My Name Is James Madison Hemings

James Madison Hemings, the son of enslaved person Sally Hemings and US president Thomas Jefferson, tells the story of his life in this historical fiction picture book. James Madison Hemings is born into a precarious world, the son of both a slave and the slave's owner, and he walks a fine line between the cruel and difficult life of a slave and that of privilege. Jonah Winter tells the story based primarily on an interview Hemings granted a few years before his death, and many of the details of the story are deeply poignant.