Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000) User Reviews

Something to Chew On

[QueenMakeda84 · 7/10 · 24 January 2005]

I really liked this movie. I like when skeletons are brought out of the closet. I do think the movie tried to squeeze too much into a small amount of time, but it did it's best. I would've liked to see more on Sally's relationship with her children instead of these sides references to them when they grew up. I mean, that's what all the hoopla was about wasn't it? The fact that the kids are Jeffersons? I'm sure these kids had some issues with dark-skinned slaves and wanted to know why they were slaves when they were pretty much as white as the owners. I think issues like that could've and should've been addressed more.

Carmen Ejogo blew me away as Sally. She's simply stunning on screen. I appreciated the fact that she studied the accents of the South during that time. It wasn't full-fledged southern twang, but a mix of various tones, since the country was still in its early inception stages. I appreciated Mare's portrayal of Jefferson's daughter who's obsessed with protecting his legacy, even when he doesn't seem too preoccupied with it. It sounds very much like his white descendants today. They aren't able to fully grasp that this man was human. The reigning social habit of the day was to take black concubines who were their slaves. It's horrible to us, but it was natural to them.

It's a little unsettling that the relationship is played so much as this Harlequinn romance novel when many similar situations were hardly that. Rape was common in these types of relationships, whether by brute force or seduction. I'm loathe to think that Sally, being only 15 or so at the time she started her relationship with Jefferon, was simply going to lie down like that and understand a loving, committed relationship. On the other hand, she was aware of her family's history of women becoming their master's concubines. Maybe she understood life at that age a lot better than most of us in our age of modernity can understand now. Their relationship touches on many levels, and the movie left you wondering. It was a nice touch, because we don't know what happened at all.

I'm big on black people getting what's theirs, and I think this story is a great example of people having a right to something. You may not like the relationship, but it happened and they're here, so give them what's theirs. America's habit of utterly dismissing the claims of blacks because we have oral histories instead of written ones, just irks me to no end. (Like someone can't write a lie) The slaves knew what was going on, so they aren't in the habit of lying about it. That kind of thing was usually done by the masters and their families to cover up their fascination with power. The movie was a little light considering the severity of the place and time, but it was still a good film. The scene where Sally's baby dies and her niece, Martha, simply dismisses her with a curt "I'm sorry" was wonderfully done. The woman had given birth to the president's child and lost it. If it was Jefferson's late wife, it would've been something completely different. And the child would've been buried in the family cemetery to boot. That's the legacy of slavery. I'm sure there were historical inaccuracies, but one comes to expect this with Hollywood portrayals.

Too bad they didn't stay with historic accuracy

[lxeastman · 7/10 · 21 May 2009]

With all that has been discovered and written about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, it's unfortunate that the movie did not stick to facts. The acting was good.

1. It's unclear whether there was a first son Tom who survived. Thomas Woodson was shown through DNA testing NOT to be related to the male Jefferson line.

2. While the movie had to come up with material for times when Jefferson was away, the circumstances of Sally Hemings' status at Monticello make it unlikely that she was attacked and whipped in the way shown.

3. The slaves at Monticello were NOT sold until after Jefferson's death, when they were auctioned off and Monticello was sold. Jefferson had allowed Beverly and Harriet to "run away" years before that, when Harriet was 21.

4. He freed Eston and Madison Hemings in his will. They shared a house in Charlottesville. Martha gave Sally Hemings "her time" (an indirect kind of freedom) and she lived in Charlottesville with her free sons until her death. Thus, all of the Hemings nuclear family were freed - something that points to the special relationship they had with Jefferson.

5. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which runs Monticello, and the National Genealogical Society have both stated that the preponderance of historic evidence (supported by the DNA results) is that Jefferson fathered all of Sally Hemings' children, as noted above. Descendants of Eston Hemings were found to be related to the Jefferson male line, and Thomas Jefferson was the most likely candidate as the father of him and the other children. Four Hemings children survived to adulthood, and three of those: Beverly, Harriet and Eston and his descendants, passed into white society. They were 7/8 white by heritage.

