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.