I admit, I cannot readily cite sources for this.
BUT my understanding of this scandal is that Thomas Jefferson was accused of fathering Hemings' first child. This accusation was made by a muckraking journalist in the early 1800s who was trying to extort political favors from Jefferson. Fast forward to the late 20th century. DNA testing is conducted and this testing conclusively proves that Jefferson did not father Hemings' oldest child. In fact, none of Hemings' children had Jefferson DNA except her youngest child. Bear in mind, this means that any male Jefferson could have fathered this child, and there were something like 25 male Jefersons living at Monticello at this time. Furthermore, this last child was born years after the original muckraking accusation was made, meaning TJ would have to be pretty dumb to do this (plus he was pretty old, like 60 or so, when this last child was conceived). It seems more likely that Jefferson's younger brother (Randolph? might have been his name), who was notorious for fraternizing with the chattel, was the father.
BUT my understanding of this scandal is that Thomas Jefferson was accused of fathering Hemings' first child. This accusation was made by a muckraking journalist in the early 1800s who was trying to extort political favors from Jefferson. Fast forward to the late 20th century. DNA testing is conducted and this testing conclusively proves that Jefferson did not father Hemings' oldest child. In fact, none of Hemings' children had Jefferson DNA except her youngest child. Bear in mind, this means that any male Jefferson could have fathered this child, and there were something like 25 male Jefersons living at Monticello at this time. Furthermore, this last child was born years after the original muckraking accusation was made, meaning TJ would have to be pretty dumb to do this (plus he was pretty old, like 60 or so, when this last child was conceived). It seems more likely that Jefferson's younger brother (Randolph? might have been his name), who was notorious for fraternizing with the chattel, was the father.