DNA Evidence Rewrites History: Jefferson Likely Fathered Hemings’ Children
TL;DR Summary
A Smithsonian-led team used DNA from Jefferson’s preserved hair to obtain his genome and compare it with living descendants of Sally Hemings, yielding a 99.9% probability that the former president fathered Hemings’ children; the findings are explored in a new book and have sparked both validation and debate among Hemings’ descendants.
- In a DNA Breakthrough After 200 Years, Thomas Jefferson’s Hair Links Him to Sally Hemings’ Children TODAY.com
- Two Centuries On, Smithsonian Connects Jefferson’s Hair to Hemings’s Children The New York Times
- The Lost Descendants of Thomas Jefferson The New Yorker
- Sally Hemings’s Oldest Descendant Gave the Smithsonian Her DNA. She Says It Lost Her Trust. The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Thomas Jefferson’s hair ‘proves he had children with slave’ The Times
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