TW: Frank discussion about slavery and rape
Thomas Jefferson
Born: April 13, 1743
Died: July 4, 1826
Known For: Being the 3rd President, sitting out the Revolutionary War, excessive slaveownership, being Sally Hemings's rapist.
Thomas Jefferson owned over 600 humans throughout the course of his life. The man who is credited with writing the majority of the Declaration of Independence, also owned humans, and made one his habitual sex slave. I guess the line "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal," was written by one of the other guys...
The best known person Thomas Jefferson owned, was Sally Hemings. She was Thomas's wife's half sister and was owned from birth by the Jeffersons. Thomas began raping Sally when she was somewhere between 14 and 16 years of age, and she became pregnant for the first time at age 16. She would ultimately bear him 6 children through her life. She was never freed.
Here is a twitter thread about Sally Hemings. Make sure to follow Johnathan if you're on twitter, and further your antiracism education.
It's important for us to not get caught up in the romanticism people try to put on Thomas and Sally. Even if they were somehow "in love" with each other, as a person owned by Thomas, Sally had no option to say no to him. She could never truly consent to anything he wanted from her. It's not complicated. It's not a delicate thing. It was one human owning and repeatedly sexually assaulting another human being. It's uncomfortable, sure, but it's our history. He and many, many white men, our ancestors, did this to Black women over the centuries. This is part of our history and literally part of our nation's DNA.
Another important person in American history who is largely overlooked, was Sally's brother James. James Hemings is responsible for some of our favorite foods, the most important of course, being macaroni and cheese! Thomas sent him to train as a chef in France, and when most history books talk about the food Thomas brought back, the recipes he was known for, I can guarantee he never stepped foot in a kitchen do do any cooking. Ever. It was James who brought these back and introduced Americans to French cuisine.
Here are more sources about Thomas Jefferson:
Here is the official White House bio on him that never mentions his status as a slave owner.
And here are sources about James and Sally Hemings:
James has his own website. We owe so much to him in this country!
Here is Monticello's page about James.
And here is Monticello's page about Sally.
And here's an article about finding Sally's living quarters at Monticello.
No comments:
Post a Comment