We and the descendants search of their families lasting legacy. Before we get started, i want to welcome a very special guest who is with me tonight. We are greatly honored that the first lady of virginia is here tonight with us. Thank you. [applause] many of you know that gayle had a long and successful journalism career before she turned her sights to monticello. She came to us in 2016. And it is my delight to welcome her tonight as a colleague, but more importantly as an honored speaker. A common refrain in gayles book, and i quote, is giving voice to the ancestors. And she does that of course, by telling their stories. She describes herself as, and i quote, a woman whose voice is used as an instrument. Not for herself, but for those written out in history. A woman who, after a lifelong journey, found her family, her home, her purpose. End of quote. In part it was because of monticello its work to find and learn of the descendants of its enslaved community in a project called getting word, that she found more of her family and story. Her courage is the telling of her story and that of her family providing an inspiration to all of us. And of course, gayles book includes the work she has done here since she joined the staff, as our First Community engagement officer. Her role at monticello is an integral part of her journey, and there are times where her honest accounting of her experience has taught us about all of blind spots. We, like many americans, are sometimes unaware of those blind spots. Like our nation, we need to face them and change them. Through her experiences, gayle provides a powerful lens into American History in the 20th century, and the complicated, complex nature of identity and family. While her familys story is a singular one, marked by personal moments and individuals, gayle paints a portrait that shares light on to individual experiences of people of color across america, and her journey is an important one for monticello, and for our country. As we work to tell a more honest and complicated history of our past. Her work at monticello helps us be part of a more inclusive american story. As maritimes bestselling author reclamation is a quintessential american story that should be required reading for anyone who doesnt understand the true contributions of African Americans to this nation. And how vital our presence was and remains to the Core Principles of democracy and freedom. Never more than now. Please join me in welcoming gayle jessup white. [applause] thank you, leslie. Thank you for the courage that youve shown to tell a more inclusive story of our history. I am trying really hard not to cry in this moment. And so happy to see all of you here. I love you also much. Ive never felt more loved in my life. So, having said that, im going to stick to the script. Can everyone hear me . Okay, great. First of all, this is like the oscars for me. Im going to do some thank yous first, were gonna hear the music coming, i know, ive spoken to, long you will let me know if somebody needs to hum. I want to friend thank my friend pam for being here. Thank you so much for coming. I also want to thank my friend, the honorable judge john thomas for being here. And his beautiful wife, forgive me for calling you beautiful, im old fashioned. And his sister pearl thomas so many people here i love. From washington, to richmond, to all over, lets also think my colleagues is gary still here . Thank you, gary. Gary has actually mentored with me since ive been here at monticello. He has a Museum Background so gary was super helpful. For the ladies who put this event together, tasha. I can her wonderful tahsa because shes incredible. I have to think my kent family here. My daughters, whitney and laura who came from the uk early just to be here tonight. Thank you so much. Im so happy that all of you are here and my big sisters, i will be all here all night i must thank my publisher, and judith who is the president of publish a lot to take my editor, patrick bass, who is so helpful in helping develop the story. Of course, my agent jenniferare. Family, friends, family and friends, i love you so much. I just dont know how to express how appreciative i am and how thankful i am for you and how supportive you have been. This is a long journey that i have gone through. It feels like a miracle to me, and it feels like a dream that im here tonight. Of course, beside every good woman is a good man. I have two. I have to ask the husband, the brilliant, the legendary, jack white, please stand jack because you have been remarkable. And my son, he came from cambridge, he was at cnn with me this morning. He was my assistant. Charles jessie franklin, the best son in the world. Thank you so much for putting up with me. They are only two that know how hard it is to live with me. And of course, the three women in my life as well. You made this possible. My sister, janice terry, for whom i heard the story for the first time when i was 13 years old. She walked this journey with me most of my life. She is beautiful, shes glamorous, and shes really smart and she stuck with me throughout my journey. Who is a mentor as well. Who helped guide me through this process, and then you will read about her when you read the book. Without those three women we would not be here tonight. I would not have the story. Some i am very grateful to them and i love them so. That said, i have a script. This is the script. I have a