New evidence strengthens Jefferson-Hemings paternity case : NPR

Key Points:

• For over two centuries, the question of whether Thomas Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman 30 years his junior, has been debated, touching on issues of slavery, race, and Jefferson's legacy.
• Richard Kurin and a multidisciplinary team conducted a 15-year investigation using DNA analysis, historical research, and forensic science to explore Jefferson's paternity, culminating in findings detailed in Kurin's book, History by a Hair.
• Earlier DNA studies in the 1990s linked the Jefferson Y chromosome to descendants of Eston Hemings, but questions remained about whether the DNA could belong to other male Jefferson relatives.
• Kurin's team discovered a lock of Jefferson's hair, cut the day he died, which provided conclusive DNA evidence showing that descendants of Madison and Eston Hemings carry significant Jefferson DNA, supporting the conclusion that Jefferson fathered Hemings' children.
• While the descendants of two of Hemings' children are identified, others who passed as white remain unknown; Kurin plans to make Jefferson's genome publicly available to aid further genealogical research.