15. The Richmond Recorder
One thing historians do know is that whenever the affair began, it continued in Virginia. Rumors almost immediately followed, especially as Hemings began giving birth to light-skinned children with Jefferson’s features. A journalist from the Richmond Recorder, James Thomson Callender, published a scathing piece on Jefferson and Sally for Jefferson failing to make good on a promised favor. Callender had hoped he would damage the man enough to keep him out of the White House, but Jefferson denied the allegations, and he suffered little for them.