clicker. Im going to ask for your patience as i have not yet slept in 48 hours. So, there it is, reclamation. Thank you, thank you. Reclamation sally hemmings, Thomas Jefferson, the descendants search for her familys lasting legacy. It is part memoir, protect of story and part history lesson. It spoke with recollections of the happy youth growing up in a loving, solidly middle class family that appeared unburdened. They appeared unburdened by worldly concerns. In fact, there was much more going on in our household that was immediately discernible. I read about that. There was tension. I read about that tension as honestly as i possibly can. And it was difficult. And of course, as honestly as my girlhood diaries would allow, ive been a writer for a long time. The tension was one reason that i was so intrigued when i first heard the oral history of the descendant of Thomas Jefferson. And there i am, 13 years old, when i first heard this i talk about, in the first chapter of the book, what it was like when i was 13 years old and heard the story or my sister. Im gonna point to her. The very glamorous one, janice terry. That is my mom. That is me at 13. And these are my nieces, my nieces and my nephews. So janice terri, approximately 20 years older than i, she, to me, was very worldly. When she returned from asia after having spent years there with her husband, who was a thai magazine correspondent. She was back in the states explaining to my dad what her experience there have been. And my sister is a big talker, so she was talking for hours. After a while i got bored with her stories, not with her, with her stories. And so i go to the kitchen and im looking to the refrigerator for a snack. And i hear my sister say, and i said, we are descended from Thomas Jefferson well, i have to tell you, i was shocked. I had never heard this story before. I couldnt have imagined, as a little black girl growing up in washington d. C. , a perfectly happy black girl growing up in washington d. C. , that we would have been descended from Thomas Jefferson. I was excited that i heard this and its because he was my favorite president. He was my favorite president because he had written the declaration of independence. And i thought that was the most marvelous document ever composed by human beings. I had no idea that, as a 13 year old girl, that Thomas Jefferson enslaved people. So i could not imagine it we werent president school. Were you taught that in school . No. We must have thought. I could not have imagined how that happened. I was so intrigued by this story that i pushed my family to tell me as much as they could about it. And, it is a long story about janice and this information that he conveyed. I want to encourage you to read that book. But i was able to ascertain, as i explore the story, was that my grandmother, my fathers mother, was from charlottesville. Now, let me tell you about my dad. I first heard the story, it seemed incredible to me. But i looked at my dad, my dad was 6 feet 2, had red hair, a freckled face, and nose that was straight, aside from a slope on his bridge. For those of you who are jefferson scholars, know that jefferson had a slope on his nose. I learned years later that is the jeffersonian nose. I said, there might be something to the story, i mean, look at my dad . Eventually, i learned from my dad that his mother was from charlottesville, virginia. My dad didnt like to talk about this stuff. So when i asked my dad about the stories, the first thing he said to me was, thats what they say. We wouldnt talk about it. It was months before he said his mother was from charlottesville. And i said dad, jefferson was from charlottesville. And he said yes, i know. So he was kind of toying with me just a little bit. Let me go back to my grandmother. There we are. But i learned from my dad about my grandmother is that her name was eva robinson taylor. It could have been robinson, it could have been taylor. He wasnt sure. He wasnt sure which name was hers, her maiden name. It is because his mother died when he was five years old. He didnt know much about her. He didnt know what her name was. To me, that was remarkable. As a 13 year old girl, my dad was as close as you could get to god. I grew up in a household that was like, father knows best. My father knew everything. And so, again, i couldnt process how my daddy did not know the name of his own mother. I couldnt process how we could have been descended from Thomas Jefferson. As a child, i was very curious. I kept pursuing and kept asking. Dad said his mother died when he was five years old, couldnt remember her face, he couldnt remember her voice. That made the story more compelling for me. I want to bring my dad some peace. I wanted to help him find his family. I wanted i knew he was in pain. I wanted him to feel happy. My grandmother wascan you guys hear me . Okay. My grandmother was married to this man, arthur just up, he was a sailor, a gunners made in the spanish american war. That may seem merit amazing to you because i dont look that old, do i . Well, i am the last in a family of five. I wasnt a surprise. And he was quite a remarkable man. My dad, of course, knew him, but he remarried. Once he remarried, the history of his first wife practically disappeared. There is another reason that we lost a lot of that history. My dad had five sisters. Here are two of them, louise and thelma, that is really their names. Louise is the oldest, that is