During the second week of April this year, there were campaign exhibitions here in Philly for two presidential candidates. During the second week of April 2014, there was a controversial exhibition here in Philly for one presidential criminal.
Two years ago, the National Constitution Center began its six month presentation about Thomas Jefferson entitled “Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello.” And to my surprise, the organizers didn’t engage in the customary American practice of sweeping presidential complicity with slavery under the rug. In fact, they included the word “Slavery” in the title and by addressing “the stories of six slave families who ‘lived’ and ‘worked’ at Jefferson’s plantation.” Nice, huh? Well, yes. But only kinda/sorta. By that, I mean they didn’t really “live.” Instead, they actually “suffered and survived.” And they didn’t really “work.” Instead, they actually “slaved and toiled.” But let’s not quibble over semantics. Instead, let’s go the to heart of the matter by enlightening you about who- and what- Thomas Jefferson truly was. Here are ten things you didn’t know about him:
1. He was a lifetime slaveholder. Thomas was the son of Peter Jefferson, a Virginia landowning slaveholder who died in 1757, leaving the eleven-year-old with a massive estate. Ten years later, he formally inherited 52 Black human beings. When he authored the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he held 175 Black men, women, and children in bondage. By 1822, he had increased that number to 267.
2. He was a hypocrite. While writing “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…,” he enslaved hundreds of human beings. See item one above.
3. He was a rapist. As U.S. Envoy and Minister to France, Jefferson began living there periodically from 1784-1789. He took with him his oldest daughter Martha and a few of those whom he enslaved, including James Hemings. In 1787, he requested that his daughter Polly join him. This meant that Polly’s enslaved chambermaid, 14-year-old seamstress Sally Hemings (James’ younger sister), was to accompany her. Both Sally and James were among the six mulatto offspring of Jefferson’s father-in-law, John Wayles and his enslaved “domestic servant” Betty Hemings. Sally and James were half-siblings of Thomas’ late wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. Thomas, after repeatedly raping Sally while in Paris, impregnated her. Her first child died after she returned to America. But she has six more of Thomas’ children at Monticello.
4. He was an incestuous pedophile. See item three above.
5. He was a “Back To Africa” proponent (but not really). This would have been a good thing if his purpose was the Afrocentric goal of reuniting Blacks with their roots. But it was a bad thing because, as Peter S. Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor Emeritus, notes, it was a scheme by Jefferson to conceal his “shadow family.”
6. He was a legislative racist. As pointed out by Joyce Oldham Appleby, Professor Emerita of History at UCLA and former President of the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association, as well as by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., former Professor of History at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at CUNY Graduate Center, Jefferson opposed the practice of slaveholders freeing their enslaved because he claimed it would encourage rebellion. And, as noted by John E. Ferling, Professor Emeritus of History at University of West Georgia, after Jefferson was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1769, he attempted to introduce laws that essentially would have banned free Blacks from entering or exiting that state and would have banished children whose fathers were of African origin. He also tried to expel white women who had children by Black men. After being elected Governor in 1779, he signed a bill to encourage enlistment in the Revolutionary War by compensating white men by giving them, among other things, “a healthy sound Negro.”
7. He was an international racist. As Secretary of State in 1795, he gave $40,000 and one thousand firearms to colonial French slaveholders in Haiti in an attempt to defeat Toussaint L’Ouverture’s slave rebellion. As President, he supported French plans to resume power, lent France $300,000 “for relief of whites on the island,” and in 1804 refused to recognize Haiti as a sovereign republic after its military victory. Two years later, he imposed a trade embargo.
8. He was a blatantly ignorant racist. In his 1785 book entitled “Notes on the State of Virginia,” he wrote about “the preference of the ‘oran-outan’ (i.e., an ape-like creature) for the Black women over those of … (its) own species.” He also wrote that Blacks have “a very strong and disagreeable odor” and that they “are inferior to the whites …”
9. He was a liar. His friend from the American Revolution, Polish nobleman Tadeusz Kosciuszko, came to America in 1798 to receive back pay for his military service. He then wrote a will directing Jefferson to use all of Kosciuszko’s money and land in the U.S. to “free and educate slaves.” Jefferson agreed to do so. After Kosciuszko died in 1817, Jefferson refused to free or educate any of them.
10. Black labor built Monticello. Beginning in 1768, Jefferson forced many in his enslaved population- including skilled Black carpenters- to do the tortuous work of building his palatial plantation, known as Monticello.
The words from David Walker’s Appeal, written in 1829, and the words of Christopher James Perry Sr., founder of the Tribune in 1884, are the inspiration for my “Freedom’s Journal” columns. In order to honor that pivotal nationalist abolitionist and that pioneering newspaper giant, as well as to inspire today’s Tribune readers, each column ends with Walker and Perry’s combined quote- along with my inserted voice- as follows: I ask all Blacks “to procure a copy of this… (weekly column) for it is designed… particularly for them” so they can “make progress… against (racist) injustice.”
