Historical Revisionism

You may have heard about Faux News  and other right-wing media going on a multi-day freakout over the Monticello museum (that ' s what it is now)telling visitors that Thomas Jefferson owned slaves.The reality is probably worse than you think. Jefferson enslaved 600 people in his lifetime, 400 of them at Monticello. Most people know that he fathered several children with a woman he enslaved, named Sally Hemmings. What most people don ' t know is that Sally Hemmings was his wife ' s half sister. That ' s right -- Jefferson ' s father-in-law raped one of his slaves, Jefferson inherited his daughter, then he in turn raped her. (Credit where it ' s due, as far as we know he didn ' t rape her until his wife had died.) That southern gentlemen had sex slaves, as well as enslaved field hands and household staff, was fully known and accepted, though it wasn ' t generally talked about.Jefferson manumitted his children in his will, though he couldn ' t bring himself to do it while he was alive. Some of them decided to pass as white, others chose to identify as Black, and to this day the descendants of Sally Hemmings may be of either identity. Some cousins became estranged when they made different choices. By the way, Jefferson did not free Sally Hemmings in his will but to be fair, this may have had to do with Virginia law and enabling her to remain in her home, though that was an inferior quarters, not in the mansion.It is completely indefensible to discuss Jefferson ' s legacy wit...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs