sally hemmings, a woman enslaved by one of our founding fathers, thomas jefferson. she had six children with him, and until recently was almost entirely absent from the exhibits at monticello, jefferson's home. now that's all changed as we hear from nbc's jeff bennett. >> reporter: it's a public reckoning of the founding father revered for penning the words all men are created equal. yet owned slaves throughout his lifetime. >> it's the great paradox of the founding of the country, right, so jefferson writes the declaration of independence, and yet he's the man who owns 607 men, women and children. >> reporter: here the story of sally hemmings now takes center stapling. after more than two centuries of ignoring or covering up an open secret during jefferson easily. enslaved by jefferson, hemmings is believed to have given birth to six of his children. dna evidence backs it up. visitors learned about hemmings' life through the recollections of her son madison. >> it's emotional. you really feel it. >> i think it's important again to acknowledge that truth about our f

it's a crucible of really what our country has been and what it means today. >> reporter: sally hemmings' story and others a monticello capturing the country's early aspirations and its stark contradictions. jeff bennett, nbc news, csville, virginia. news, csville, virginia. you need insurance. but it's not really something you want to buy. it's not sexy. or delicious. or fun. but since you need both car and home insurance, why not bundle them with esurance and save up to 10%? which you can spend on things you really want to buy, like... well, i don't know what you'd wanna buy because i'm justa g. esurance. it's surprisingly painless. >>> banksy has long been known as sort of the prankster of the and his latest truck is one for the amgts. take a look at this video for h instagram account. one of his paintings was being auctioned of a at spot busins in london and seconds r i te, tthis. for $1.4 million, by the way, the piece begins to self-destruct. it partly shredded itself. if you're worried about the buyer, don't be. many think the stunt will likely cause the painting to increase in va

so what i would ask you to link to is not sally hemming because you can't understand sally hemming unless you understand how the entire country was tangled. >> five minutes left, who is the presidential story you don't study, like if it is on the history channel, and you say yeah, that hees the presidential family i want to spend some time with. >> i have been lucky. i started out with the adams and they are fun and then i was with the madison family adams, but yes, i would be interested in michelle obama. >> i wish i met betty ford. i would love to know more about lincoln. >> and i would have to give a shout out to sharon leahy. you have a woman who switched from being a northerner to a defender of slavery. how did that happen? i would like to learn more about the tylers. >> i would say fdr, not only for the long reign, but their legacy. >> the last one, you guys were so quick through that one, we still have 3 minutes. >> i was first. >> all right. what does keep you up at night? >> as a president, i'm responsible for 13 million item collection and a 50-person staff, and actually reverse

when we got to sally hemmings' room, we said, we can't do a period room. what is a period room with a cot and a trunk and take fireplace going to tell us about arguably the most famous african-american woman in history? how is that going to convey she's jefferson's half-white sister, a mother, a daughter, a sister, that she lived in paris, that she negotiated with jefferson, she achieved freedom for her children 50 years ahead of other african-americans because of that negotiation? how do you convey that with the minimal woods we think would have been in her room? we did something rather controversial for an historic site. everyone thinks we're going to monticello, that's how those rooms should look. we said, we've got the cook taes quarter right here. people can look at that to see how slaves lived right next door but we're going to do something different with sally hemmings. i just want you all to come. >> no big reveal. >> it's moving, it's theatrical. we said, we want people to feel her life and not just know about it. we also made the decision that we

. >> reporter: here, the story of sally hemmings now takes center stage. ester more than two centuf ignoring or covering up an open secret during jefferson's life. enslaved by jefferson, hemmings is believed to have given birth to six of his children. dna evidence backs itup. visitors learn about hemmings' life through the recollections of herson, madison. >> it's emotional. you really feel it. >> i think it's important again to acknowled that truth about our founding fathers. they were deeply flawed humanbe gs. >> reporter: sally hemmings' story, now embraced, wasn't always welcomed here. >> i came on the lastour of monticello and i remember when a tour guide would say, well, we t don't talk abher. >> reporter: the sally hemmings exhibit is housed within o what wee slave quarters here along the home's south wing. it was once a hidden space, but now the room and hemmings' new prominence are a much larger part of the story of monticello. so when i had a chance to step on that dt, actually got on my knees and i rubbed my hands in the dirt, because i wanted t

yet he's the man who owned 607 men, women, and children. >> reporter: here the story of sally hemmings now takes center stage. after more than two centuries of ignoring or covering up an open secret during jefferson's life. enslaved by jefferson, hemmings is believed to have given birth to six of his children. dna evidence backs it up. visitors learn about hemmings' life through the recollections of her son madison. >> it's emotional. you really feel it. >> i think it's important again to acknowledge that truth about our founding fathers. they were deeply flawed human ly heming's story, now embraced, wasn't always welcome here. >> i came on lots of tours of monticello and i remember when a tour guide would say, well, we don't talk about her. >> reporter: the sally hemings exhibit is housed within what were once slave quarters here along the south wing. now the room and hemingz' new prominence are a much larger part of the story of monticello. >> so when i had a chance to step on that dirt, i actually got on my knees and i rubbed my hands in the dirt because i wanted to feel the presenc

