Sunday, February 15, 2015

Denise Oliver Velez — Thomas Jefferson, hypocrite. Robert 'Councillor' Carter, emancipator

Every time I have to hear yet another paean to the Founding Fathers, or see George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as graven images on Mount Rushmore, I think of the blood, backs, and bones of those enslaved black people they built their wealth on—some of whom were my ancestors—and I want to puke. I've grown weary of hearing Jefferson lauded for hypocritically stating that "all men are created equal" out of one side of his mouth, while buying, owning, selling humans, and siring children on his wife's enslaved half-sister. I've already discussed my perspective on George Washington, the slaveholder, in George Washington is not my 'Great White Father.' I hold Jefferson in even lower esteem.
What is not generally known is that Sally Hemings, reputed to be the concubine of Thomas Jefferson who bore at least some children to him if not all six, was seven-eighths white but was considered a slave by property law since she was born to a mother in slavery. Sally Hemings mother had three white grandparents, and she bore Sally to the white father of the woman whom Thomas Jefferson married, making Sally Hemings Jefferson's wife's half-sister.

What is not mentioned above about Jefferson is that in addition to "buying, owning, selling humans, and siring children." he bred slaves for sale. This became very profitable after the slave trade was made illegal and slaves had to be bred domestically.
If this country needs to applaud and honor any of the early slave-owning historical figures from the days of the founding, my choice would be the man who was the contemporary of and antithesis to Jefferson—Robert Carter III, known also as "Councillor" Carter. His story is told by Andrew Levy in The First Emancipator: The Forgotten Story of Robert Carter, the Founding Father Who Freed His Slaves

What is not generally known is that Sally Hemings, reputed to be the concubine of Thomas Jefferson who bore at least some children to him if not all six, was seven-eighths white but was considered a slave by property law since she was born to a mother in slavery. Sally Hemings mother had three white grandparents, and she bore Sally to the white father of the woman whom Thomas Jefferson married, making Sally Hemings Jefferson's wife's half-sister.

See also

AlterNet
Where the Bible really stands on slavery
Valerie Tarico

2 comments:

Matt Franko said...

I would say that the scriptures are neutral on both slavery and warfare.. they are both used as metaphors and analogies often in the Greek scriptures by both Jesus and Paul...

Of course " in the flesh there dwells no good thing" these are "our bodies of humiliation" and we are living in "the present wicked eon" so we're going to see stuff like these fleshly institutions (slavery and warfare, etc...)...

Romans 7 is illustrative here...17 Yet now it is no longer I who am effecting it, but Sin making its home in me.
18 For I am aware that good is not making its home in me (that is, in my flesh), for to will is lying beside me, yet to be effecting the ideal is not.
19 For it is not the good that I will that I am doing, but the evil that I am not willing, this I am putting into practice.
20 Now if what I am not willing, this I am doing, it is no longer I who am effecting it, but Sin which is making its home in me."

Some of us are less disgraced than others during this present wicked eon....

Rsp

Unknown said...

Slavery in the US is a creation of the US Supreme Court. Before the Supreme Court ruled, there was no such thing as "born into slavery" - What existed was "indentured labor" for people of any ancestry. It was the Supreme Court which ruled that Africans were "not human" and therefore could be enslaved for life, and any children, not being human, were therefor also slaves. This is the reason why the 14th amendment became essential. However, the 14th amendment was again bastardized by the US Supreme Court in "Santa Clara vs Southern Pacific"