History by a Hair: Richard Kurin on Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemings

A tiny strand of reddish hair discovered inside Thomas Jefferson’s personal Bible at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History set in motion a remarkable scientific investigation. Could advances in DNA analysis finally answer one of the most debated questions in American history: whether Jefferson fathered the children of Sally Hemings, the woman he enslaved?

In “History by a Hair: Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings & Solving a 200-Year-Old-Mystery,” Smithsonian scholar Richard Kurin tells the story behind this groundbreaking research and what it reveals about Jefferson, the Hemings family and the power of science to illuminate the past. Kurin will discuss the book with Harvard professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed, whose landmark book “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family” transformed our understanding of the Jefferson-Hemings story.

Copies of the book will be available to purchase from our bookstore partner Brookline Booksmith and Kurin will sign after the conversation.

About “History by a Hair”

In 2011, staff at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History discovered what appeared to be a hair — light red, possibly human — pressed between the pages of the Thomas Jefferson Bible. That hair sparked an unprecedented scientific quest: determining if modern genomics could recover Jefferson’s DNA and finally resolve the most divisive and enduring question surrounding his life — the paternity of the children of Sally Hemings, one of hundreds of African Americans enslaved by Thomas Jefferson.

For over two centuries, the Jefferson–Hemings controversy has shaped American debates about race, power, slavery and the mythology of the Founding Fathers. Historians have argued fiercely. Descendants have lived with uncertainty. DNA technology in the 1990s brought us closer, but not all the way; the evidence remained incomplete. Until now. In this riveting narrative — part scientific detective story, part historical epic — Richard Kurin, distinguished scholar and museum official, leads readers through the fifteen-year-long genomic investigation conducted with leading DNA scientists, archaeologists, genealogists, forensic experts and Jefferson and Hemings’ descendants across the country.

The result is the first conclusive, scientifically validated answer to a question that has reverberated since the eighteenth century — an answer that settles the historical record, deepens our understanding of Jefferson, honors generations of family oral history and asks America to confront the full complexity of its origins.

Ways To Save

WBUR’s Legacy Circle, Murrow Society, Sustainers and Members save $5.00 on tickets to this event. To apply the discount to your ticket purchase online, you’ll need to enter a promo code. You can get your code by emailing [email protected].

Registrants may be contacted by CitySpace about this or future events.