6. The Carr nephews were shown by DNA testing NOT to be possible ancestors to the Hemings children.

7. As others have recommended, read Annette Gordon-Reed's book "Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy". It's a good analysis of the evidence and how historians tried to avoid the obvious for years.

Great Movie

[awaylikethewind · 7/10 · 20 February 2006]

I was recently doing research on interracial relationships for my history class. I came across this movie, boy am I glad. Although I am happy the writer of the movie was black, I felt some other issues could've been addressed. As far as Thomas Jefferson having children with Sally Hemings is not far from my mind, seeing he would've been like almost every other slave owner in those days. The relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson is shown as a loving one in this movie. Which I have always felt was very far from the truth, there's no evidence that this relationship was anything more than another slave/master relationship. I did wish that they would've shown one of her children being black, considering 2 or 3 of her children could actually pass for white. Besides those things the movie was great, I loved Sam Neil as Thomas Jefferson, he really out did himself in this movie.

Surpisingly watchable

[AbandonedRailroadGrade · 19 February 2000]

It's a TV movie, a chick flick, and blatant historical revisionism--I thought I'd hate it, but for some reason I didn't. An African-American woman wrote the screenplay, which is a good thing, given the racial and political ramifications of this fictionalized account of the relationship between America's third president, Thomas Jefferson, and the slave woman, Sally Hemings, who almost certainly bore him one, and probably several, children. The screenwriter was candid enough to admit that the relationship was most likely not as romantic as she portrayed, but that otherwise she tried to stick to known historical facts. Of course, the fact is that we know very little about the real Sally Hemings, and the film's creators have taken this as license to portray a very modern, strong-willed and beautiful heroine (beauty, for better or worse, is important for the star of a historical romance--and I must admit Carmen Ejogo succeeded in capturing my attention) who hardly seems to be a slave at all. She is recast as a latter-day Esther, the Biblical slave woman who became queen of Persia and used her position to save her people. But even the fictional Hemings cannot save her people--although she does help many escape to freedom. And both the fictional and real Thomas Jeffersons, despite having penned the words "all men are created equal" and claiming that slavery was an abomination before God, never took action to bring about the end of the institution of slavery. Indeed, Jefferson was a complicated and puzzling figure. A virtual Renaissance man with big, beautiful dreams for the future of humankind, he was also a hypocrite and a racist, and was frequently ineffectual in both his politics as well as his own personal finances. The last third of the movie chronicles his decline into bankruptcy, and it becomes a gothic tale of decadence, with poor Sally doing all she can to fend for herself and her children while staying loyal to the master of the house. The decline and fall of Jefferson's dream world is the final test of Sally's womanly strength, and it is also a bittersweet presaging of the fall of the Old South. Of what little we do know of the real Hemings, it seems highly probable that she was three-quarters white, and that she was in fact the half-sister of Jefferson's late beloved wife. The lasting and profound image of this modest movie is of the "white slaves," people who we know for a fact did "pass" for whites once they gained their freedom. We condemn slavery because "all men are brothers"; how astounding it is to see that on the old plantations this was literally and blatantly true, with men like Jefferson holding their sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles as "property'! I liked this movie better than the fancy Merchant-Ivory production, Jefferson in Paris. Sam Neill's waffling, self-contradicted, flakey Jefferson seems more historically accurate than Nick Nolte's mountainman, and even though much of the rest is pure fantasy, it is a fairly well-crafted, entertaining and positive rendering of disturbing and potentially controversial material.

What a mini-series!

[wallie · 10/10 · 18 February 2000]

What a performance for Sam Neill. I thought that his portrayal of Jefferson was delightful. They could not have picked a better actor. I truly loved this mini-series. I think it is one of the best that I have seen in a while.

Carmen Ejogo made this movie worth watching!

