Sally Hemings may soon have a Charlottesville street named in her honor.
Hemings was once a slave of Thomas Jefferson. Recent DNA tests have shown that Jefferson likely fathered one of her children.
The road under consideration is just over a year old and connects 9th and 10th Streets. Now the road is called the 9th/10th Street Connector.
The Fifeville Neighborhood Association has proposed that the connector be named in honor of Hemings because she owned land where the Hampton Inn now stands, according to Reid Oechslin, a member of the Fifeville Neighborhood Association. Hampton Inn is on the corner of West Main Street and 10th Street.
Members of the Hemings family, including Sally Hemings, who gained her freedom in Jefferson's will, purchased land on East Main Street.
Sally Hemings received needlework training in Paris and became a lady's maid to Jefferson's daughters.
Vice Mayor Meredith Richards said City Council is interested in renaming the road because of the Hemings family's many contributions to the city.
Mayor Virginia Daugherty said she agrees the Hemings family should be honored.
Herb Porter, a member of the Fifeville Neighborhood Association, said it is important for the road to be named using Sally Hemings' full name.
"There are many whites, and even some blacks, who do not want it named after her due to her history as confidante to Jefferson," Porter said. "She should not be relegated to last name obscurity."
But Daugherty said the city plans to honor the entire Hemings family and not just Sally Hemings.
The Fifeville Neighborhood Association also has expressed interest in naming the entire corridor from Washington Park to Forest Hill Park in honor of Hemings.
This expanded area would affect not only the Fifeville Neighborhood Association, but also the Forest Hills and WCH neighborhoods.
In order to gauge the opinion of those affected by a possible address change, City Council members have gone door to door asking residents their opinions on the name change. Daugherty said the response has been mostly positive.
John Gaines, president of the WCH Neighborhood Association, said his neighborhood has not yet expressed an opinion on the issue, but he said some citizens support naming the corridor after Roosevelt Brown. Brown, who grew up in Charlottesville, was the first black athlete to be named to the NFL Hall of Fame.
Some Charlottesville residents also have proposed renaming the road after Rebecca Mcginnis, who died 10 days ago at age 107. Mcginnis taught at Jefferson Elementary School for about 40 years, Oechslin said.
Daugherty said Council will decide the street's name in May.
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