Clarence Earl Walker is an American historian and Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of History at the University of California, Davis. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from San Francisco State University and a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. [1] Clarence Walker contends that the relationship between Jefferson and Hemings must be seen not in isolation but in the broader context of interracial affairs within the plantation complex. Viewed from this perspective, the relationship was not unusual or aberrant but was fairly typical. For many, this is a disturbing realization, because it forces us to abandon the idea of American exceptionalism and re-examine slavery in America as part of a long, global history of slaveholders frequently crossing the color line. The debate over the affair between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings rarely rises above the question of "Did they or didn’t they?" But lost in the argument over the existence of such a relationship are equally urgent questions about a history that is more complex, both sexually and culturally, than most of us realize. Mongrel Nation seeks to uncover this complexity, as well as the reasons it is so often obscured. Mongrel Nation: The America Begotten by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, University of Virginia Press, 2009 The debate over the affair between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings rarely rises above the question of "Did they or didn't they?" But lost in the argument over the existence of such a relationship are equally urgent questions about a history that is more complex, both sexually and culturally, than most of us realize. Mongrel Nation seeks to uncover this complexity, as well as the reasons it is so often obscured.

Walker tries to look objectively at the Jefferson-Hemings relationship. He points out that the primary defense of Jefferson--that such a great man wouldn't have done this despicable thing--is a non-argument. Aside from DNA, the greatest evidence for Jefferson's paternity is the fact that Jefferson was at Monticello nine months before each of Hemings's deliveries.