Two Centuries On, Smithsonian Connects Jefferson’s Hair to Hemings’s Children

The Smithsonian Institution used genomic analysis to confirm that Thomas Jefferson fathered six children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman at his Monticello plantation, according to a new book on the topic. The genetic testing applied modern sequencing techniques to hair samples and other biological material held in the Smithsonian's collections. Jefferson's paternity of Hemings's children had been established through DNA testing in 1998, but the new analysis provides additional scientific documentation of the relationship.

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