Thomas Jefferson was 44 when he started in creeping on 14-year-old Sally Hemings. And Sally, who was enslaved, shared a father with Martha Wayles Jefferson—Tom's wife.
He's been dead literally centuries and the US refuses to reckon squarely with what this meant for definitions of American greatness
November 13, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Thomas Jefferson was 44 when he started in creeping on 14-year-old Sally Hemings. And Sally, who was enslaved, shared a father with Martha Wayles Jefferson—Tom's wife.
He's been dead literally centuries and the US refuses to reckon squarely with what this meant for definitions of American greatness