thelma. The other the sisters alreadycarry. The fifth sister, we dont have a picture of her, helena. And then we have this picture. They were devout catholics. Im going to point out well, i was hoping to point out, give me one second please. Charles, you know, i might need you to come help me. There we go. Okay, there is our pointer. There is thelma, there is louise, she was quite tall. This is. And this is the last picture taken of those girls. Those are the three girls who were confirmed on that date. April 15th, 1915. And that is the last picture of them because all five sisters died. They all died. From tuberculosis. As did my fathers mother. So you can imagine, when my dad revealed these stories for me, how difficult it was for him and how difficult it was for me. Thats why we lost the history. He didnt want to talk about it, it hurt too much. But i need to know. I needed to know. I go off, i become a journalist, i move away for a few years, i come back home oh, there is one more picture want to show you. I love these pictures. This is my uncle, eugene. Only the two boys survived, uncle eugene and my dad. It is very odd when you know your dad as a man, a mature man, and then you see this baby and there is something theres cognitive dissonance there. There is my dad. So i go off, i become a journalist, i come back home after a few years. My dad takes me to see my uncle. He remembers a little more about my grandmother because he was older when my grandmother died. He was very generous in the information he shared. And this is a picture, the last time i saw the top one is my dad, and there is my uncle, eugene. He says a lot of information with me. It shared with me that my grandmother, who wouldve been a jefferson descendant, was six feet tall. She had long, straight hair, hanging down her back. She was very sweet, she play the piano, she sang. And she cooked, he said. A little boy would remember that. Its the six feet tall that stuck with me. Once again, we know that jefferson was told. On this occasion, my uncle shared with me the picture she just saw and this item. This bible. The date on the bible, as you can see, is 1821. The initials are d t. I kind of get stuck on the tee. Im thinking, that must mean thomas, thats gotta be thomas i said i was a journalist, i did not say i was a good journalist. Of course, it is taylor. It is taylor. It took some understanding to say, wait a minute, gayle, this is the taylor family. Now we call this the taylor bible. My uncle bequeathed this bible to me along with the pictures, so im grateful to him and to my cousins who honored that because, had ive been in his shoes i never wouldve turned over those items. By uncle also shared with me this photograph. Now, this is my grandmothers sister. And you can see how fabulous she is. This woman lived as a white woman. Which is why im not sure of her name. She left her family. My grandfather said that when my grandmother became ill and died, and all four girls died with the exception of carey, and two boys, my aunt comes, she lived in new york. She comes to visit and she says, i want these children to come with me. I want to care for them. She was quite wealthy, as you can see. I want to make sure they are educated and i will care for them. My grandfather of course, he wanted to keep everyone near and close, he lost the rest of his family. She said, well, in fact, if you dont allow me to take those children i will never come back. And she did not come back. Listen to what happened. Years later, my grandmother died in 1920. Many years later. My parents get a call from new york. Long distance, this is in the 60s. A Long Distance call is a big deal. We get this call and the person on the line says, there is a person here who is sick, her health is failing and she is quite wealthy, people are taking her money. And she says she has a nephew named my husband is Cedric Jessup and works at the post office. She says, she needs help. This is her family. My mother says, is this woman white, or, to use the language at the time, negro . She says, she is white. My mom says, she cant be related to us. [noise] there goes that legacy, and my inheritance. Its really quite a tragic story. She lost her family. This is not an uncommon story for black americans. This has happened to many of us, how much has been lost because of the inequities in this country. Because people had to make such a choice between family and comfort. What they saw as economic comfort. I think her name was lucy, i think its a good guess on our part. Since i have lost my place on my script here, we are going to roll with it. This is me standing on the east side of the building. I started coming to monticello when jack and charles and i left my beloved hometown, washington, d. C. And moved to richmond, virginia. I would come to monticello on a very regular basis, because honestly, i love monticello. I love history. I knew my family was associated with this place, i just wasnt sure how. I would come here quite often and every time we were on a tour, the guides would hit two up to this point, my imagination has not allowed me to wander into the other direction. We would go on a tour, and i would raise my hand every time, i would say, im related to sally helmets. And i would keep moving on, back in 2010 i came with charles and charles is tall and at this point he was a tall teenager. We took a tour. I did the same thing, because i am a person of routine and