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![]() This criticism is born out of the general perception that few, if any, truly romantic relationships existed between enslaved African Americans and their white masters and mistresses, since the system of slavery and its uneven relations of power precluded possibilities for sincere sentimental connections. O’Connor’s work, while receiving a good deal of high praise, has been the subject of bitter critique from readers dismayed that the novelist romanticizes the relationship, representing Hemings as a willing participant instead of a rape victim. The novel portrays Jefferson as a compassionate lover and renders Hemings as equally ensnared in the trappings of love and passion. More than two centuries after the fact, the sexual relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, enslaved to Jefferson, continues to grip the American historical and literary imagination, manifesting most recently in the April 2016 release of Stephen O’Connor’s historical novel Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings. ![]()
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