[Juliet Gabriella Kaleigh · 9/10 · 14 February 2000]

I liked this movie, I didn't love it, however. I don't think that the relationship between Sally and Jefferson was particularly startling, I don't understand why the relationship would be a shock to anybody. Slaves are people too, so of course, people can fall in love with a slave, it's not impossible. I happen to be a black girl who likes white men, shocking? I think not. I do think that this movie did not concentrate on family, enough, I wouldn't have expected Jefferson to have long chats with his biracial children, but Sally too hardly said anything to them. And I so wish that people would quit calling Sally Hemings black, or colored. Sally was white AND black, a simple blood test would show that. Most blacks don't choose to believe that blacks should be considered less than a whole human, but they'll go for that one-drop-of-black-blood crap in a second! Carmen Ejogo didn't play Sally as well as Thandie Newton did to me, but she did a fine job!

Very well done

[carol275 · 10/10 · 27 February 2000]

I thoroughly enjoyed this mini series, it was very well written, entertaining and one of the best I have seen. Very historically accurate in terms of what the slaves went through and a good quality production. The entire cast are some of the most talented actors I have seen, no one was a disappointment. Carmen Ejogo portrayed Sally as an intelligent woman and was very convincing and wonderful in her part. I think we will see a lot of her in the future. Sam Neill was also wonderful-based on historical information I believe his portrayal of Jefferson was accurate. Mare Winningham was excellent as always but I enjoyed every actor down to the smallest roles. I wish there were more quality programs like this one on television. The only disappointing part was when it was over.

The Plot Summery for this show is a lie

[mercuryix · 1/10 · 18 August 2007]

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.

take you're time, it's well worth watching

[apfraats · 8/10 · 15 June 2005]

Although not a fan of one specific genre ,a DRAMA/ROMANCE genre is not my first favor to watch. Started watching the movie didn't get my attention at first and the feeling arose to stop it and look at another movie. Just over 1000 movies waiting to be seen in my DVD-collection, it was very tempting to 'save this one for later'. Finally it was a TV production, so it couldn't be too good, was my reasoning. But I was wrong, and was really wrong. After about 15 minutes, the movie was attracting my attention and I went on seeing it. After 30 minutes 'I was all in it' and really enjoyed it. There is exceptional good acting and a good story line. All characters where 'real' in their acting, contributing to the experience of the story told in the movie. I can't say anything about the historical truth of this movie, but I didn't watch it from that point of view. I watched it to enjoy a good movie and it seemed to be one. So to be short: Try this movie and look at it for a minimum of the first 20 minutes, before deciding to stop, which in my opinion is the wrong thing to do. It's just the habit of having movies catches you in their first minutes. Well, this one surely isn't one of such, but it evolves slowly but surely to a good movie while watching. One important fact to mention is the music used to support the story in the movie. It's an exceptional good choice that was made here. I don't know if the movie has better soundtracks then the version I saw (dutch version) with 2.0 Dolby surround, but surely a well recorded 5.1 or even DTS soundtrack would significant improve the total movie experience. But being a TV production, I doubt there is something better than 2.0 Dolby surround (although you can leave out the 'surround' because it isn't really there). Despite this technical aspect it turned out to be a surprisingly good movie and I was very glad, I DID finish my watching. Believe me, this movie is much better than one might expect. And I can especially recommend this movie for women, cause I think they even more appreciate this movie than the 'we coming from mars'-guys.

AN AMERICAN SLAP IN THE FACE

[bigbrotha · 1/10 · 12 March 2000]

THE FACTS:

She was a slave. He was a slave owner.

Any "romance" that blossomed under those circumstances is instantly suspect. Love is free. Love is willing. Love should not be kept under lock and key. Yeah, maybe Sally legitimatly fell in love with TJ BUT the fact still remains, she was his property. What options did she have? What if 14-15 year old Sally had said no to her 42-43 year old "massa" Thomas? But on to the movie itself. Did it make a honest attempt to tell this story, taking in consideration the circumstances in which these people lived or did the creators take the sleasy route and just make it some wack romance novel come to life?

Yep...worse fears confirmed...

