DRAMTURGY
Who are you?
Sally Hemings
(1773-1835) From a young age, Sally Hemings was a nursemaid to Jefferson’s younger daughter, Maria. When Sally Hemings was 14, she was chosen by Jefferson’s sister-in-law to accompany his daughter Maria to Paris, France, as a domestic servant and maid in Jefferson’s household. She received training in needlework and the care of clothing to suit her for her position as lady's maid to Jefferson's daughters and was paid a monthly wage of twelve livres (the equivalent of two dollars). She learned French and accompanied Jefferson’s daughters on social outings.Hemings said his mother refused to come back, and only did so upon negotiating “extraordinary privileges” for herself and freedom for her future children. Sally Hemings returned with Jefferson and his daughters to Monticello in 1789. There she performed the duties of an enslaved household servant and lady’s maid. Sally Hemings had at least six children fathered by Thomas Jefferson. Four survived to adulthood. Decades after their negotiation, Jefferson freed all of Sally Hemings’s children.
A Philosophic Cock
A political cartoon depicting Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. One of the few depictions of Sally Hemings we have from her time period.
James Hemings
(1765-1801) A part of the Wayles estate, and came into Thomas Jefferson's possession through his wife's inheritance. James Hemings received a summons to join Jefferson in Philadelphia. From there they would be traveling to Paris, as Jefferson had been appointed an American minister to the French court. While in Paris, James Hemings was trained in the art of French cooking. After three years of study he became the head chef at Jefferson's residence that functioned also as the American embassy. His wages of twenty-four livres a month was a regular income but was half of what Jefferson paid his previous chef. When returning back to the States, James was able to bargain for his freedom in exchange for teaching another enslaved person in his place. Once free he worked in Baltimore as a chef for a pub.
Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826) The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States. He studied at the College of William and Mary, then read law. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton, a widow, and took her to live in his partly constructed mountaintop home, Monticello. Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France in 1785 and would later go on to be Secretary of State in President Washington’s Cabinet. At his home in Monticello, Jefferson enslaved more than six-hundred people over the course of his life. Many of those he inherited from his late-wife. Of those he received from his wife the Hemings family was given to him, an extensive family that made up a third of the population at Monticello. Six of Hemings were fathered by John Wayles, Martha's father.
Maria “Polly” Jefferson Eppes
(1778-1804) the fourth child of Thomas Jefferson and Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. Following her mother's death in 1782, Polly was sent to stay with her aunt, Elizabeth Wayles Eppes. She became very attached to the family at Eppington, but Jefferson arranged for the eight-year-old to join him and Martha in Paris. Mary, also known as Polly, took the name of "Maria" after her return to Virginia, Polly's name was changed to Maria, that being the Virginia pronunciation of Marie, as she was called in France. Pronunciation of her name has been disputed.
Abigail Adams
(1744-1818) Thomas Jefferson became friends with Mrs. Adams when Jefferson and John Adams were both American diplomats in Europe. Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson exchanged more than forty letters during the three years when she lived in London and he remained in Paris. During their time abroad, Jefferson asked Adams to welcome his daughter Mary Jefferson in London until he could send for her to come to Paris. She suggested to Jefferson that he should have come for Polly himself, and that the fine-spirited little girl should not be exiled to a Parisian convent. John and Abigail found slavery abhorrent and taught their children so.
Adrien Petit
Originally the butler for John and Abigail Adams, Jefferson inherited Petit after the couple moved to London. He served as Thomas Jefferson head butler throughout his time in Paris. On Jefferson’s appointment as Secretary of State and return to the U.S., Petit was hired to serve in the same capacity as housekeeper for him in Philadelphia. Petit’s role was administrator of the entire household staff and was responsible for the purchase of food and supplies for the household. After moving to the U.S a dispute arose between Petit and Jefferson's coachman, Francis Seche, and his wife. Petit threatened to return to France if they were not removed from the household and so Jefferson dismissed the Seches. Jefferson particularly valued Petit's honesty and fidelity.
