New York Law School Professor Annette Gordon-Reed won the 2008 National Book Award for her book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. She is the first African American woman to win the award.
The book chronicles the three-generation history of a slave family working for Thomas Jefferson. Gordon-Reed admitted to having a fascination with Jefferson, and argued that it was important to examine the black people who were influential in his life.