Tina Andrews(writer) turned it in to a part GONE WITH THE WIND, part IMITATION OF LIFE, part THORN BIRDS, all crap. Oh sure we got to see Diahann Carol smack ol Sally upside the head and my goodness, for a slave, Sally sure did get around didn't she? I was expecting Rhett Butler to come rolling through, proclaiming his love for Sally as well.

What a load of crap.

This movie made slavery look like fun, like an Disney amusement park(SLAVERYLAND! Where Ol' Times Are Not Forgotten! Zippadee Doo Dah Zippadee Yea!), made Sally look like a spoiled(how dare she want Thomas to promise not to sell her!)Lolitaish(her "seduction" of a "resisting" Thomas in romantic pre-French Revolution Paris is sure to be a "classic")civil rights feminist and Thomas as a reluctant, foot soaking, tortured(he supposedly did not agree with the institution of slavery but yet owned slaves and sold some of them to pay off his debts)romantic.

Did I already mention that this was a load of crap?

To take an period in American history as horrifying as slavery and to use it as a backdrop for a two bit Danielle Steele knockoff is demeaning not only to the audience watching this train wreck of a mini-series but to the memories of those who endured Slavery. Period.

Intriguing & probably largely accurate

[mlevans · 15 August 2004]

I wish I had run across this unheralded made-for-TV film several months ago, while I was writing a graduate-level paper on the Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemings controversy. Director Charles Haid's production brings this age-old debate to life in a moving and – I believe-historically accurate manner.

Although the writing credits do not mention Barbara Chase-Riboud's 1979 novel, `Sally Hemings,' this work of inspired historic fiction seems to be the primary inspiration for Tina Andrews' screenplay. The novel, likewise, was built upon the 1974 landmark book by Fawn McKay Brodie, `Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate Portrait.' Savagely attacked by the academic elite at the time, Brodie's work was supported by Annette Gordon-Reed's `Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy' in 1996 and by DNA testing two years later. Some still refuse to believe. For the open-minded, though, Brodie and Gordon-Reed's books (which I highly recommend) painted a clear portrait, even if it may have been blurred a bit around the edges. The DNA evidence merely cemented their scholarship.

Andrews and Haid, like Chase-Riboud, Brodie and Gordon-Reed, take an even-handed, fair look at events as they may well have happened. Naturally, like Chase-Riboud's novel, this is historic fiction. Large chunks of private lives are recreated on the sparsest bits of evidence and speculation. The story, however, stands up to scrutiny as a fictitious narrative. Did Jefferson and Hemings exchange years of romantic letters, which were later destroyed? We will never know. Did Jefferson's long-term relationship with Hemings, which by its very length would seem to dispel the arguments that it was either an ongoing rape or purely a sexual relationship, affect his ideas on slavery and emancipation? We will probably never know. Does this movie paint a portrait of two very real human beings, acting and reacting as they may very well have done 200 years ago? I believe it very much does so.

This is probably not the place for an in-depth analysis of the arguments for and against the Hemings' family claims. Personally, I found in my own research that the relationship between the two seems very likely to have been real and to have been a true love story -albeit a tragic one. If one accepts the basic tenets – that Jefferson and the teenage slave became physically and emotionally involved in Paris and that they continued a somewhat secret love affair for nearly 40 years, which bore several mulatto children, then the story of Jefferson and his slaves is a particularly complex and poignant one. A true Enlightenment man, Jefferson was certainly keenly aware of the disparity between his words `all men are created equal' and other such epitaphs and his ownership of more than 100 African-American slaves.

As in the Chase-Riboud novel, Jefferson is seen as a good man, but far from perfect. Sam Neill, although his physical resemblance to the third president is slight, captures the complexity and ambiguity of this brilliant, yet tortured individual. In his heart he knows slavery is wrong, but can never bring himself to abandon his rising political star by taking such a politically suicidal stance. Later, after his wealth and influence have crumbled, he is wracked by regret for not having used his earlier power to fight slavery. At least this is Haid's take and I think it is a perfectly supportable one. Carmen Ejogo, meanwhile, is lovely and convincing as the mysterious Sally Hemings. Unlike Chase-Riboud's character, Ejogo's Sally is not sophisticated beyond all likelihood for her time and place. She could read and write French and English and obtained many of the social skills of a genteel country lady; yet she was probably not the cerebral debutant of the novel.

