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Annette Gordon-Reed

Born

in Livingston, Texas, The United States

November 19, 1958

Website

https://annettegordonreed.com/

Twitter

agordonreed

Genre

History, Biographies & Memoirs

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Annette Gordon-Reed is an American historian, legal scholar, and professor whose groundbreaking research transformed modern understanding of Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the Hemings family. Combining the methods of legal analysis with historical scholarship, she challenged long-standing assumptions about Jefferson's private life and demonstrated how racial bias had shaped generations of historical interpretation. Her influential first book, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, prompted a fundamental reassessment of the evidence surrounding the Jefferson-Hemings relationship, while later DNA findings reinforced many of her conclusions. She expanded this work in the award-winning The Hemingses of Monticello: Annette Gordon-Reed is an American historian, legal scholar, and professor whose groundbreaking research transformed modern understanding of Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the Hemings family. Combining the methods of legal analysis with historical scholarship, she challenged long-standing assumptions about Jefferson's private life and demonstrated how racial bias had shaped generations of historical interpretation. Her influential first book, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, prompted a fundamental reassessment of the evidence surrounding the Jefferson-Hemings relationship, while later DNA findings reinforced many of her conclusions. She expanded this work in the award-winning The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, a landmark study that restored the Hemings family to the center of the American story and earned the Pulitzer Prize for History, the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and numerous other honors. Gordon-Reed has also written on Reconstruction, race, and American political history, including a widely praised study of President Andrew Johnson, and collaborated with civil rights leader Vernon Jordan on his memoir. Educated at Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, where she became the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review, she began her career as an attorney before moving into academia. After teaching law and history at New York Law School and Rutgers University, she joined Harvard University, where she holds appointments in both disciplines and has received the institution's highest faculty distinction as Carl M. Loeb University Professor. Her many honors include the National Humanities Medal, a MacArthur Fellowship, election to the American Philosophical Society, and membership in the British Academy. Through meticulous research and compelling narrative, Gordon-Reed has reshaped the study of early American history, demonstrating how careful examination of overlooked evidence can transform accepted historical narratives and deepen our understanding of slavery, law, family, and the nation's founding. ...more

Combine Editions
Annette Gordon-Reed’s books

Average rating: 4.07 · 22,513 ratings · 3,375 reviews · 33 distinct works • Similar authors

	On Juneteenth 4.18 avg rating — 11,129 ratings — published 2021 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family 4.03 avg rating — 7,244 ratings — published 2008 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	American Slavery, American Freedom by Edmund S. Morgan, Annette Gordon-Reed (introduction) 4.12 avg rating — 3,566 ratings — published 1975 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History by Fawn M. Brodie, Annette Gordon-Reed 3.94 avg rating — 1,455 ratings — published 1974 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Andrew Johnson by Annette Gordon-Reed, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (Editor), Sean Wilentz (Editor) 3.75 avg rating — 1,013 ratings — published 2008 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemings: An American Controversy 4.01 avg rating — 830 ratings — published 1997 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination by Annette Gordon-Reed, Peter S. Onuf 3.76 avg rating — 776 ratings — published 2016 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Racism in America: A Reader by Annette Gordon-Reed (Foreword), Toni Morrison (Contributor), Walter Johnson (Contributor) 4.39 avg rating — 38 ratings — published 2020 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Race on Trial: Law and Justice in American History 3.95 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 2002 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Kinship & Community: Selections from the Texas African American Photography Archive by Annette Gordon-Reed (Contributor), Brian Wallis (editor), Annette Gordon-Reed (contributor) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Annette Gordon-Reed (?)

“Love does not require taking an uncritical stance toward the object of one’s affections. In truth, it often requires the opposite. We can’t be of real service to the hopes we have for places—and people, ourselves included—without a clear-eyed assessment of their (and our) strengths and weaknesses.”
― Annette Gordon-Reed, On Juneteenth

12 likes

“Laws are sometimes put on the books not for purposes of strict enforcement but as statements about the community’s values.”
― Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello

7 likes

“History is always being revised, as new information, comes to light and when different people see known documents and have their own responses to them, shaped by their individual experiences.”
― Annette Gordon-Reed, On Juneteenth

tags: history

6 likes

See all Annette Gordon-Reed's quotes »

Polls

Black History Month Readathon
Please DO NOT vote for a book already listed!
Instead write in books that have some sort of a tie to Black history, Black identity, have a Black protagonist or were written by a Black author.
Read the rules for what book you can recommend in the comments below

Ghost by Jason Reynolds

2 votes, 13.3%

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

2 votes, 13.3%

The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates Jr. (write-in)

2 votes, 13.3%

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

1 vote, 6.7%

The North Star by Kat Shepherd

1 vote, 6.7%

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

1 vote, 6.7%

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston (write-in)

1 vote, 6.7%

The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney

1 vote, 6.7%

Root Magic by Eden Royce (write-in)

1 vote, 6.7%

Blended by Sharon M. Draper (write-in)

1 vote, 6.7%

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (write-in)

1 vote, 6.7%

Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon (write-in)

1 vote, 6.7%

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

0 votes, 0.0%

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

0 votes, 0.0%

Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant (write-in)

0 votes, 0.0%

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi (write-in)

0 votes, 0.0%

March: Book One by John Lewis (write-in)

0 votes, 0.0%

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

0 votes, 0.0%

Blended by Sharon M. Draper

0 votes, 0.0%

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz

0 votes, 0.0%

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

0 votes, 0.0%

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

0 votes, 0.0%

Me by Amber McBride

0 votes, 0.0%

The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore

0 votes, 0.0%

The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert

0 votes, 0.0%

The Curie Society by Heather Einhorn

0 votes, 0.0%

Wings of Ebony by J. Elle

0 votes, 0.0%

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

0 votes, 0.0%

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

0 votes, 0.0%

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

0 votes, 0.0%

Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

0 votes, 0.0%

When Life Gives You Mangos by Kereen Getten

0 votes, 0.0%

Slay by Brittney Morris

0 votes, 0.0%

Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson

0 votes, 0.0%

The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum

0 votes, 0.0%

I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest

0 votes, 0.0%

15 total votes

21 comments

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