habit. I say i am related to Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. And the guide said, great, your family, you are dignitaries. Let me take you on a private tour when this is over. At last, this is happening. Unfortunately, i dont know her name, it is lost to history. If anyone listening today can remember, me being there with my son charles, please let me know because i am very grateful to her. She was the first person who introduced us to cinder, she showed us pictures of Thomas Jefferson, and she said you know, we have a woman here who is we think she would really be interested in this story. Turns out, she was. In 2014 i started coming more often and thats when i first met mike friend here, the honorable john charles. I started to come frequently and eventually, became a fellow. And that was when i first began uncovering how my family might be related to Thomas Jefferson. And of course, with the guidance of cinder stanton, heres what we discovered. I am related to Thomas Jefferson through his great, great grandson. That said his brothers name was robertson or taylor, he wasnt sure. Remember, i had the bible with the initials d. T. Jefferson had a great, grandson, he had a lot of grandchildren. It turns out, that he was my greatgrandfather. That would mean of course, i was a descendant from Thomas Jefferson. And not from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. I was really disappointed. I wanted to be a hemings. Eventually, with cinders help, i discovered that in fact i am descended from Sally Hemings and her family, or a Sally Hemings. My great grandmother had a brother name peter. This is his death certificate. We see on the death certificate that his mothers maiden name was Sally Hemings. So if you are in the south and you are saying hemings, what does it sound like . Hemins. Her name was sally hemins. She was named after her now famous and, Sally Hemings. Her father was Peter Hemings. A brother of Sally Hemings. Which means that Peter Hemings was my three times great grandfather. We were doing high fives down there. I was so happy to make that discovery. And to find out that i am a hemings after all. Historically speaking, Thomas Jeffersons father in law had relations with a woman named elizabeth hemings. They had several children together, including Sally Hemings and Peter Hemings. Thomas jefferson had relations with Sally Hemings, they had several children together. Thomas jeffersons soninlaw had relations with betty hemings, whose ancestors are with us tonight. After his wife died, after Thomas Jeffersons wife died and my great grandmother had relations, my great grandmother who was a hemings, had relations with a jefferson descendant. That is four generations of hemings and people related to the jefferson family entangled with each other, by blood, by blood. So this is a quintessential american story, and part of the history that we tell here at monticello. Thanks. I am not done. [applause] this is from the reunion here in monticello and many of my cousins are here tonight, thank you for being here. This is from the 2018 reunion. This was our space. As my cousin andrew likes to say, this was more of a black space done a white space when Thomas Jefferson was alive. We celebrated as such in 2018. This is the groundbreaking exhibition of the life of Sally Hemings, which, in a very respectful way, tells the story of Sally Hemings through the words of her son, which opened here in 2018. The same weekend that we had the celebration, and i think my colleagues including leslie, for that phenomenal event and extraordinary exhibition. This is my family. My mom, my dad, three of my siblings. Reclamation encapsulates my families experience with personal and professional challenges, and my own record with race and racism. Its an acknowledgment to the people who came before me. The grandparents i never knew. The ancestors whose lives were almost forgotten. The ancestors who lived and labored in monticello. You heard me mention aunt peachy, she was the one who carried this story on. She could not write or spell her own name, but she knew her descendants were related to Thomas Jefferson. When my ancestors lived and worked, i feel their presence, it was a prison, yes, but it was also their home. They did all they could to carve out a decent life for themselves. We have to think of the enslaved as human beings, who strived as best they could to find some hope. We know they did. Because we are here. We stand on their shoulders, and i know you hear that a lot, but its true. We stand on their shoulders. I am so grateful to them, for who i am, for who we are. I thank all of you for being here tonight. I love you so much. This has been quite an honor for me. Thank you for sharing your story, and the discussion and conversation goes on. So thank you. [applause] if you are enjoying American History tv sign up for a newsletter is in the qr code on the tva to receive the weekly schedule of upcoming lectures in history, the presidency, and more. Sign up the erectness tv newsletter and watch American History tv every saturday, or anytime online at cspan. Org slash history. Welcome, welcome, history 3 27, arts history students. You know me. I am professor april. We are here to have a guest lecture, president of stony brook university, laurie mcinnis. I would like to tell you a little about her. The title of dr. Mcguinnesss lecture is slavery, and public life. This is relevant not only