The rest of the cast is strong, including legendary black actress Diahann Carroll as the family matriarch, Betty Hemings, and Mare Winningham as Martha Jefferson Raldolph. While Andrews and Haid may occasionally slip into presentism and have Sally and others mouth very 2000-sounding lectures on black pride, etc., they generally avoid such temptations. The movie transports the viewer into Jefferson and Hemings' world – and into their lives as they very well may have been lived.

It was great!!

[viking_girl75 · 10/10 · 18 June 2000]

I thought the movie was great!! I missed a few parts of it, which I would really like to see, but the parts I did see were really good. I think Sam Neill and Carmen Ejogo did excellent jobs. I think everyone did great on the movie and hopefully I will get to see it again so I can see the parts I missed!!

Very plausible story.

[deerwalkby · 9/10 · 17 October 2023]

It is believable that Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings loved each other and were devoted to their relationship as much as possible in the midst of a challenging cultural milieu. When Jefferson's wife died she made him promise he would never remarry. But two years later when Sally came to France she would have caught Jefferson's eye since she was a half sister of his wife, and was said to look very much like her. She was three quarters white and possibly a red head. She could have stayed in France, free, but she chose to go back with him. They think her bedroom was near to Thomas's and he never sold any of their children, even when he had money troubles. The evidence seems to show a continuous caring.

An Interesting (but somewhat fictional )View of the Jefferson-Hemings Relationship

[timcon1964 · 8/10 · 13 July 2023]

Scarcely any subject in U. S. history can compare with Thomas Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings. In her biography of Jefferson, Fawn Brodie concludes that, without additional evidence, "we must remain forever baffled about the feelings of Sally Hemings during the whole of her life." Nonetheless, Brodie concludes that Sally's relationship with Jefferson was "a serious passion that brought Jefferson and the slave woman much private happiness." Similarly, this film, written by Tina Andrews, portrays their relationship as a true romance, and Sally as an intelligent, inquisitive, and assertive woman.

Unfortunately, this docudrama skips over the origins of the Hemings family and begins with Sally's voyage to France accompanying Jefferson's daughter Maria ("Polly"). Sally, about 14 years old when she arrives in Paris, is not just another slave girl. She was said to be "light colored and decidedly good looking." And she was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, whom she might have strongly resembled. In her massive book about the Hemings family, Annette Gordon-Reed comments, "there was virtually no way that Hemings and Jefferson could talk with each other without the conscious or unconscious memory of Martha Wayles Jefferson hovering between them." Indeed, in the film, Jefferson tells Sally, "You look exactly like my wife." In her initial intimate encounter with Jefferson, Sally behaves like a sexually experienced woman-we are almost left to wonder if she is seducing Jefferson, rather than the other way around.

In those days, mature, even middle aged, men did develop romantic interest in teenage girls. Gordon-Reed cites the cases of Madison and John Marshall. The movie shows how James Callender's article publicized the Jefferson-Hemings relationship-but it had little political impact. Southern whites denounced miscegenation in public, but practiced it in private. Jefferson had the examples of his father-in-law John Wayles and his slave mistress Betty Hemings, and his mentor George Wythe, whose black maid was evidently his concubine. The film shows Sally negotiating with Jefferson the conditions of her return from France to Virginia, although her mother wanted her to remain in France.

Andrews' movie includes some events that seem highly improbable. It shows Sally in Paris, acquiring the manners of society, learning to read and write English and French, asking Jefferson pointed questions about the applicability of "liberty" as written in the Declaration of Independence, challenging Jefferson's derogatory description of blacks, quoting to Tom Paine some of his own words, and dancing with him at a Paris function. In the film, Sally assists runaway slaves, and is captured, and whipped by a slave catcher. One improbable scene finds Sally on the back stairs of the Presidential Mansion (now known as the White House), where Dolley Madison tells her, "Ultimately, we are women aren't we? Even to the same second-class concerns no matter our color." But back at Monticello, Sally occasionally gives orders to the overseer. The film creates a fictional Henry Jackson, a Monticello slave who is in love with Sally.

