Jefferson Enslaves Sally Hemings and Hundreds at Monticello — Documented Sexual Exploitation

Thomas Jefferson enslaved approximately 600 people over his lifetime at Monticello and his other properties. Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman and half-sister of Jefferson's deceased wife Martha, began a decades-long sexual relationship with Jefferson that produced at least six children, four of whom survived to adulthood. DNA evidence confirmed in 1998 that a Jefferson male fathered Hemings's son Eston Hemings. Hemings could not consent under the conditions of slavery. Jefferson freed only two enslaved people during his lifetime and five by will — all of them Hemings family members. The other 130 enslaved people at Monticello were sold to pay his debts after his death.