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In 1998, genetic scientific evidence confirmed nearly two centuries of rumors: Sally Hemings' children were, in fact, fathered by Thomas Jefferson. After her return to the United States, Sally bore seven children with four surviving to adulthood. The births of her children coincided with the times Jefferson returned to Monticello over the years.

Sally's four surviving children were all freed by age 21, giving us evidence that Jefferson kept the promise he made to her in Paris. Sally left Monticello after Jefferson's death, living with her sons in Virginia until her death in 1835. She wasn't formally freed until 1836.

In agreeing to return to the United States, she gifted her children freedom some forty years before the Emancipation Proclamation.

Come along with us as we discuss the release of the DNA evidence confirming Sally and Jefferson's relationship, how her children felt about Jefferson, and her legacy through history and astrology!

This episode contains discussions of slavery, non-consensual sex, coercion, graphic violence, and abuse.

Sources

Articles:

• “Sally Hemings: Writing the Life of an Enslaved Woman” by Anette Gordon-Reed in The Routledge Companion to Black Women’s Cultural Histories
• "Slavery Legalized" by Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Virginia (https://vascw.org/cool_timeline/slavery-legalized/)
• "The Slaves' Story" (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/slaves/)
• “Statement on the TJMF Research Committee Report on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings” by Daniel P. Jordan, Ph.D. (https://monticello-www.s3.amazonaws.com/files/old/inline-pdfs/jefferson-hemings_report.pdf)
• "Thomas Jefferson as Governor of Virginia" in Encyclopedia Virginia (https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/jefferson-thomas-as-governor-of-virginia/)
• "When the Past Speaks to the Present: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings" by Annette Gordon-Reed (https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/when-past-speaks-present-thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings)

Books:

• Many Thousands Gone by Ira Berlin
• Reclamation by Gayle Jessup White
• Sally Hemings: Given Her Time by Leigh Fought
• Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy by Anette Gordon-Reed

Digital Media:

• "The Founding Mothers, 2: Martha Jefferson & Sally Hemings" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDh5pWqBIxs)
• "Unearthing Sally Hemings' legacy at Monticello" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gm3HtijrMQ)

Primary Sources:

• "An act concerning Servants and Slaves" (1705) (https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/an-act-concerning-servants-and-slaves-1705/)
• The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson
• "Jefferson Condemns the Slave Trade in the Declaration of Independence" (https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/jefferson-condemns-slave-trade-declaration-independence)
• “Laws of Virginia, Act XII (1662)” (https://www.gilderlehrman.org/ap-african-american-studies/unit-2/origins-enslavement/laws-virginia-act-xii-1662)
• “The Memoirs of Madison Hemings” (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/cron/1873march.html)

Websites:

• “The Life of Sally Hemings” (https://www.monticello.org/sallyhemings/)
• “Reproduction and Resistance” (https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/hidden-voices/resisting-enslavement/reproduction-and-resistance)
• "Sally Hemings" (https://jamesedwardmills.substack.com/p/sally-hemmings)

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On July 15, 1787, 14 year old Sally Hemings arrived in Paris, France with Martha "Patsy" Jefferson. For the first time in her short life, she was on free soil. As a young woman owned by Thomas Jefferson, she'd never had the possibility of freedom in front of her before. She and her brother James were paid wages by Jefferson while in Paris, setting into motion a legacy she wouldn't see realized until 36 years later.

Upon leaving Paris, Sally was pregnant with Jefferson's child. According to her son Madison, she refused to return to the United States with him. Sally agreed to return after Jefferson promised that she would receive "extraordinary privileges" and that her children would be freed at 21 years old.

Sally had 4 children that survived to adulthood and in 1998 were proven by DNA evidence to be fathered by Thomas Jefferson.

Come along with us as we explore the life of this extraordinary woman revealed by scientific evidence, debate, and a mother's love through history and astrology!

This episode contains discussions of slavery, non-consensual sex, coercion, graphic violence, and abuse.

Sources

Articles:

• “Sally Hemings: Writing the Life of an Enslaved Woman” by Anette Gordon-Reed in The Routledge Companion to Black Women’s Cultural Histories
• "Slavery Legalized" by Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Virginia (https://vascw.org/cool_timeline/slavery-legalized/)
• "The Slaves' Story" (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/slaves/)
• “Statement on the TJMF Research Committee Report on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings” by Daniel P. Jordan, Ph.D. (https://monticello-www.s3.amazonaws.com/files/old/inline-pdfs/jefferson-hemings_report.pdf)
• "Thomas Jefferson as Governor of Virginia" in Encyclopedia Virginia (https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/jefferson-thomas-as-governor-of-virginia/)
• "When the Past Speaks to the Present: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings" by Annette Gordon-Reed (https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/when-past-speaks-present-thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings)

