Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000) (TV)

Director:

Charles Haid

Writer (WGA):

Tina Andrews (written by)

Release Date:

13 February 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance

Plot:

The story of the extraordinary, controversial thirty-eight-year relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave mistress...

Plot Keywords:

Mistress | Interracial Romance | 18th Century | Slave Girl | Empathy

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Sam Neill	...	Thomas Jefferson
Carmen Ejogo	...	Sally Hemings
Diahann Carroll	...	Betty Hemings
Mare Winningham	...	Martha 'Patsy' Jefferson Randolph
Mario Van Peebles	...	James Hemings
Rene Auberjonois	...	James Callender
Zeljko Ivanek	...	Thomas Mann Randolph
Klea Scott	...	Critta Hemings
Jessica Townsend	...	Maria 'Polly' Jefferson
Larry Gilliard Jr.	...	Henry Jackson
Kevin Conway	...	Thomas Paine
Amelia Heinle	...	Harriet Hemings
Peter Bradbury	...	Samuel Carr
Chris Stafford	...	Peter Carr
Kelly Rutherford	...	Lady Maria Cosway

Also Known As:

Monticello (USA) (working title)
The Memoirs of Sally Hemings (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

251 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Maymount Park - 2201 Shields Lake Drive, Richmond, Virginia, USA

Company:

CBS Productions

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sally Hemings: I was born a slave, but destined to scandal.

The Plot Summery for this show is a lie

As is the the mini-series itself. Sally Hemmings was not Jefferson's "mistress". She was a 14 year-old slave of Jefferson's. A mistress, by definition, is a grown woman who willingly joins in a sexual relationship. In this mini-series, she's shown as mature beyond her years, somehow glossing over her true age, and presented as if she is lucky to be the property of the "enlightened" Mr. Jefferson.

The historical truth is that Sally Hemmings was a 14 year-old child, and had no choice in the matter. Slavery is abuse, and Jefferson abused the power he had over her to have sex with her with or without her consent. This was a 43 year-old man having sex with a 14 year-old child; whom he impregnated multiple times. He never freed her, nor the children he forced her to have. Does anyone believe that she willingly consented to intercourse with a 43 year- old white adult? That she would have, had she not been a slave?

This was at the same time he was writing letters and giving speeches about the evils of slavery. If a 43 year-old man had sexual relations with a 14 year-old girl he made pregnant, he would be given 20 to 30 years in prison and be a registered sex offender. Jefferson's abuse of his slave is presented as a romance in this mini-series, that avoids carefully the ugly truths: That Jefferson sexually abused a child, and was by definition of his act a pedophile. He could have just as easily abused an adult slave, but chose to abuse a little girl. Sally Hemming's voice will never be heard. As usual, the victim's voice is silent.

This mini-series is a true American product; a rewriting of the truth of Jefferson's sexual abuse of a 14 year-old slave he impregnated, into a Gone With the Wind romance. It belongs next to the romance that the networks made of General Custer, presenting him as a romantic hero and no the genocidal maniac he was. I give this mini-series 0 stars. It is rank and perverted.

If Sally Hemmings could be heard for 10 minutes voicing the truth of Jefferson's "relationship" to her, one wonders what the reaction would be? Would history be corrected?

Or would every tape recorder and camera suddenly stop working and be erased mysteriously? And would some persuasive American historian gently be interrupting her from revealing the sick truth, saying "Now child, you don't understand. You may have been a slave, but it was love that Jefferson was showing you when he made you pregnant. Right? You see that, right?".

This mini-series is exactly as sick as that.