Andrews assumes that Sally's first pregnancy produced a son, Tom. This Tom has an important role in the film, but Madison Hemings said that Sally's first child died soon after it was born, and does not list Tom as one of Sally's children. There was a Tom (Tom Woodson) of the appropriate age, but DNA evidence does not show a connection between him and the Hemingses.

Sally's daughter Harriet (played by Amelia Heinle, now CEO of Newman Enterprises on "The Young and The Restless") is shattered when a young white man, who is attracted to her, discovers her true identity and attacks her. Like some of her siblings, Harriet finds that her racial status could prevent her from having a home, a family, and a chance to be free. She and her brothers Beverly and Eston (all of whom were 90 per cent white) eventually move into white society.

As Sally, Carmen Ejogo, daughter of a Nigerian father and a Scottish mother, very effectively conveys her character as conceived by Andrews. But we may doubt whether Sally was the intelligent, inquisitive, and assertive woman shown in the film. As Betty, Diahann Carroll is convincing-Gordon-Reed feels that Betty was "the central (and most compelling)" person in the Hemings family. Sam Neill portrays Jefferson as a sympathetic figure, torn between his philosophical discomfort with slavery and the economic imperatives of plantation operation. Mare Winningham deserves great credit for her portrayal of Martha ("Patsy") Jefferson. Martha's life was not easy-she had to raise a dozen children, contend with the debts of her father and her husband, and cope with her husband's emotional issues, which eventually led to their separation. She must have been profoundly uncomfortable with her father's relationship with Sally. As Jefferson's other daughter, Maria ("Polly"), Jessica Townsend is given limited screen time. Sally and Polly spent five weeks together during their voyage to Europe, which must have forced some interaction between them-but we know little about it. The film implies that Polly was friendlier than her sister to Sally. Mario Van Peeples gives a plausible interpretation of James Hemings, whose motives and concerns are not fully understood. But Rene Auberjonois, cast as the muckraking journalist James Callender, is almost too sleazy.

The Andrews' film accurately reveals how Jefferson's life style, together with the poor productivity of his plantation, produced massive debts. It deviates from history in some details, for example, we see Monticello's slaves contentedly singing and dancing, and the slaves being sold while Jefferson was still alive, whereas they were not actually sold until six months later. Although one may question its presentation of Sally's personality, of plantation slave life, and of Jefferson's treatment of his slaves, the film suggests the issues that must have arisen in connection with Jefferson's private life. It certainly conveys the pathos surrounding Jefferson's final days. Neill is especially compelling as the aging and feeble Jefferson. The camera work is effective-in some scenes, we feel we are actually at Monticello.

Some great performances

[avatar6 · 13 March 2000]

This movie was not immediately something I found great. In fact, as I watched the beginning, I began to find myself laughing at the absurdity of some of the scenes... a reaction not sought after, I am sure. It wasn't awful, and it did have some good parts, but it was something out of a Harlequin romance novel, it seemed. But, as time rolled on, the movie began to unveil its value as a serious, thought-provoking, and often moving portrayal of a time when the human condition outshined the laws of the day. In the end, what made this movie work -- and it worked quite well once it got past the poorly written first scenes -- were the performances of Sam Neill, and Carmen Ejogo. It was not a surprise that Sam Neill made bad lines sound so good -- he's an extremely talented actor -- but it was a surprise to see Carmen Ejogo, a virtual unknown, act so beautifully and eloquently. She is going to be an actress to watch. Not only is she gorgeous to look at, she's talented, as well. Both actors were brilliant in their roles, and that alone makes the movie worth watching. They should be proud of the work they did.

