One measure interracial sex -- crude and not entirely accurate -- is the
number of mulattoes that the census recorded.  This only measures
interracial children -- and only those interracial children that the
census takes notices.  But, that number -- which hugely undercounts
interracial sexual activity -- nevertheless shows that there were an
awful lot of children of slaves mothers who had white fathers. All
evidence from this history of American slavery shows that white men
frequently had sex with slave women.

Paul Finkelman
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
     and Public Policy
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, New York   12208-3494

518-445-3386 
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>>> Heritage Society <[log in to unmask]> 08/18/07 5:55 PM >>>
In the current issue of the UVA Magazine, there is an article "Anatomy
of a Mystery" which addresses the issue of Jefferson's alleged paternity
of slave children. In the article, Lucia Stanton is quoted as saying
that Edmund Bacon (the overseer at Monticello who asserted he knew the
father of Sally Hemings' daughter and that it was not Thomas Jefferson)
had a reputation among Jefferson*s grandchildren as "a great tale teller
and exaggerator." Also, in the article, Peter Onuff was quoted as saying
that, "What we take as the big taboo*crossing the racial boundary*was
the norm in this period. What we think is the worst was then probably
the most acceptable behavior. It happened all over the place." Does
anyone have any references that Bacon was known as "a great tale teller
and exaggerator"? As to whether interracial sex was the "norm" I guess
depends on how "norm" is defined. However, there were laws against it,
so how was it "acceptable"? 

Richard E. Dixon
Editor, Jefferson Notes 
Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society
703-691-0770
fax 703-691-0978