Jefferson–Hemings controversy

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Who is Jefferson–Hemings controversy?

The Jefferson–Hemings controversy concerns the question of whether there was an intimate relationship between U.S. President Thomas Jefferson and his mixed-race slave, Sally Hemings, that resulted in his fathering some or all of her six recorded children. The allegations surfaced as early as the 1790s, and remain somewhat disputed.

Jefferson's grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, told a historian in the 1850s that Peter Carr, a nephew of Jefferson's, had fathered Hemings' children. Historians generally asserted this denial for nearly 150 years. While some historians of the late twentieth century started reanalyzing the body of evidence, for many consensus was not reached until after a Y-DNA analysis in 1998. The DNA study showed a match between the Jefferson male line and a descendant of Eston Hemings, Sally's youngest son who was born when Thomas Jefferson was 65. It showed no match between the Carr line and the Hemings descendant.

In the 21st century, a consensus emerged among historians that the entirety of the evidence suggests Jefferson's paternity for all of Hemings' children.

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Also known as
  • Jefferson DNA Data

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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