Today in History 09/01 (Sally Hemings)

Born: 1773 · Charles City County, VA
Died: 1835 · Charlottesville, VA
Nationality: American
Children: Harriet Hemings (Daughter) · Eston Hemings (Son) · Madison Hemings (Son) · Beverly Hemings (Son)
Parents: John Wayles (Father) · Betty Hemings (Mother)
Siblings: Martha Jefferson (Brother) · Mary Hemings (Sister) · John Hemings (Brother)Highlights
- 1773: After John Wayles died in 1773, his daughter Martha and her husband Thomas Jefferson inherited the Hemings family among a total of 135 slaves from his estate, as well as 11,000 acres of land.
- 1787: Polly and Sally landed in London, where they stayed with Abigail and John Adams from June 26 until July 10, 1787.
- 1789: Sally Hemings remained in France for 26 months; slavery was abolished in that country after the Revolution in 1789.
- 1799: unnamed daughter (or possibly named Thenia after Hemings’ sister Thenia) (born in 1799 and died in infancy)
- 1802: Jefferson having a sexual relationship with Hemings was first reported in 1802 by one of Jefferson’s enemies, a political journalist named James T. Callender, after he noticed several light skinned slaves at Monticello.
- 1835: Hemings died in Charlottesville, VA, in 1835.

Caricature of Jefferson and Hemings, ca. 1804
wiki/Sally_Hemings
(1802) Newspaper alleges US president has an illicit relationship.
Also on this day,
1859 | The sun spits out a solar superstorm
Also on this day,
1859 | The sun spits out a solar superstorm
A coronal mass ejection is released from the sun and impacts the earth’s atmosphere with a brilliant “white light flare,” as described by English astronomer Richard C. Carrington, forming fantastical auroras that are said to have been bright enough to read by at night, and packing enough interference to cripple the globe’s telegraph systems.1902 | Paris moviegoers head to the moon and back
Jules Verne novels have inspired a new moving picture from French artist Georges Méliès, a fanciful frolic chronicling a lunar landing and a meeting with inhabitants of the moon. ‘A Trip to the Moon’ will open just over a month later in the US and eventually will be called the first science-fiction film.1939 | History’s most destructive war dawns with a massive invasion
In WWII’s opening salvo, Hitler’s armed forces descend on Poland with blitzkrieg force and, getting assistance from the Soviet Union, will decimate the country’s archaic military, controlling the nation within a month. Per their Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Germany and the USSR will divide up the conquered territory.
Today in History 09/01/17

Start date: Sep 01, 1939
End date: Oct 06, 1939
Planned and actual divisions of Poland, according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, with later adjustments
wiki/Invasion_of_Poland