Two years ago, the National Constitution Center began its six month presentation about Thomas Jefferson entitled “Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello.” And to my surprise, the organizers didn’t engage in the customary American practice of sweeping presidential complicity with slavery under the rug. In fact, they included the word “Slavery” in the title and by addressing “the stories of six slave families who ‘lived’ and ‘worked’ at Jefferson’s plantation.” Nice, huh? Well, yes. But only kinda/sorta. By that, I mean they didn’t really “live.” Instead, they actually “suffered and survived.” And they didn’t really “work.” Instead, they actually “slaved and toiled.” But let’s not quibble over semantics. Instead, let’s go the to heart of the matter by enlightening you about who- and what- Thomas Jefferson truly was. Here are ten things you didn’t know about him:
1. He was a lifetime slaveholder. Thomas was the son of Peter Jefferson, a Virginia landowning slaveholder who died in 1757, leaving the eleven-year-old with a massive estate. Ten years later, he formally inherited 52 Black human beings. When he authored the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he held 175 Black men, women, and children in bondage. By 1822, he had increased that number to 267.
2. He was a hypocrite. While writing “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…,” he enslaved hundreds of human beings. See item one above.
3. He was a rapist. As U.S. Envoy and Minister to France, Jefferson began living there periodically from 1784-1789. He took with him his oldest daughter Martha and a few of those whom he enslaved, including James Hemings. In 1787, he requested that his daughter Polly join him. This meant that Polly’s enslaved chambermaid, 14-year-old seamstress Sally Hemings (James’ younger sister), was to accompany her. Both Sally and James were among the six mulatto offspring of Jefferson’s father-in-law, John Wayles and his enslaved “domestic servant” Betty Hemings. Sally and James were half-siblings of Thomas’ late wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. Thomas, after repeatedly raping Sally while in Paris, impregnated her. Her first child died after she returned to America. But she has six more of Thomas’ children at Monticello.
4. He was an incestuous pedophile. See item three above.
5. He was a “Back To Africa” proponent (but not really). This would have been a good thing if his purpose was the Afrocentric goal of reuniting Blacks with their roots. But it was a bad thing because, as Peter S. Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor Emeritus, notes, it was a scheme by Jefferson to conceal his “shadow family.”
6. He was a legislative racist. As pointed out by Joyce Oldham Appleby, Professor Emerita of History at UCLA and former President of the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association, as well as by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., former Professor of History at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at CUNY Graduate Center, Jefferson opposed the practice of slaveholders freeing their enslaved because he claimed it would encourage rebellion. And, as noted by John E. Ferling, Professor Emeritus of History at University of West Georgia, after Jefferson was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1769, he attempted to introduce laws that essentially would have banned free Blacks from entering or exiting that state and would have banished children whose fathers were of African origin. He also tried to expel white women who had children by Black men. After being elected Governor in 1779, he signed a bill to encourage enlistment in the Revolutionary War by compensating white men by giving them, among other things, “a healthy sound Negro.”
7. He was an international racist. As Secretary of State in 1795, he gave $40,000 and one thousand firearms to colonial French slaveholders in Haiti in an attempt to defeat Toussaint L’Ouverture’s slave rebellion. As President, he supported French plans to resume power, lent France $300,000 “for relief of whites on the island,” and in 1804 refused to recognize Haiti as a sovereign republic after its military victory. Two years later, he imposed a trade embargo.
8. He was a blatantly ignorant racist. In his 1785 book entitled “Notes on the State of Virginia,” he wrote about “the preference of the ‘oran-outan’ (i.e., an ape-like creature) for the Black women over those of … (its) own species.” He also wrote that Blacks have “a very strong and disagreeable odor” and that they “are inferior to the whites …”
9. He was a liar. His friend from the American Revolution, Polish nobleman Tadeusz Kosciuszko, came to America in 1798 to receive back pay for his military service. He then wrote a will directing Jefferson to use all of Kosciuszko’s money and land in the U.S. to “free and educate slaves.” Jefferson agreed to do so. After Kosciuszko died in 1817, Jefferson refused to free or educate any of them.
10. Black labor built Monticello. Beginning in 1768, Jefferson forced many in his enslaved population- including skilled Black carpenters- to do the tortuous work of building his palatial plantation, known as Monticello.
The words from David Walker’s Appeal, written in 1829, and the words of Christopher James Perry Sr., founder of the Tribune in 1884, are the inspiration for my “Freedom’s Journal” columns. In order to honor that pivotal nationalist abolitionist and that pioneering newspaper giant, as well as to inspire today’s Tribune readers, each column ends with Walker and Perry’s combined quote- along with my inserted voice- as follows: I ask all Blacks “to procure a copy of this… (weekly column) for it is designed… particularly for them” so they can “make progress… against (racist) injustice.”
Michael Coard, Esquire can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. His “Radio Courtroom” show can be heard on WURD900AM. And his “TV Courtroom” show can be seen on PhillyCam/Verizon/Comcast.