'Reclamation': A Black descendent of Thomas Jefferson brings her ancestors out of the shadows

Ownership rests at the base of the American blueprint. Our nation’s framers were not just proprietors of land and humans, they also controlled the narrative. One of America’s most well-known narratives – the relationship between President Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings – first made national news as a political scandal. The enemies of Jefferson attempted to tarnish his reputation and career by exposing his sexual, or romantic, relationship with an enslaved woman. Derogatory terms like “Dusky Sally” and “Black Sal'' proliferated to describe Hemings. But because of her enslaved status, Hemings was never able to contribute anything to that story. 

With her new book “Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy” (Amistad, 288 pp., ★★★ out of four, out now), Gayle Jessup White begins to shift the scales. A descendent of Jefferson and Peter Hemings (Sally’s brother), White not only gives voice to her Black ancestors but adds historical significance to a new generation of Hemingses and Jeffersons. 

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At the beginning of White's journey of self-discovery is Aunt Peachie. Peachie excitedly and habitually, informed Janice, White’s sister, that they were descendants of Jefferson. Janice indirectly passed the oral history down to White. And White, a former news broadcaster, breathed life into the family’s oral history. 

Despite the family’s comfortable middle-class status, the marriage of White’s parents began to loosen at the seams. Seeking respite from a marriage impasse, White’s mother pursued an extravagant social and vocational life away from home. “Eventually, mom would leave us for days and weeks at a time on trips to Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean,” writes White. White, alone with her father, Cedric Jessup, began to ask about the family lore. 

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It took time for the naturally reticent Jessup to grow receptive to his daughter’s questions. One day, while watching golf, Jessup unleashed the pain of his family’s saga. “I don’t know much about my mother. I’m not even sure of her name,” Jessup said. “(S)he died when I was five years old." 

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Gradually, over the next 40 years, White’s meticulous research – poring over original documents and census records, DNA tests, and academic studies – validated Aunt Peachie’s oral history. 

White’s diligence attracted the attention of Lucia Stanton, a senior historian at Jefferson’s Monticello, the president's primary plantation in Charlottesville, Virginia. With Stanton’s help, White identified her paternal grandmother and great-grandmother, Eva Robinson and Rachel Robinson, respectively. Rachel’s brother “Cure” turned out to be Jefferson’s great-great-grandson. This means Jefferson is White’s five-times great-grandfather. 

After winning a fellowship at the International Center for Jefferson Studies, White learned that “Sallie Hemmans,” her two-times great-grandmother, was the daughter of Peter Hemings, an enslaved chef and brewer. That made Peter Hemings White’s four-times great-grandfather, and Sally Hemings White’s four-times great-aunt. 

Racial caste is also a striking theme that runs through “Reclamation.” Throughout her tireless research, White learned of several family members who'd had to shed their Blackness in order to live safely in a white world; three of Jeffersons’ and Hemings' children passed for white. Along White’s own historical journey, she met a cousin who did not know he was Black until he was a young adult. White’s father also had strong opinions about whiteness and the meaning of being Black in America. “If I had my druthers I’d rather be white,” Jessup admitted. 

“Reclamation” flourishes in bringing a new generation of Heminges and Jeffersons out of the shadows. But more importantly, this forceful piece of micro-history builds on the brilliant and breathtaking scholarship of Annette Gordon-Reed’s “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family” while adding a sturdy stone onto America’s shaky blueprint.