We are pleased to welcome Gayle Jessup White to the store to hear from her about her new book, RECLAMATION: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant's Search for Her Family's Lasting Legacy. Julius Jefferson Jr., a past ALA president and section head of the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress, will join Gayle for the conversation. In addition to all his wonderful bookish background, he is also a Hemings cousin.
This will be an in-person event.
--> This event is free, but you MUST
Capacity is limited to 25 people, so please register to be sure you get in. Proof of COVID vaccination will be recquired at the door. (See the Eventbrite registration page for more about our COVID precautions.) A link to a live stream of the event is available on our YouTube channel and Facebook page for anyone who can not attend in person.
A Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings’ family explores America’s racial reckoning through the prism of her ancestors—both the enslaver and the enslaved.
Gayle Jessup White had long heard the stories passed down from her father’s family, that they were direct descendants of Thomas Jefferson—lore she firmly believed, though others did not. For four decades the acclaimed journalist and genealogy enthusiast researched her connection to Thomas Jefferson, to confirm its truth once and for all.
After she was named a Jefferson Studies Fellow, Jessup White discovered her family lore was correct. Poring through photos and documents and pursuing DNA evidence, she learned that not only was she a descendant of Jefferson on his father’s side; she was also the great-great-great-granddaughter of Peter Hemings, Sally Hemings’s brother.
In RECLAMATION she chronicles her remarkable journey to definitively understand her heritage and reclaim it, and offers a compelling portrait of what it means to be a black woman in America, to pursue the American dream, to reconcile the legacy of racism, and to ensure the nation lives up to the ideals advocated by her legendary ancestor.
Gayle Jessup White is the Public Relations & Community Engagement Officer at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s legendary estate. A former award-winning television reporter and anchor, Jessup White started her career at the New York Times. She’s written and spoken extensively about her work at Monticello. She is a direct Jefferson descendant, and is also related to two well-documented families enslaved at Monticello—the Hemingses and the Hubbards. She lives in Virginia.
