To a nuanced study of Jefferson’s two white daughters, Martha (born 1772) and Maria (born 1778), [Kerrison] innovatively adds a discussion of his only enslaved daughter, Harriet Hemings (born 1801). The result is a stunning if unavoidably imbalanced book, combining detailed treatments of Martha’s and Maria’s experiences with imaginative attempts to reconstruct Harriet’s life … Martha and her daughters prompt Kerrison’s musings on women’s education, for ‘in spite of all their scholarly attainments, they remained, after all, women,’ with no obvious way to use their learning in their own day. And Harriet, who passed as white, most likely abandoning her family in the process, prompts Kerrison to wonder about the persistence of racism in American society.
More scholarly than lyrical, Jefferson’s Daughters pieces together letters, oral accounts and myriad biographies to craft a meticulously researched portrait of Martha and Maria, Jefferson’s children with his wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson, and Harriet, whose mother was the enslaved Sally Hemings … A highlight of Kerrison's work is that while noting the gender constraints that hemmed in white women, she does not sugarcoat their privileged status, nor deny their racism … Jefferson's Daughters offers a fascinating glimpse of where we have been as a nation.
Jefferson’s Daughters is as much about the father as the daughters, and it’s not a flattering portrait … Jefferson’s Daughters is a richly textured and satisfying book, but there is unavoidable frustration in the author’s many caveats – that Maria ‘may have’ done this or that Harriet ‘probably’ did that. We simply don’t know. Still, this is a striking portrait of how women in Jefferson’s era lived, bravely and resourcefully, in an age that demanded fealty and absolute obedience to men.
Although Jefferson promoted individual liberty, he contradicted this endorsement by owning slaves. Kerrison writes about this contradiction with thoroughness and candor, piecing together massive amounts of research, including letters, journal entries, financial accounts and commentary from family descendants. In meticulous detail, her knowledgeable yet conversational style makes Jefferson’s Daughters a thought-provoking nonfiction narrative that reads like a novel.
Kerrison makes a heroic effort to learn more about Harriet and find her descendants, but in order to succeed in passing, Kerrison writes, Harriet 'obliterated her historical tracks' ... Like all great histories do, Jefferson’s Daughters brings its period vividly to life, a credit to Kerrison’s exhaustive research, her passion for her subject, and her elegant writing. It is unfortunate that so much remains a mystery ... Still, how fascinating to contemplate that, as Kerrison observes, 'in expanding the boundaries of the life into which she had been born, she was spectacularly successful, arguably even more so than the privileged Jefferson … women had been.'
...Villanova University historian’s triple biography of the architect of the Declaration of Independence’s two white daughters by his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, and his biracial daughter by his biracial slave, Sally Hemings, also explores the darkly tangled relationships of the period (Hemings, who came from the Wayles household, and Martha Jefferson were half sisters) as well as the limited options and constraints faced by all women ... Kerrison goes to admirable lengths to uncover the events and texture of the Hemingses lives, attempting to fill in blanks with careful supposition based on what is known of the everyday lives of enslaved and free blacks in the period. But ultimately the thoughts and feelings of Sally and Harriet can only be imagined ... Kerrison’s book is a valuable addition to the history of Revolutionary-era America as well as a reminder of how many of its promises have yet to be fulfilled.
Relying on extant letters and the inventive use of other sources, her mostly chronological narrative reinterprets these women’s lives through a feminist lens and tries to distinguish between the factual and the speculative ... Kerrison devotes considerable attention to her education, not the most bracing of topics. More interesting is the author’s take on Martha’s abortive courtships and the manner in which Martha’s discussions with friends may have prepared her for the 'serious business' of marriage ... Using the limited available records, Kerrison tracks a series of Harriets, with various surnames, through the years. It’s a prodigious undertaking, and the reader is likely to share the excitement of the chase.
The circumscribed paths of women’s lives emerge from a deeply researched history … the author’s greatest challenge was finding evidence of Harriet’s life, both at Monticello and later, when she left Virginia and, passing as white, probably lived the rest of her life in Washington, D.C. Despite Kerrison’s dogged and thoroughly detailed detective work, Harriet’s life remains a mystery. An insightful contribution to women’s history.
Jefferson’s presence looms throughout, but Kerrison foregrounds the daughters’ stories, brilliantly recapturing the patterns of Southern women’s lives. Martha and Maria lost their mother at an early age and bounced from place to place before settling into homes of their own as married women. Harriet’s story is the most captivating and reveals much about the web of family connections woven in bondage … Incisive and elegant, Kerrison’s book is at once a fabulous family story and a stellar work of historical scholarship.
