It’s time to recognize Sally Hemings as a first lady of the United States

[tulc]

It’s time to recognize Sally Hemings as a first lady of the United States

For these reasons and others, it’s Sally Hemings, not Martha Wayles Skelton, who should be recognized as first lady.

This may seem a complex concept to wrap one’s mind around. But it is no more challenging than making sense of your lineage when your ancestors were enslaved.

Here’s what we know about my family.

In the 1730s, an English sea captain whose last name was Hemings conceived a child with an enslaved African woman. (Some historians speculate that the African woman’s name was Parthena.) The child, Elizabeth Hemings, became the property of a wealthy plantation owner named John Wayles.

John Wayles married three times. All three wives died relatively young, but not before bearing children. One of those children was Martha Wayles. After his third white wife died, John Wayles took as a “concubine” his black slave Elizabeth Hemings, also known as Betty. Wayles fathered six children with Betty: Robert, James, Thena, Critta, Peter and Sally.

(Yes, that’s correct: Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman who bore six of Thomas Jefferson’s children, was the half-sister of Martha Wayles Skelton, Jefferson’s white wife.)

tulc(...wow...)

 

[JacobKStarkey]

Sally Hemings was (most likely) the mother of five of Jefferson's children.

Her half-sister, Martha Wayles, was the mother of the other six Jefferson children.

Martha, not Sally, was Jefferson's lawful wife.

Thus Martha's daughter, because of her mother's death, was the official hostess at Jefferson's White House.

 

[Hank77]

It’s time to recognize Sally Hemings as a first lady of the United States

tulc(...wow...)

I had read this before. I'm glad Monticello is recognizing Hemings, as she should be.

 

[JacobKStarkey]

Hemings should be recognized but not as mistress of the White House.

 

[StrivingFollower]

The First Mistress.. nice.

 

[tulc]

The First Mistress.. nice.

Man...there's an idea who's time may have finally come.
tulc(bad tulc! no doughnut!)

 

[Sparagmos]

It’s time to recognize Sally Hemings as a first lady of the United States

tulc(...wow...)

Wow. Yes she should definitely be considered a First Lady. I didn’t know a dead person (his wife who died before he was president) could be First Lady...

 

[Sparagmos]

Man...there's an idea who's time may have finally come.
tulc(bad tulc! no doughnut!)

Anything is possible right now.

 

[JacobKStarkey]

Wow. Yes she should definitely be considered a First Lady. I didn’t know a dead person (his wife who died before he was president) could be First Lady...

The President's daughter and his daughter-in-law at times would act as First Lady.

The daughter would be Sally Hemings half-niece.

 

[Radagast]

The First Mistress.. nice.

Didn't Marilyn Monroe have that position once?

 

[tulc]

Didn't Marilyn Monroe have that position once?

I believe she did. among many others...including this rather startling one
William R. King - Wikipedia
and (a bit disappointing) this one:
http://www.resharable.org/famous-presidential-mistresses-time/14/
(tulc(always liked President Eisenhower and is pretty saddened by that one)

 

[Radagast]

The President's daughter and his daughter-in-law at times would act as First Lady.

And to the extent that "First Lady" is a job, they were the ones doing it, at least some of the time. I notice that Wikipedia credits the oldest daughter Martha ("Patsy") with the role. She was also the first woman to give birth in the White House.