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Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston are Thomas Jefferson’s children, but their mother is a slave, so they must keep their father’s identity secret. They get special treatment—better work, better shoes, even violin lessons—but they are still slaves. Their father has promised to set them all free when each turns twenty-one. Some of them are light-skinned enough that they will be able to enter white society—and thereby turn their backs on home forever. Others won’t have that option. So just what did their father mean when he wrote all men are created equal?
Told in three parts from the points of view of three of Jefferson’s slaves—Beverly, Madison, and a third boy close to the Hemings family—these engaging and poignant voices shed light on what life was like as one of Thomas Jefferson’s invisible offspring.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
September 13, 2011 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780307942340
- File size: 299679 KB
- Duration: 10:24:19
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 600
- Text Difficulty: 2-3
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Reviews
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The author faithfully portrays the multiracial children of Thomas Jefferson from letters and historical records. But it's Adenrele Ojo's narration that infuses this history with their emotional lives. How did it feel to know that they could not call their father, the president, Papa? Or to know that the dark skin of some could keep them from "passing" for white as their lighter-skinned siblings did? Ojo portrays Sally Hemings's tenderness as she explains these complexities to her four children and her fierceness as she demands that they put their true selves before their slave identities. As the story moves through the viewpoints of several characters associated with Jefferson's plantation, Ojo develops and distinguishes each one while maintaining the flow. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
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