Page "Sally Hemings" Paragraph 25

The Jefferson-Hemings controversy has related to the question of whether, after Jefferson became a widower, he had an intimate relationship with Sally Hemings, resulting in his fathering her six children of record.

The controversy dates from the 1790s.

In the late twentieth century, historians began reanalyzing the body of evidence.

In 1997, Annette Gordon-Reed published a book that analyzed the historiography of the controversy, demonstrating how historians since the nineteenth century had accepted early assumptions, including Jefferson family testimony over Hemings family testimony, and failed to note all the facts.

A consensus began to emerge after the results of a DNA analysis in 1998, which showed no match between the Carr male line, proposed for more than 150 years as the father ( s ), and the one Hemings descendant tested.

It did show a match between the Jefferson male line and the Eston Hemings descendant.