“No one else was in the room where it happened!” Ummm…yes there was. Today we are gonna be talking about James Hemmings. James was the first Black American chef to be trained in France, Sally Hemmings brother, and the Chef de Cuisine to Thomas Jefferson. This dude was literally the dude “In the Room Where It Happens” when Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton had their infamous dinner to squash their beef and make major moves in US politics.
James Hemmings, along with his 9 siblings, was born enslaved in 1765 in Cumberland County, Virginia. They were purchased by one white family, and then “inherited” by Martha Wayles, who then married Thomas Jefferson, and cuz Thomas was a dude, he got dibs on all her property including the Hemmings family. Sidenote: Imma be so happy when February is over and I can stop talking about white folks just purchasing and trading Black people… it’s literally exhausting!
Anyway, so now the Hemmings are rolling around with the wealthy Jefferson family. At the age of 19 our man James even accompanies Thomas Jefferson to France, where he is trained in cooking in the French tradition. James loved food, and James loved France. So much so that Thomas Jefferson was like, “Hell no, we gotta get this dude back!” See, France had abolished slavery at this point, and Tommy J didn’t want James catching any ideas about staying in France to…ya know, live his life freely.
So after studying as a chef in France and becoming the first Black American to do so, James came back to America with the President. James became Thomas Jefferson's personal Chef de Cuisine and, as was previously stated, was the Chef for the monumental dinner between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, a dinner that will be forever immortalized in Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. But James was tired of this slavery nonsense. After securing a position as a head chef in Philadelphia, a state that no longer allowed slavery, James skillfully negotiated with Thomas Jefferson for his freedom. He agreed to train a new replacement chef if Thomas would just get off his back! So in 1793, James earned his freedom. Thomas Jefferson would write, “Having been at great expence [sic] in having James Hemings taught the art of cookery, desiring to befriend him, and to require from him as little in return as possible, I hereby do promise & declare, that if the said James should go with me to Monticello in the course of the ensuing winter, when I go to reside there myself, and shall there continue until he shall have taught such person as I shall place under him for that purpose to be a good cook, this previous condition being performed, he shall thereupon be made free.”
But like, Thomas loved him some James Hemmings cooking. In 1801 Jefferson tried to offering him the position of head chef for the White House and his administration and James basically said, “Nah, chief, Imma take a pass!” Because as high of an honor as working in the White House might be to some…this dude OWNED him as a person!
Sadly, however, that same year James would pass away at the age of 31 from an apparent suicide. So while I don’t like writing about bummer stories, I need to impress upon y’all the fact that this man achieved greatness, gained his freedom, and still the weight of what had happened to him throughout his life of slavery might have been enough for him to take his own life.
Black cooking is a staple of any gathering, and today I'm reflecting on the life of one who took cooking super SERIOUSLY. I’m grateful to be telling the story of a man who wouldn’t be brought back into servitude to a slaveholder even if that man was the President of the United States of America, and damn would I have liked to taste his cooking. Imma make tonight’s meal in honor of James Hemmings. Thank you James, Thank you!
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