The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family is a 2008 book by American historian Annette Gordon-Reed. It recounts the history of four generations of the African-American Hemings family, from their African and Virginia origins until the 1826 death of Thomas Jefferson, their master and the father of Sally Hemings' children.Cohen, Patricia. "Seeing past the slave to study the person", The New York Times (September 19, 2008).
It is based on Gordon-Reed's study of legal records, diaries, farm books, letters, wills, newspapers, archives, and oral history. Gordon-Reed wanted readers to "see slave people as individuals" and to "tell the story of this family in a way not done before". Jefferson scholar Joseph Ellis has called the book "the best study of a slave family ever written".
The book has won sixteen awards and was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography and the 2009 Mark Lynton History Prize.Jennie Yabroff, "A Lawyer’s New Jefferson Memorial: The next chapter in the Hemings saga", NEWSWEEK2008 NBCC Finalists Announced |author= Barbara HoffertColumbia University
In 2008 National Book Award for Nonfiction,"National Book Awards – 2008". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-20. (With interview and acceptance speech.) and Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Book Award
In 2009 Pulitzer Prize in History (Gordon-Reed was the first African American to be awarded this prize) George Washington Book Prize, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, New Jersey Council of the Humanities Book Award, Frederick Douglass Prize,"New York Law School Professor Wins $25,000 Frederick Douglass Book Prize" Owsley Award from the Southern Historical Association, and Library of Virginia Literary Award"Rutgers-Newark prof Annette Gordon-Reed wins Pulitzer Prize"
In 2010 In 2010 Annette Gordon-Reed was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her works on colonial and early American history, race and slavery. The Foundation noted that her "persistent investigation into the life of an iconic American president has dramatically changed the course of Jeffersonian scholarship.""Annette Gordon-Reed", MacArthur Foundation"Annette Gordon-Reed", NPR
References
External links François Furstenberg, "Jefferson's Other Family: His concubine was also his wife's half-sister", review of Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello, Slate, 23 September 2008 Video: Annette Gordon-Reed discusses The Hemingses of Monticello Listen: Annette Gordon-Reed on NPR's Talk of the Nation Excerpt: Gordon-Reed examines Sally Hemings' time in Paris with Thomas Jefferson (via TheRoot.com)