Sally Hemings in Paris, 2025, part 1

 

I was in Paris a couple of weeks ago for a few days. Long story short, this was my third trip, we meant to be there longer, but other things intervened, so we only had one full day there before we had to move on. I had two things that I really wanted to see, and one was the location of the Hotel d'Langeac, where Sally and James Hemings lived while they were in Paris. That is, Thomas Jefferson's residence that also served as the de facto United States embassy as the French Revolution gained steam. 

The address is on the corner of the Champs Elysée and Rue de Berri, just as in the eighteen century. You can even get a sense of the size of the property by walking down Rue de Berri to Rue de Ponthieu, also there in the eighteenth century. The original house, outbuildings, and gardens were torn down long ago, but nineteenth-century building stands in its place contain a Zara and a We Work. 

Walking along the walls of the current building, I imagined the ghosts of Hotel d'Langeac rooms on the other side: the dining room, the servants' stairs, the gateway into the courtyard. I even went inside for just a moment, just to see. White and beige everywhere, like the ghosts of furniture covered while the occupants were away. There is a basement level. 

In the early twentieth century, University of Virginia students, all male and all White, had a plaque place on the corner of the building to note that this was the residence of Thomas Jefferson during years in Paris (he actually had another, two, in fact, but this was the most famous).

You can see it there between the tall, arched doorway and shorter, square doorway.

On closer inspection, however, you can see this:

Young women from Tuskegee University in Alabama, USA, have created and placed their own marker beneath the one to Jefferson. 

"Here lived Sally Hemings, witness to history and symbol of resilience."

They also added "I love Sally in Paris!" and "Women's History" with a happy emoji, and left Hemings a bouquet of flowers. As the young people say: they gave her her flowers, both figuratively and literally!

That teenager, trying to survive extraordinary circumstances to these women who love her for her "resilience." Such awesome beauty in that connection across time.