Sally Hemings
Silhouette of unidentified woman or girl, by Charles Willson Peale (Library of Congress)
Born in Virginia, Sally Hemings (ca. 1773–1835) was enslaved in the household of Thomas Jefferson, who had a sexual relationship with her. Genetic analysis has determined that Hemings’s six children likely were fathered by Jefferson. Upon Jefferson’s death, Hemings lived the last nine years of her life as a free woman in Charlottesville, Virginia.
