Annette Gordon-Reed

Annette Gordon-Reed is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian. She is best known for her works on the history of slavery in the United States and its legacy. Born in Texas in 1958, she came to prominence in the mid-1990s when she won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1998 for her book Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy.

Gordon-Reed attended Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School and practiced civil rights law and criminal defense. She began researching the life of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson in the early 1990s. After her book, she established herself as an authority on their relationship and other aspects of the life of Jefferson and his family. She has continued to publish works on the subject and has become a significant voice in understanding the lives of African Americans during the period of slavery.

In her book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, Gordon-Reed argued that the family of Sally Hemings and her children were treated much differently than most slaves during that period of time. Using a combination of primary sources, letters, and other evidence, she was able to prove that the Hemings family was treated more as members of the Jefferson family, meaning that Jefferson provided them with a higher degree of autonomy and privileges than other slaves.

Gordon-Reed is also known for her works on her book Andrew Johnson: The American Presidents Series: The 17th President, 1865-1869, and Race on Trial: Law and Justice in American History. These have further explored the history of slavery and its legacy in the United States.

Gordon-Reed has also recently written a book entitled The Meaning of Jefferson’s “Greater Difficulty”: Race, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase. In this work, she examines the complex relationship between the Louisiana Purchase and the issue of race and slavery, examining how the issue of slavery posed a greater dilemma for the Jefferson administration.

Throughout her career, Gordon-Reed has continued to highlight the impact of slavery on the United States and has used her knowledge to bring awareness to the complicated legacies that remain from it. She also serves as a professor of law and history at Harvard Law School and is the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Her works have had an immense impact on understanding slavery in the United States and its legacy in our society. Her books are well-read and highly regarded, and her name is synonymous with American history. As Gordon-Reed continues to explore this crucial and complex era of American history, readers will gain insights into the significance of slavery and its ongoing impact on the United States.