A review by shullin3
Jefferson's sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

5.0

I have just finished this book and am in tears. Tears for all the people in this story and all the others who have ever been enslaved. Slavery is abhorrent in any form and as this book says,” There is no good slave owner.” No matter how you dress it up or how an enslaved person’s situation may have appeared there is nothing to justify the owning and controlling of another persons life and choice. Thomas Jefferson did many things in his life. Many things people remember him for with admiration and reverence. Things that are true and helped to shape the creation of this country. However it is also true that he owned people, had children with a women who could never really consent and lived his life in a way that thrust massive debt onto his descendants and led to the selling of 130 people. People with likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams who had families and whom were sold to the highest bidder regardless of what they wanted. Many children were split up from their families and were never able to be reunited in their lifetimes with those they loved. This story highlights the childhood of Sally Hemings children with him using alternating perspectives. I believe this is an important book that made me think critically of the narrative we are fed about our countries history at a young age.