I think that the reason that the descendants of Thomas Jefferson and Sally
Hemmings are "proud" is because we in America have been taught that Thomas
Jefferson was a great man. So I think in a way, that they've been
conditioned to be proud because they were descended from him...
It seems to me that they are not seeing this from the perspective of
Sally Hemmings. Being that she was a slave and had no legal rights, she had
no say in the relationship..
I also had the thought that maybe the descendants of Hemmings and
Jefferson may be felt a sense of validation since for so many years their
claims of being Jefferson's descendants were discounted. Or maybe they and
many other black Americans feel a sense of validation since the
relationships between masters and their women slaves is finally starting to
be discussed by white America.
There is a reason why I brought this point up. When I was in high
school and taking an American history course, I asked the question that if
white people did not consider slaves human, why did the masters see fit to
use the slave women for sexual purposes. I mean, the way I see it at the
time, I felt that the masters saw them as human enough to be raped but not
human enough tohave equal rights... Well, my history teacher, whose family
was from the south, told me that relations between slave masters and their
slaves were rare, they most white men wouldn't touch black women. He said
that they viewed slaves like livestock or something like that. I got the
distinct impression at that time that he was just trying to cover up, that
he didn't want to admit that that kind of stuff happened. I didn't believe
his answer, since I had read many books and heard things that said just the
opposite of what he told me... Besides, I don't really blame him for saying
that it didn't happen.
Anyway, sorry for the length of the message, just some thoughts...
Ginny
----- Original Message -----
From: "saul khan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2000 7:38 AM
Subject: Madiba & Ginny: Re: Slave Rape, being billed as "Love Story" Thomas
Jefferson
> Madiba,
>
> Thanks for putting this up. I'm sending my comments to CBS.
>
> Ginny: Your last thought sums it up. White Americans generally are very
good
> at playing naive or dumb when it suits them. We all know about the lies,
and
> blatant contradictions taught as part of American history ( I took two
> courses years ago.) This Sally Hemmings business is one such lie.
> What totally disgusts me is the behavior of the descendants of that rape.
> But, I'm not surprised at all: It's the "negro" mentality I wrote about
some
> weeks ago. Why else would somebody be proud of a rapist's blood in them?
>
> Saul.
>
>
> >From: Ginny Quick <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
> ><[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Slave Rape, being billed as "Love Story" Thomas Jefferson
> >Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 17:40:31 -0600
> >
> >You know, you bring up some interesting points. While I think that the
>
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