The Jewish Grandchildren of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson

What can Charlottesville’s forgotten Jewish past teach us about the American struggle for freedom?

As part of my new role as Ida and Nathan Kolodiz Director of Jewish Studies at the University of Virginia, I have been exploring the the university and the town’s Jewish past. I wrote this short blogpost for the UVA Alumni blog, “Thoughts from the Lawn,” about an unusual discovery. The tangled roots of race and religion inside the Jefferson-Hemings story always make for fascinating, if often painful reading. But they also bear surprising connections to the concerns of our day. You can read more here.