Just read - no comments needed

[L Verge]

Jefferson freed all of Hemings' surviving children:[9] Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston, as they came of age (they were the only slave family freed by Jefferson). They were seven-eighths European in ancestry, and three of the four entered white society as adults. Descendants of those three identified as white.[10][11] After Jefferson's death Hemings was "given her time," and lived her last nine years freely with her two younger sons in Charlottesville, Virginia. She saw a grandchild born in the house her sons owned.[12] - Source: NPR

We should note also - and I am not trying to excuse Jefferson or any other men (North and South) who engaged in relationships with enslaved women (dare I add men) - but, it was an accepted part of society and had been for centuries with other nations. One was just expected to keep it discreet.

Also, how many people realize that Sally Hemings was more white than black? Her mother, Betty Hemings, had a white father, as did Sally, who was fathered by Jefferson's father-in-law. Three-fourths white, and yet she remained a slave under the laws of her time, while her half-sister married Thomas Jefferson. Some sources that I have read describe Sally as "more white" with long, brown hair that hung down her back. I have often wondered if her link to Martha Jefferson is what attracted the widower to his slave.

Personal note: Thirty years ago, my daughter had a friend whose mother was black and whose father was white. One year in school, while filling out the multitude of first-day papers, Lisa was faced with the question of race. Should she mark WHITE, BLACK, or OTHER? She marked OTHER and got reprimanded by her teacher. The old "one drop" rule was evidently still being applied.

But, I digress and promise to return to more Lincoln-related topics...