With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Did Jefferson father his slave's son? New study claims dad was actually president's BROTHER

One of America’s most famous historical figures who wrote the Declaration of Independence might not have fathered his slave’s children after all.

It had been believed for more than a decade that former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson fathered his slave Sally Hemings’s youngest son, Eston.

But DNA evidence that showed a Jefferson male fathered the boy actually suggests Mr Jefferson’s brother Randolph was the dad, a new book says.

It’s an important debate because of America’s history of slavery and race - and Mr Jefferson’s controversial ownership of slaves....

Read entire article at Daily Mail (UK)