SOURCE: “Sally Hemings,” in Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, W. W. Norton and Company, 1974, pp. 228-45.

In the following essay, Brodie examines Jefferson's writings and records from 1778-1779, concluding that they imply a close relationship between Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings.

The earth belongs to the living, and not to the dead.

Jefferson to Madison, September 6, 1789¹

Sally Hemings' third son, Madison, born at Monticello in 1805, wrote explicitly of the beginnings of his mother's relationship with Jefferson:

Their stay (my mother and Maria's) was about eighteen months. But during that time my mother became Mr Jefferson's concubine, and when he was called home she was enciente by him. He desired to bring my mother back to Virginia with him but she demurred. She was just beginning to understand the French language well, and in France she was free, while if she returned to Virginia she would be re-enslaved...