Books:

• Many Thousands Gone by Ira Berlin
• Reclamation by Gayle Jessup White
• Sally Hemings: Given Her Time by Leigh Fought
• Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy by Anette Gordon-Reed

Digital Media:

• "The Founding Mothers, 2: Martha Jefferson & Sally Hemings" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDh5pWqBIxs)
• "Unearthing Sally Hemings' legacy at Monticello" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gm3HtijrMQ)

Primary Sources:

• "An act concerning Servants and Slaves" (1705) (https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/an-act-concerning-servants-and-slaves-1705/)
• The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson
• "Jefferson Condemns the Slave Trade in the Declaration of Independence" (https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/jefferson-condemns-slave-trade-declaration-independence)
• “Laws of Virginia, Act XII (1662)” (https://www.gilderlehrman.org/ap-african-american-studies/unit-2/origins-enslavement/laws-virginia-act-xii-1662)
• “The Memoirs of Madison Hemings” (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/cron/1873march.html)

Websites:

• “The Life of Sally Hemings” (https://www.monticello.org/sallyhemings/)
• “Reproduction and Resistance” (https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/hidden-voices/resisting-enslavement/reproduction-and-resistance)
• "Sally Hemings" (https://jamesedwardmills.substack.com/p/sally-hemmings)

Support Us!
Patreon: patreon.com/MakingMythPodcast
Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/makingmythpodcast

Love what you hear? Send us fan mail!

Astronomer, philosopher, and mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria echoes down the centuries through a love of learning. The daughter of the last Librarian of Alexandria, Hypatia committed her life to science and outshone her father in all ways. Some knew her as teacher, others as counsel, some as philosopher. After studying with Plutarch the Younger in Athens and Italy, she taught mathematics at the Neoplatonic School of Alexandria.

Students from across Europe, Asia, and Africa attended her lessons to study the big questions of her time. Hypatia had her students create scientific instruments and carry out the scientific method through experiments. She authored several works, now lost to history, and was known for her new understanding of the rotation of the stars.

Come along with us as we discuss Hypatia's scholarly pursuits, students, and personality in the complex mosaic of ancient Alexandria through history and astrology!

Content Warning: murder, graphic bodily mutilation, extreme misogyny

Sources

Articles:

• Astrodienst Ephemeris for 331 BCE
• "The Legendary Library of Alexandria: History and Rare Treasures" (https://egyptra.com/library-of-alexandria/)
• “The School of Hypatia and the Problem of the Gendered Soul” by Aistė Čelkytė in The Routledge Handbook of Women and Ancient Greek Philosophers
• “Snapshots from the History of Mathematics: Hypatia of Alexandria” by Jenny Ramsden in Mathematics in School, vol. 44, no. 3

Books:

• The Alexander Romance by Anonymous
• Hypatia by JD Arden
• Hypatia: Her Life and Times by Faith L. Justice
• Hypatia of Alexandria for Beginners by Zachary Willis
• Hypatia of Alexandria: Her Context and Legacy edited by Dawn LaValle Norman and Alex Peaks
• Hypatia: the true story by Silvia Ronchey
• The Unforgotten Sisters: Female Astronomers and Scientists before Caroline Herschel by Gabriella Bernardi
• Women in the History of Science: A sourcebook, eds. Hannah Wills, Sadie Harrison, et. al.

Primary Sources:

• Synesius, Letter 016 (https://www.livius.org/sources/content/synesius/synesius-letter-016/)
• Synesius, Letter 033 (https://www.livius.org/sources/content/synesius/synesius-letter-033/)
• Synesius, Letter 081 (https://www.livius.org/sources/content/synesius/synesius-letter-081/)
• Synesius, Letter 124 (https://www.livius.org/sources/content/synesius/synesius-letter-124/)

Websites:

• Astropro Interactive Multimedia Astrology (https://www.astropro.com/)
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina (https://www.bibalex.org/en/default)
• "Does Anything from the Library of Alexandria Still Exist?" (https://www.historyhidden.org/does-anything-from-the-library-of-alexandria-still-exist/#google_vignette)
• “Exoplanet Hypatia” (https://www.go-astronomy.com/exoplanet.php?Exo=36)
• Hypatia Catalog (https://hypatiacatalog.com/hypatia_
• Hypatia of Alexandria (https://www.worldhistory.org/Hypatia_of_Alexandria/)
• "Kom el Dikka: Roman and Byzantine civic complex in Alexandria" (https://www.ancient-history-sites.com/sites/kom-el-dikka/)
• “Neoplatonism” in Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy

Support Us!
Patreon: patreon.com/MakingMythPodcast
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