Book
Jefferson's daughters : three sisters, white and black, in a young America / Catherine Kerrison.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781101886243 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: xi, 425 pages : illustrations, map, genealogical table ; 25 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : Ballantine Books, [2018]
- Copyright: ©2018
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | First Monticello -- To Paris -- School life -- Families reunited -- Transitions -- Becoming American again -- A Virginia wife -- Harriet's Monticello -- An enlightened household -- Departure -- Passing -- Legacies. |
Search for related items by subject
| Genre: | Biographies. |
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeshore Branch | 973.460922 Jeffe-K | 31681010087401 | NONFIC | Available | - |
- Baker & Taylor
A portrait of the divergent lives of Thomas Jefferson's three daughters shares insights into how, in spite of privilege and education, his white daughters struggled with the realities of lives they were ill-prepared to manage, while the daughter he fathered with a slave did not achieve freedom until adulthood and endured a mysterious and highly ironic existence. - Baker & Taylor
A portrait of the divergent lives of Thomas Jefferson's three daughters reveals how his white daughters struggled with the realities of lives they were ill-prepared to manage, while the daughter he fathered with a slave did not achieve freedom until adulthood. - Random House, Inc.
The remarkable untold story of Thomas Jeffersonâs three daughtersâtwo white and free, one black and enslavedâand the divergent paths they forged in a newly independent America
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Thomas Jefferson had three daughters: Martha and Maria by his wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson, and Harriet by his slave Sally Hemings. In Jeffersonâs Daughters, Catherine Kerrison, a scholar of early American and womenâs history, recounts the remarkable journey of these three womenâand how their struggle to define themselves reflects both the possibilities and the limitations that resulted from the American Revolution.
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Although the three women shared a father, the similarities end there. Martha and Maria received a fine convent school education while they lived with their father during his diplomatic posting in Parisâa hothouse of intellectual ferment whose celebrated salonnières are vividly brought to life in Kerrisonâs narrative. Once they returned home, however, the sisters found their options limited by the laws and customs of early America.Â
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Harriet Hemings followed a different path. She escaped slaveryâapparently with the assistance of Jefferson himself. Leaving Monticello behind, she boarded a coach and set off for a decidedly uncertain future.
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For this groundbreaking triple biography, Kerrison has uncovered never-before-published documents written by the Jefferson sisters when they were in their teens, as well as letters written by members of the Jefferson and Hemings families. She has interviewed Hemings family descendants (and, with their cooperation, initiated DNA testing) and searched for descendants of Harriet Hemings.Â
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The eventful lives of Thomas Jeffersonâs daughters provide a unique vantage point from which to examine the complicated patrimony of the American Revolution itself. The richly interwoven story of these three strong women and their fight to shape their own destinies sheds new light on the ongoing movement toward human rights in Americaâand on the personal and political legacy of one of our most controversial Founding Fathers.
âBeautifully written . . . To a nuanced study of Jeffersonâs two white daughters, Martha and Maria, [Kerrison] innovatively adds a discussion of his only enslaved daughter, Harriet Hemings.ââThe New York Times Book Review
