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Monticello Restoration To Tell The Story Of Jefferson's Enslaved Mistress
Monticello Restoration To Tell The Story Of Jefferson's Enslaved Mistress

Monticello Restoration To Tell The Story Of Jefferson's Enslaved Mistress

Monticello Restoration To Tell The Story Of Jefferson's Enslaved Mistress

Monticello, the historic slave plantation owned by Thomas Jefferson, will be restored to tell the story of a particular slave that had a long-term relationship with the Founding Father.

In a report from The Washington Post, Monticello will be displaying the room that Sally Hemings held inside the home, which was believed to be a few steps away from Jefferson's own bedroom. This will be the first time the room is displayed.

Hemings and Jefferson's relationship was obviously complex, with a slaveowner having a relationship with his slave. Inevitably, their involvement was denied by Jefferson's descendants, although many historians now believe he was the father of six of Hemings' kids.

That denial likely played a part in the erasure of Hemings, whose bedroom at Monticello was transformed into a bathroom in 1941.

However, that will no longer be the case. A reported $35 million has gone into the restoration of Monticello, where not only Hemings' room will be reconstructed, but multiple buildings where slaves lived and worked.

"Visitors will come up here and understand that there was no place on this mountaintop that slavery wasn't," Christa Dierksheide, a Monticello historian, said. "Thomas Jefferson was surrounded by people, and the vast majority of those people were enslaved."

"Sally Hemings was better traveled than most Americans, so we want to tell a story about her that doesn't limit her to Jefferson's property," Gary Sandling, a vice president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns and runs Monticello as a museum, added.

Hemings' space will feature artifacts and furniture taken from the period, such as bone toothbrushes and other items that were excavated at Monticello.

Not much is known about Hemings. Historians do not know how old she was when she lived at Monticello, and no portraits or photographs of her exist. But this room will at least give us a better understanding of her role not only on the plantation, but in Jefferson's life.

The room will debut some time next year. An estimated 440,000 people tour the historic landmark annually.