Plantation romance, not history

[gimhoff · 5 June 2009]

The belief that Thomas Jefferson had a long-standing sexual relationship with his slave Sally Hemings rests on four grounds: 1) the contemporaneous charges of journalist James Callendar, who smeared members of both political parties, sometimes truthfully and sometimes not, as his allegiances shifted. Callendar's charges were made in viciously racist terms, and they were never directly addressed by Jefferson. Callendar is strikingly portrayed as a snake by Rene Auberjonois in this film. 2) The claim of Madison Hemings, one of Hemings' sons, who first wrote that he and Hemings' other children were fathered by Jefferson in a newspaper interview and then in a short memoir, both written in the 1870's, when he himself was in his seventies, and nearly fifty years after Jefferson's death. 3) DNA testing of the lineal descendants of Eston Hemings, Sally Hemings' youngest child, that showed a familial link to a male Jefferson, but not specifically to Thomas Jefferson. 4) Timetables that show that Thomas Jefferson is the only male Jefferson who can be proved to have been at Monticello around nine months before the births of all of Sally's children. If we make the assumption that all of Sally Hemings' children had the same father, that would tend to show that Jefferson was the father of all of them. Each of these, by itself, proves nothing; even taken together they aren't conclusive proof. But they certainly are suggestive.

What is more important in judging stories about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson is that we know practically nothing about the nature of the relationship between them. Hemings left no papers; Jefferson wrote nothing about her. Madison wrote that Sally went to France as a companion to Jefferson's daughter Maria when he was the US ambassador; that she and Maria stayed eighteen months, during which Sally became pregnant with Jefferson's child. "She was just beginning to understand the French language well, and in France she was free, while if she returned to Virginia she would be re-enslaved. So she refused to return with him. To induce her to do so he promised her extraordinary privileges, and made a solemn pledge that her children should be freed at the age of twenty-one years. In consequence of his promise, on which she implicitly relied, she returned with him to Virginia." He wrote that these promises were kept: "He (Jefferson) was not in the habit of showing partiality or fatherly affection to us children. We were the only children of his by a slave woman. He was affectionate toward his white grandchildren, of whom he had fourteen, twelve of whom lived to manhood and womanhood." He also wrote that, "We were permitted to stay about the 'great house,' and only required to do such light work as going on errands. Harriet learned to spin and to weave in a little factory on the home plantation. We were free from the dread of having to be slaves all our lives long, and were measurably happy. We were always permitted to be with our mother, who was well used. It was her duty, all her life which I can remember, up to the time of father's death, to take care of his chamber and wardrobe, look after us children and do such light work as sewing, and Provision was made in the will of our father that we should be free when we arrived at the age of 21 years."

Assuming this is all true (and the movie doesn't stick to even this much) everything else about their relationship is invented. Were Sally and Thomas tender and loving partners over several decades, was Thomas a mean and ruthless exploiter of a vulnerable slave, or did they both have what was just a practical arrangement? Nobody knows, so we all bring to their relationship our own prejudices, wishes, and hopes. It's a mirror, and what we see in it is ourselves, not any historic fact. What is written and filmed about them is a "plantation romance," whether it is of the whips and chains variety like Mandingo and parts of this movie, or whether it is more hopeful that love could overcome the institution of slavery, as are other parts of this movie.

As to the movie itself, it has a serviceable script and is well filmed by TV mini-series standards, and its four-hour length doesn't seem too long. Its main advantages are that Neill and Ejogo provide two good lead performances and that Ejogo is a world-class beauty. Its only distracting flaw is the excessive and quite noticeable make-up jobs on all the actors who are supposed to be elderly. In sum, it's worth watching if you're interested in the subject and don't think that movies tell the truth about historical characters.

Well done SAM NEILL and Carmen Ejogo

[bkuchau · 28 February 2000]

Hello. I was very pleased with the series. I was interested in watching it because of SAM NEILL but soon found that the acting of SAM and Carmen was so well done that I actually found myself watching TJ and Sally finding each other, loving each other and was drawn in to their unique situation.

