During early 19
th century presidential
discussions, political tongues wagged about Thomas Jefferson’s rumored
relationship with Sally Hemings. Sally was a slave. Was she also the mother of
several of Jefferson’s children? And what about those children? What did they
think? How did they feel?
JEFFERSON’S SONS: A Founding Father’s Secret Children, by
Kimberley Brubaker Bradley, Dial Books For Young Readers, 2011
What did Thomas Jefferson’s secret children know? What did
they think about the man whom “everyone” knew fathered them, but a man their
mother strictly forbade them from calling “Papa” or any other familial name.
Authors of historical fiction don’t make up the history. They
read widely and research deeply. Usually an author’s note tells the reader what
is real and what is not. Author Bradley studied Jefferson, his house, his
family, and visited Monticello several times, picking the brains of historians
there. She invites readers to explore the
Monticello kid-friendly website. Her own
website is also helpful.
That being said, since slaves were
prohibited from reading and writing, a written account of thoughts and feelings
would be rare. While we probably won’t ever know what Jefferson’s children really
thought and felt, Bradley’s fictionalized characters, based on Sally’s
children, surely come close. Readers will understand the deep sadness expressed
by one son at the gulf between his mother’s children and their biological
father. This boy, who receives better care, better clothes, even better work, with
never an outward explanation for this favoritism, still wishes he were the
child of the blacksmith, a slave who has a warm, loving relationship with his
child.
Sally is a very strong character, keeping her children in
line and thereby keeping them safe. She has endured and survived and she is
determined that her children will also endure and survive. Although Thomas
Jefferson promised her that each child will be set free when he or she
turns 21, Sally believes it is better to pass for white than be freed. Freed
slaves must carry papers subject to loss or destruction. They always remain at
risk, at the mercy of greedy, unscrupulous slave catchers.
Instead, Sally works to send Beverly and Harriet, her light
skinned children, into the world with new identities, but bearing the heavy
burden of keeping their past a secret. She is adamant that their own children
will have a much better future because they will never know--and must never
know--they were born to former slaves passing as white.
Jefferson’s Sons is told from three points of view, two boys
who are sons and one who is a close
friend. All three are slaves. Their lives and their liberty
or their lack of liberty give rise to the question: just what did Thomas
Jefferson mean when he wrote, “all men are created equal”?
And what do
your children think?
