At the end of the movie Sally says to TJ's daughter that she can't be sold because she was given her freedom in Paris. Is this fact or fiction ? If true was she given her freedom but was willing to stay with TJ or was her freedom only to be granted after his death ?
" ... never send to know for whom the bell tolls ... "
Well, it is known that he freed all his slaves at his death, but that doesn't mean she WASN'T freed in paris, but it definately means she was freed after her death.
I believe she was freed in paris, maybe even just verbally. At one point in the movie, Sally is kicked out by Martha, goes to see Jefferson in Washington, then comes back with a letter that Jefferson says will "ensure that she is never kicked out again". Well, she hands the mysterious letter to Martha, who lays off of her from then on. It isn't shown what is in the letter, but I inferred that Jefferson revealed to Martha Sally's free status and to give her all the priviledges of a free part of their family.
He didn't free all his slaves at his death - most were sold to pay off the huge debts that he had accumulated. He only freed four at his death. Four male slaves, no women.
The show took a lot of license. I'd suggest treating this travesty as a bad movie, and get your history from actual history books.
If anything, feel sorry for Sally Hemmings. She was most likely Martha Wayles' half sister, but was chattel property. Her children were chattel property of Jefferson, with no rights at all. She had no freedom to say no to whoever the father was (probably Jefferson), and that says NOTHING good about the man that fathered her children. She was maligned as a whore, but what recourse did she have? None.
To me, that destroys all the good that Jefferson did, because he either did this to her, or permitted it to happen.
If she fully wanted her freedom, she would've had to leave Virginia so Sally couldn't be with Thomas. She really loved him, so she wanted to stay with him.
Kellz R
"Well, it is known that he freed all his slaves at his death, but that doesn't mean she WASN'T freed in paris, but it definately means she was freed after her death.
I believe she was freed in paris, maybe even just verbally."
Sally Hemings and her brother James were not 'freed' in Paris. There were already free just by the fact of being on French soil.
"He didn't free all his slaves at his death - most were sold to pay off the huge debts that he had accumulated. He only freed four at his death. Four male slaves, no women."
True, but James Hemings was freed earlier. He told Jefferson he was staying in Paris as a free man. TJ convinced him to return to Virginia with the promise of freedom after he trained another slave to be the master chef that James had become. And he did just that; James Hemings died a free man, though he apparently ended up taking his own life.
Madison Hemings said in his autobiography that his mother agreed to return to Virginia on Jefferson's promise that all her children would be freed when they turned twenty-one. He apparently kept that promise. Two of her children, including her only daughter, ran away, but apparently with Jefferson's tacit agreement. Of the four slaves freed at his death, two were James Madison Hemings and John Eston Hemings.
The best book I've read on the subject is 'Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings', by Annette Gordon-Reed. I highly recommend it.