Reclamation

Gayle Jessup White grew up with family stories that her father's relatives descended from Thomas Jefferson. She believed them even when others did not. Over forty years, the journalist and genealogy researcher worked to settle the question for good. After she was named a Jefferson Studies Fellow, she found that the family account was accurate. Photographs, documents and DNA evidence showed that she is a direct descendant of Jefferson through his father's side, and that she is also the great-great-great-granddaughter of Peter Hemings, the brother of Sally Hemings.

The book traces her path to fully understand her ancestry and take ownership of it. It approaches America's racial reckoning through two of her forebears, one who enslaved people and one who was enslaved.

Beyond the search for her roots, the memoir reflects on what it means to be a Black woman in America: pursuing the American dream, confronting the lasting effects of racism, and pressing the nation to live up to the ideals her ancestor promoted.