. >> sally hemmings was one of president thomas jefferson's slaves. she gave birth to six of his children. until recently, there was almost no mention of her at the museum at monticello, jefferson's virginia home. the new exhibit dedicated to hemmings commemorates more of her life. the museum is redoing some of their other exhibits with the of being inclusive of the enslaved people who lived there. >>> new video of what you might call an unusual political protest, nearly 1,000 dogs and their owners marched on parliament in london. they're demanding a second vote on brexit, britain's plan to leave the european union. protesters claim animals will suffer when britain leaves the eu saying that there will be a shortage of vets and a rise in the cost of pet food. >>> thousands of people spent sunday morning running through the streets of the south bay. >> it was the 13th rock 'n' roll running event in san jose. the two-day event is musically themed whationed along the route playing live music. the weekend featured a number of races for everyone, from kids

sally hemmings was a slave that belonged to jefferson and had six children with him. until recently she was almost entirely f absentm monticello. the exhibit is housedn wit what were once slave quarters. >> an african american woman that transformed modern medicine s being honored by johns hopkins university. they're naming a building after henrietta las. her doctor harvested her cells forit research wut her knowing. they lead to break throughs in fighting cancer and aids. >> you may have seen this adline on your news feed this week. the popular sparkling water brand, la croix is getting sued for lying about ingredients. according i to this lawsuitt uses a numbers of synthetic inedients in it's water. parent companies call it misleading say they occur naturally in fruits. the company plans to counter sue. >> okay. so i don't know if you have been getting the facebook messages, but i the latest facebook hoax has some worried about a ck. >> it works by targeting the messenger and inbox and makes it look like the user could have a cloned profile. it's all fake though s y

sally hemmings was one of president thomas jefferson's slaves. she gave birth to six of his children. until recently, there was almost no mention of her in the museum at monticello. now the exhibit dedicated to hemings dedicates more of her life. the museum is redoing some of the other exhibits with the goal of being moreinexclusive. >>> what you might call an unusual political protest. it looks normal until you look down. near lay thousand dogs and their owners marching on parliament in london. and they're demanding a second vote on brexit. britain's plan to leave the european union. they called ate wolf rendum saying britain will suffer when it leaves the eu saying there will be a shortage of veterinarians and a rise in the cost of pet food. the march backed a wider campaign for british voters having a say on terms on the deal. >> a thousand dogs. >>> what would you pack for a trip to hawaii? a bathing suit and some sunscreen. >> check, check. >> a redwood city went a different route. she recently returned to her hometown on the island of hawai

like sally hemmings, he might not have minded but he certainly couldn't have refused. sinking feeling, black-faced person always occupies a bigger public stage than a black one. i came out black as a teenager. before then, i was simply a boy. after i was sometimes still. of course, you can see why anyone would want to be black. being black is fun. don't tell nobody. this morning, i woke from a deep negro sleep as leopold sangdor put it, i took a black shower and shaved a black shave, i walked a black walk, i wrote some black lines, i coughed black and sneezed black and ate black, too. this last at least is literal. grapes, blackberries, the ripest plums. thank you. [ applause ] >> kevin young. thank you, kevin. n. scott momaday. when asked if he agreed that the novel "house made of dawn" led to the breakthrough of native american literature in american letters, n. scott momaday honestly replied, you can argue that. i don't think that there can be any argument about the fact that the author that we honor here tonight is the dean of the native american literary renaissan

i have not seen the sally hemmings quarters, but i'm eager to see it. it is remarkable that these institutions can find it within themselves to renew themselves, and to be contemporary in the best sense of the word. and i will tip my hat to organizations like the mount vernon ladies association and the thomas jefferson foundation, they have models in a lot of ways. >> the constitution is constantly becoming more inclusive, and that idea of telling the story in a way that it gives voices to all underrepresented groups is a great privilege. >> we are going to move quickly. we touched on this a bit, digital technology. i would like to pick up on the targeting generations, because you teach. and i was reading a study based on science and research, the digital generation are having brain changes about absorption of information and processing because of living their life on digital technology. they learn differently, their attention spans are different, and you are serving constituencies that learn one way versus people that grew up with traditional books and

i've not seen the sally hemmings quarters. i read about it and eager to see it. it's remarkable that these institutions that aren't grounded in veneration can find it within themselves to renew themselves and to be contemporary in the best sense of the word. i really tip my hat to organizations like the mount vernon ladies association and the thomas jefferson foundation. i mean they are models, i think, in a lot of ways. >> montpelier has done it too with the slaves quarters. the constitution is more inclusive. and that idea of telling the story in ways that gives voices to all of underrepresented groups and includes sthem a great privilege. >> i have two more disruptors and 22 minutes. jeffrey, you're my lead on this one. we touched on it a bit. it is digital technology. i shows you fchose you for thisu teach and i was just overnight reading a study based on scientific research that the digital generation are having brain changes because of digital technology. they learn differently. they learn one way compared to people that grew up with books. how do you serve