7. Privileged Status Granted to Hemings Children
Unlike most enslaved Monticello residents, Sally Hemings’s children benefited from specialized training, including reading, writing and artisanal crafts under Jefferson’s supervision. They apprenticed as carpenters and seamstresses and attended informal lessons. Most notably, Madison, Harriet and Eston were freed in Jefferson’s will, a rare act compared with other enslaved families. This privileged trajectory contrasted sharply with the lack of education or manumission granted elsewhere, as documented by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation on their Freed Slaves page.
