealing with the evidence–history is a brick wall of evidence – built brick by brick!

Always intended to write a biography of TJ and still will it took seven years to write the current book which takes the history of the Hemings up until Jefferson’s death.

Intends to write the second volume to this book and what happened to the Hemings post Jefferson & then will do the Jefferson biography.

This book is about all of the Hemings as it is a story of one slave family but when taking about this book “TJ & SH suck all of the air out of the room.”

The book is divided into three main sections:
First section – Origin – which is about Elizabeth Hemings who lived in Williamsburg in the 1730′s – was 50% white and 50% black.  During this time period it was the greatest influx of blacks in VA.  John Wayles had previously been described as a immigrant who was a lawyer in England but no evidence – went to England and did detailed research and found out that he was a servant boy – lucked up and married in the Epps family (rich prominent VA family).  First part ended with the death of Jefferson’s wife.

Second part is about the years when Jefferson was in Paris and what was happening to the Hemings both abroad & at Monticello.  Spoke about how France did not want blacks or permitted slavery in France – did not mind slavery in their colonies – needed to register any blacks that were in France – could petition the French court to be free – French court always granted permission – there is no record of denial.  Question is why didn’t James and Sally stay – Annette said you need to consider all the relationships the Hemings had with each other not just with Jefferson.

The last part is the return from France until Jefferson’s death.
Then it was time for questions – first question (which Annette said gets asked everytime) – how can you call the TJ/SH a relationship as she was enslaved. Answer was that it was much more complex than what it seemed. Relationship started when in France – 15 yr old girl and older man – this is a dangerous situation even today  – young girl sees the attention and advances of the older man differently. Tthis age difference was not that uncommon at that time; turns out that all of the Hemings married or had relationships with someone as light as they were or white.  So all the evidence points to that Sally would end up with a white man -so why not this white man? Sally was known to be a spoiled brat and there is evidence that Jefferson permitted this behavior. Annette admits that slavery was brutal and there were many encounters where the white man raped/victimized the black woman but does not believe this is the case here.

I enjoyed this event and always enjoy listening to Annette Gordon-Reed. I have much respect for scholarship and research. This event was not recorded by BookTV – I can only imagine that one of her other upcoming appearances will be recorded for BookTV and I will have an opportunity to hear her speak again.

Beverly who will miss these type of events when I move to NC.

APOOO thanks Beverly J. for providing this insightful review of her time spent with Annette Gordon-Reed, author of the Hemingses of Monticello.

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