Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the Skewed 1998 DNA Study (The Real Thomas Jefferson, #9) 

Very early in Dr. Mark Holowchak's remarks, he refers to Dr. Eugene Foster as, "...the geneticist behind the study." That is a fallacy. Dr. Foster was not a geneticist and did not claim to be a geneticist. Also, at the outset of his remarks Dr. Holowchak mentions, "the James Callender incident early in Jefferson's presidency..." Callender was a newspaper reporter. He wrote an article which was published in a Richmond newspaper on September 1, 1802, which in part read, "It is well know that the man [Jefferson].....keeps and for many years has kept, as his concubine, one of his slaves. Her name is Sally. The name of her eldest son is Tom." Callender wrote additional articles on the subject in the ten weeks following the beginning of September.1802. In the ensuing 200 years no one except Dr. Holowchak has written or spoken about "...the James Callender incident..." There are many definitions for most words, but the Cambridge Dictionary definition for incident is 'an event that is either unpleasant or unusual.' In the areas of diplomacy and politics the event is most often unpleasant. Thus Dr. Holowchak cast a cloud over Callender's newspaper articles before even revealing to viewers that James Callender had written newspaper articles. He could have simply said, "James Callender's reports." The goal of a historian should be objectivity. Jefferson and his family probably thought of Callender's articles as unpleasant. Sally Hemings probably shared their perspective. Some of Hemings's relatives may have had a markedly different reaction. Today many people see Callender as a bitter and vindictive man and others see him as a brave and cunning renegade. Dr. Holowchak should have removed himself from disparagement. I did not watch the video beyond that first couple of sentences of Dr. Holowchak's remarks.