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Thomas Jefferson's Sally Hemings As A Love Story

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Thomas Jefferson's Sally Hemings As A Love Story
Sally Hemings as a Love Story In the book Sally Hemings by Barbara Chase-Riboud many people often categorize its' contents into two subjects one being a love story and the other as a biography of Thomas Jefferson. To me this book outlines the romantic story between Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings. It shows us not only the love story of their relationship but the romantic epic of how Thomas Jefferson as a widower copes with the death of his wife, Martha. Its' pages unravel to us a deeper side of Jefferson, a side only seen by the eyes of Sally Hemings. It introduces us to conversations that may have taken place between the two that leads us to believe this is a love story. Thomas Jefferson was a widower with a daughter—five …show more content…
He even goes to the extent to contradict himself and change his point of views on slavery, all in the name of love. On page 157 the author describes to us that when Jefferson came home from Paris his views on slavery changed. The book shows that they may have changed because in Paris he fell in love with Sally. The love story continues to evolve when on page 178 Sally is having a conversation and she speaks about his love for her. "A white man don't keep no black concubine for six years without loving her. He loved your sister and he lost her, and now he loves you." The passage is talking about Jefferson's love for his first wife and now for Sally. It's just as if it were a love triangle on a soap opera, where he falls in love with the sister of his dead wife. To me this is giving definite information on the aspect of the book being a love …show more content…
He brings in a white mistress of the house, when he had promised to Sally that he would never have a white mistress run Monticello. It would always be Sally that was the one who ran the house. And now it is Martha who would run the house. Sally fights with him and goes on to tell him he broke a promise yet it doesn't seem to bother Thomas that he has done this. He was sure that Sally would forgive him for this and that she would eventually need him again. On page 298 it is made clear to us that Sally owns Thomas Jefferson just as much as he owns her. Their love saga continues. Sally begins to face the realization that her love with Thomas Jefferson would be over. He was now 69 years old. The two have faded apart. Their eyes no longer gaze at each others with a romantic glaze but now with a look of father to daughter than slave wife and
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