Stephen Spoonamore
A
thread 1/4
Yup. #thomasjefferson 's public comments on his open-secret partner #SallyHeming + their four children was all "woah-is-me-to-be-gossiped-bout" gaslighting. During his re-election to a 2nd term the press (and printed cartoons) became really rank, but he DID do, the core acts. And denied in public.
O Aguabonita @oaguabonita
12:22 PM - Apr 15, 2024
02:17 PM - Apr 15, 2024
Avatar Avatar Avatar
0
7
9
Stephen Spoonamore
A
thread 2/4
TJ, a 39yo widower pre-president. Sally, his late-wifes 16yo Quatroon (legal term) half sister + his daughter's lady's maid TJ's father in law, widower, had fathered her. Sally+TJ were together til death.Traveled together. Entertained together. Freed her. BITD bohemian, progressive and scandalous.
10:16 AM - Apr 16, 2024
2
0
Stephen Spoonamore
A
thread 3/4
Data Point. By law, VA Slave Holder recorded births in a ledger and owned registered children of owned female slaves. TJ also always noted the father and lineage of each child. But not for Sally's Children. Parentage is left blank only for hers. All of those children were freed with stipends.
10:19 AM - Apr 16, 2024
0
1
Stephen Spoonamore
A
thread 4/4
Sally was a beauty by all accounts, and "almost white" her children appear to have all made their way in the world as passing white. And Sally herself, after TJs death moved in with her daughter, and was accepted in white society as a dowager mother figure. We are all products of complexity.
10:22 AM - Apr 16, 2024
0
3
Jade In NM
A
In response to Stephen Spoonamore.
10:51 AM - Apr 16, 2024
0
9
Jade In NM
A
In response to Stephen Spoonamore.
Please don't mischaracterize this master/enslaved relationship as being pleasant, consensual, mutually beneficial. Sally Hemings didn't "travel" or "entertain" as Jefferson's pseudo wife. However palatable folks try to make this sordid mess, Hemings was enslaved until Jefferson died.
10:49 AM - Apr 16, 2024
1
1
Stephen Spoonamore
A
In response to Jade In NM.
True. But why deny they Travel/Entertain together? It's documented and/or ridiculed by contemporaries. What was the level of consent/mutuality? We don't know. How Sally was freed/semi-freed was legally complicated by VA. Their daughter's legal mechanisms didn't apply to Sally The work-around did.
11:07 AM - Apr 16, 2024
0
0

 

{{ notificationModalContent }} {{ promptModalMessage }}