The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family is a 2008 book by American historian
Annette Gordon-Reed. It recounts the history of four generations of the
African-AmericanHemings family, from their African and Virginia origins until the 1826 death of
Thomas Jefferson, their master and the father of
Sally Hemings' children.[1]
It is based on Gordon-Reed's study of legal records, diaries, farm books, letters, wills, newspapers, archives, and
oral history.[1] Gordon-Reed wanted readers to "see slave people as individuals" and to "tell the story of this family in a way not done before".[1] Jefferson scholar
Joseph Ellis has called the book "the best study of a slave family ever written".[1]
In 2010
Annette Gordon-Reed was awarded a
MacArthur Fellowship for her works on colonial and early American history, race and slavery. The Foundation noted that her "persistent investigation into the life of an iconic American president has dramatically changed the course of Jeffersonian scholarship."[13][14]