I believe that the series did a good thing in bringing this relationship into the public eye and I personally have found I have a great interest in learning more about TJ, Sally (who, unfortunately, there is not a lot available) and the whole horrible slave business.

There were places in the series where I was disappointed, simple things that were not realistic, but I was willing to overlook them because of the superb acting of SAM NEILL and Carmen.

I recommend this series.

Can't they ever get it right?

[Rotundy · 11 May 2000]

Personally I'm tired of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, what's so shocking about a man taking a mistress whether they are white, black, purple or green. Why is Jefferson put on this golden pedestal? What's so shocking about finding out that this man ascending to heaven had flesh just like everyone else.

Personally, I came away feeling angry about the movie. Can't people to any more research than what they do? James Callender was scrupulous, yes, but he was a reporter and jailed under the Alien and Sedition Acts. He could have been reward a little from his trouble, after all Jefferson couldn't be happier when he was publishing his History of 1797 against the Federalists. If it wasn't for James Callender we probably wouldn't even be seeing this movie and the gossip that came of it would have died a gradual death. Next is Dolly Madison. Did any of those people actually look at a picture of Dolly Madison? She had black hair not red and that table scene when James Callender was asking her about her and Aaron Burr in New York. She wasn't even in New York; she was in Philadelphia burying a husband and a son from the yellow fever epidemic. There were other things I could point out as well but the average person doesn't realize the mistakes and that's what makes me so angry.

I see historical movies and how they botch things up makes me so mad and what I get angry over is the fact that people see these movies and believe what they see. They don't bother to look for themselves to find the truth.

Besides the great criticism I did enjoy Sam Neil as Jefferson I thought his manner seemed fitting, better than Nick Nolte in Jefferson in Paris. Mare Winningham was perhaps the best as Martha Jefferson constantly struggling between the duties of a mistress of the plantation, daughter to her father, and his relationship with Sally. When it was all over, it was entertaining and that is the number one motive behind this movie.

The truth is, we don't know for sure

[ejj1955 · 10 February 2008]

I researched this question a few years ago, and here's what I remember about the DNA evidence: it showed that some, but not all, of Sally's children were related to a male Jefferson. Maybe Thomas, maybe another one.

And the newspaper reporter who wrote the story was a disappointed office-seeker who had a grudge against Jefferson.

Given this, I'm somewhat amused by the vehemence with which both sides defend their point of view: those (few) who proclaim that Jefferson could not have been involved with his slave this way, and those many who not only accept the relationship as proved but go on to state that it either must have been or could not possibly have been a romance.

For what it's worth, I think the preponderance of evidence supports that there was a sexual relationship that produced children. Beyond that, I don't know if the 14-year-old Sally fell in love with this remarkable man or if in his private life he was capable of raping his slave. Given that her oldest child wasn't a Jefferson, the "tradition" that their relationship began in Paris seems suspect.

Finally, Jefferson himself simply refused to address the embarrassing newspaper reports. Everyone involved is long dead, and we'll probably never know for sure. Such is the nature of history (some of the time).

Thomas Jefferson did not father Hemings' children

[overseasltdan · 28 February 2005]

I admit, I cannot readily cite sources for this.

BUT my understanding of this scandal is that Thomas Jefferson was accused of fathering Hemings' first child. This accusation was made by a muckraking journalist in the early 1800s who was trying to extort political favors from Jefferson. Fast forward to the late 20th century. DNA testing is conducted and this testing conclusively proves that Jefferson did not father Hemings' oldest child. In fact, none of Hemings' children had Jefferson DNA except her youngest child. Bear in mind, this means that any male Jefferson could have fathered this child, and there were something like 25 male Jefersons living at Monticello at this time. Furthermore, this last child was born years after the original muckraking accusation was made, meaning TJ would have to be pretty dumb to do this (plus he was pretty old, like 60 or so, when this last child was conceived). It seems more likely that Jefferson's younger brother (Randolph? might have been his name), who was notorious for fraternizing with the chattel, was the father.