Wednesday Open Thread | Happy July 4th

Hope that you are enjoying this July 4th with family and friends.

Today’s article is about one of the Founding Fathers – one who wrote the Declaration of Independence…
and
America’s original sin- SLAVERY.

New Monticello exhibit takes a closer look at Sally Hemings, slavery and the healing power of truth
The exhibit is a reminder that white men of wealth and power have long controlled who was considered a citizen in America and who was considered a family.
by Sophia A. Nelson / Jul.01.2018

In an 1873 interview with the Pike County Republican newspaper, Madison Hemings, thesecond son of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, told a story. It was a story that would confirm the decades of rumors that had circulated since Jefferson ran for president in 1801.

Madison Hemings began his recollection of his parent’s taboo relationship with these words:

“But during that time (in Paris) my mother became Mr. Jefferson’s concubine, and when he was called back home she was [pregnant] by him. He desired to bring my mother back to Virginia with him, but she demurred. She was just beginning to understand the French language well, and in France she was free, while if she returned to Virginia she would be re-enslaved. So, she refused to return with him. To induce her to do so he promised her extraordinary privileges and made a solemn pledge that her children should be freed at the age of twenty-one years. In consequence of his promise, on which she implicitly relied, she returned with him to Virginia.”

On June 16, 2018, at Thomas Jefferson’s ancestral home, Monticello, descendants of Hemings and Jefferson reunited to help unveil, among other important exhibits, the newly discovered living quarters of Hemings and her children.

It was an important moment for Monticello, which has embarked on a 25-year-long project to reinterpret and update its historical spaces to be more inclusive and honest about the people who lived and were enslaved there. But there is also something very timely about the exhibit given the current political climate.

As we debate the immigration and border crisis in Texas right now, we are reminded that this is not the first time in American history that children have been separated from their parents, treated inhumanely, or even caged.

This anecdote from Madison Hemings’ memoirs, read by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon Reed at the unveiling, underscores that larger and important truth. “We were always allowed to be with our mother,” Reed read.

There was a hush of silence as she shared those words, because everyone understood that Sally Hemings had “negotiated” with Jefferson, as a 16-year-old teenage girl, not only for freedom for each of their children, but also for what Madison called “extraordinary” privileges that other slave women did not have. One of these privileges was having her children near her and with her all of the time. She also ensured that her children would never be sold away from her, something every slave woman knew was a possibility.

https://youtu.be/Uzh-LYVHW94

Read the rest of the article at the link.

This entry was posted in Native Americans, Open Thread, Politics, Slavery and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

47 Responses to Wednesday Open Thread | Happy July 4th

  1. Today Jay asked me if we were having dressing? I said no, we’re having barbecue. He said awl, can you make me some? bwa ha ha ha ha

  2. Our little sweetie pie…………..

  3. Ametia says:

    SG2, remember me when you’re grilling all that delicious FOOD.

    • Briskets, sausage, ribs, chicken, roast, jalapeno poppers, corn on the cob, potato salad, pasta salad, green beans, baked beans, broccoli and cheese casserole, cake, dr pepper, tea, beer, snow cones and music.

      What’s on your menu?

      • Ametia says:

        Yummy! I’m going full out seafood today. Fasting from red meat for a while

        Scallops, shrimp, crab cakes, greens, corn on cob.

        Send me a slice of cake and a snow cone, please. Thanks, Lady.

        P.S. Make sure Carson has plenty of TEA, LOL

      • rikyrah says:

        Both of you…the menus are delicious 😋😋

      • Liza says:

        I hope everyone had a good time today. Your menus sound great. I bet the music was good too, SG2.

        Some of my neighbors will inevitably be having fireworks which is illegal in the city limits and upsets everyone’s dogs. But they do it every year.

        Kind of a sad 4th of July when you think about the country.

    • My brother’s brisket was so good…I took a bite and it was pure heaven! And the Jalapeno poppers were OMG delicious!

  4. Ametia says:

    Where is Yahtzee? WE MISS YOU!

    • rikyrah says:

      Hi Yahtzee😊

    • Liza says:

      I’ve been thinking about her too. Yahtzee, if you’re out there, check in.

    • yahtzeebutterfly says:

      I miss all of you, too!

      You all are so dear!All is well my family and me.

      I have just been VERY busy. I hope to be able to be back in a few months to read and comment.

      Have a wonderful summer, everyone :)

  5. Ametia says:

    THE 4TH OF JULY IN America & this country has the most overtly RACIST FAKE 45

  6. Ametia says:

    11 Black Cookout Commandments Just In Case Y’all Don’t Know How To Act This July 4th

    1. Thou shall not have a cookout if thou has no grill.

    https://blavity.com/11-commandments-for-going-to-a-black-cookout/

  7. Ametia says:
  8. Ametia says:
  9. rikyrah says:

    Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) Tweeted:
    MSNBC’s Chris Hayes was stunned as he listened to EPA whistleblower, Kevin Chmielewski, detail how EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is robbing the taxpayers blind. https://t.co/aG3jkUFAm1 https://t.co/6fPT8hbokS https://twitter.com/PoliticusSarah/status/1014311921204584448?s=17

  10. Ametia says:

    Word of the Day : July 4, 2018

    Pyrotechnics play
    noun pye-ruh-TEK-niks

    Definition
    1 singular or plural in construction : the art of making or the manufacture and use of fireworks
    2 a : a display of fireworks
    b : a spectacular display (as of extreme virtuosity)

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/pyrotechnics-2018-07-04?pronunciation&lang=en_us&dir=p&file=pyrote04&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=wotd&utm_content=pron

  11. rikyrah says:

    Good Morning,Everyone 😄😄😄

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