In Defense of Thomas Jefferson: The Sally Hemings Sex Scandal

The belief that Thomas Jefferson had an affair and fathered a child (or children) with slave Sally Hemings—-and that such an allegation was proven by DNA testing—has become so pervasive in American popular culture that it is not only widely accepted but taught to students as historical fact. But as William G. Hyland Jr. demonstrates, this "fact" is nothing more than the accumulation of salacious rumors and irresponsible scholarship over the years, much of it inspired by politica…