Thank you for reiterating this very important, but highly uncomfortable
point, Henry.

-- Stephan

on 4/23/03 12:50 AM, [log in to unmask] at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> I somehow missed the beginning of this exchange.  Was there a question
> that started all this off?  There is ample documentation of "white slaves"
> so why would anyone argue over that fact?  Re: George Washington's slaves
> -- "The general's house servants are mulattoes, some of whom have kinky
> hair still but skin as light as ours.  I noticed one small boy whose hair
> and skin were so like our own that if I had not been told, I should never
> have suspected his ancestry.  He is nevertheless a slave for the rest of
> his life." -- Louis Philippe, _Diary of My Travels in America_, translated
> from the French by Stephen Becker, New York: Delacorte Press, 1977, pp.
> 32-33.  A visitor to Mount Vernon in 1833 made a similar observation:
> "Among the females was a Mulatto so light as to show the red in her
> cheeks, very modest and intelligent. The blood of some offshoots of the W.
> family no doubt ran in her veins": Tap. Wentworth to John S. Burleigh,
> March 12, 1833, Mount Vernon Collection, A-259, M-1294. (That final
> sentence contains speculation: the slave's white ancestry may have been
> from the Washington family or from some other family.) One can argue over
> what all this means, but facts are facts.  White slaves did not become
> "white people" when they became free. When white slaves were freed they
> were still known in their communities as being former slaves and as having
> mixed blood, so they were regarded socially as black, which carried legal
> implications. Any Southerner knows of many "black" people who are as white
> as Ronald Reagan but regard themselves as black and are considered to be
> members of the black community. Certainly there can be no argument over
> that.
> Henry Wiencek
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html