George Bridgetower
(1780-1860) Eighteenth and nineteenth century classical violinist, his mother was Polish, his father was of African ancestry, and he was born in Poland. While there are several versions of where his father came from – from Africa, or from Barbados – it is unquestioned that he was of African descent.A child prodigy, Bridgetower’s debut performance in April 1789 was in Paris, France to rave reviews, when he was only nine or ten. Ludwig von Beethoven composed his Kreutzer Sonata for the young Afro-European musician, and personally performed the sonata for violin and piano with Bridgetower.
BLOODLINES
A family tree of the Hemings, Jefferson and Wayles
HOME
MONTICELLO
“Little Mountain,” was the home from 1770 until his death in 1826, of Thomas Jefferson. In 1769, Jefferson began building his house on the plantation that he inherited from his father. The main house was still not finished two years later when he married Martha Wayles Skelton. Jefferson’s five years in France had a dramatic impact both on his life and on his house. He thrived on the Enlightenment principles he encountered in France and was smitten with the new Neoclassical architecture that he saw.The bricks were made at Monticello, as were the nails for the remodeled house. Most of the structural timber came from Jefferson's own land, while most of the window sashes were made in Philadelphia of imported mahogany. The window glass came from Europe. Stone for the cellars and the East Front columns, and limestone for making mortar, were quarried on Jefferson's land.
LEGEND
HAGAR
Abraham's second wife, and the mother of Ishmael. The Arab and Bedouin tribes claim to be descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. Hagar was the daughter of King Pharaoh of Egypt. When she saw the miracle which God performed for the sake of Sarah, to save her from the hands of the Egyptian king during Abraham's visit there, she said: "It is better to be a slave in Sarah's house than a princess in my own." Her name "Hagar," according to the Midrash, stems from this beginning of her association with Abraham's house. It comes from "Ha-Agar," meaning this is the reward. Hagar became Sarah's Maid, but when Sarah was not blessed with children, she persuaded Abraham to take Hagar as his second wife. Sarah hoped that she could bring up Hagar's children and merit God's blessing that way, so that she, too, perhaps might be blessed with a child.When Sarah's hopes began to be fulfilled, it brought her unexpected suffering. For, as soon as Hagar realized she was to have a child, she began to look down upon her mistress who apparently could not have one.
Sarah reminded Hagar that she, Sarah, was the mistress, and Hagar was but her maid, and she made Hagar work harder than ever. Hagar then ran away into the wilderness. There, an angel of God appeared to her and ordered her to return to Sarah and treat her with the respect due to a mistress. He told her that for this she 'would merit giving birth to a son whose voice God would hear, who would be strong fierce, a man of the wilds and respected among her people.
LEDA
The queen of Sparta, Leda was a beautiful woman, and her beauty attracted the attention of Zeus, who spied her from his throne on Mount Olympus. The beauty of Leda roused Zeus to action, and the god transformed himself into a magnificent swan. Then, portraying himself as a bird escaping from a bird of prey, Zeus lay down next to Leda, and impregnated her. On the same day, Leda would also sleep with her husband. Leda would subsequently produce one or two eggs, from which four offspring were born; the children being Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux. It was generally considered that Helen and Pollux were children of Zeus and Leda, whilst Clytemnestra and Castor, were the offspring of Tyndareus and Leda
ARIADNE
Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos of Crete, creator of the labyrinth and father of the Minotaur. One year, when the fourteen young people of Athens were about to be sent to Crete, Theseus, son of King Aegeus of Athens, volunteered to be sent in order to kill the Minotaur and end the sacrifices for good. When they arrived in Crete, Ariadne fell in love with Theseus and decided to help him in his quest. She gave him a sword to fight the Minotaur, as well as a ball of thread; she advised him to tie one end near the entrance of the labyrinth and let the thread unroll as he delves deeper into the twisting and branching paths. When Theseus found the Minotaur, he managed to slay him, and then followed the thread back to the entrance, where Ariadne was waiting. She then eloped with him on his way back to Athens.
According to some versions of the story, when the ship of Theseus stopped at the island of Naxos on the way back home, he abandoned Ariadne there. She was then seen by the god of wine Dionysus, and married her.
