16. Forbidden Romance
When Thomas Jefferson married his Martha Wayles, along with her came an inheritance of slaves amongst the rest of her possessions. Sally Hemings was 14 when she and Jefferson’s daughter, Mary, sailed to Paris. Jefferson was in France for two years at the time as a minister for the United States. Although historians have to guess on this one, the affair between he and Sally may have begun during the Paris visit. The likelihood that it was consensual is thin.