Henry,
The truth is that America only feels comfortable celebrating history that is
favorable to Europeans. One of my ancestors, Mary Bowden, was seven years
old when Augustine Washington Senior (George Washington's father), received
a thirty-year indenture for her. That means that she was a slave until the
age of thiry-seven. Mary rebelled by running away twice, and returning to
her people (she was not African, but mixed Native/white). Both times a
bounty was put on her head and she was returned to the Washington
Plantation. The question that I have is why Augustine Senior was so
interested in indenturing a seven year old "Mulatto" child.
These facts are sad, but true. America is a Country that celebrates
Egyptian Society (3,000 years ago), and Asian Culture (5,000 years old), but
the descendants of slaves in this country are shouted down.
Thank you Henry for having the courage to go against the prevailing thought.
Anita Wills
>From: Donna Lucey / Henry Wiencek <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: "high crimes and misdemeanors"
>Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 13:09:41 -0500
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>
>I hope the moderators will allow this thread to run its course yet again
>because every time it surfaces something new comes out. Harold Forsythe
>made an excellent observation about TJ's household, for example; and Mr.
>Dixon's comments are deeply revealing of the mindset of the Deniers.
>I'm writing a book about George Washington and his slaves, and it is
>very helpful for me to read the arguments of thoughtful people, such as
>Mr. Dixon, with whom I disagree completely.
>
>Mr. Dixon writes, "I fail to see why you, and in general, the academic
>community, sees more in slavery other than a historical fact." My guess
>is that "historical fact" here means something that is done, dead,
>immutable, and pointless to argue about. However, the "facts" of
>slavery have changed completely. To wit: The Wall Street Journal
>editorial, posted here the other day, asserts that Thomas Jefferson's
>brother fathered children by Sally Hemings and, thus, that Thomas
>Jefferson enslaved his own blood kin at Monticello. When I was in
>school we were never taught that. I think that's news. I think this
>new fact completely changes our understanding of what slavery was--the
>revelation of that fact makes me realize that the oral histories of
>generations of African- Americans were more accurate than the writings
>of generations of mainstream white historians. That's amazing to
>someone, like me, brought up to trust the authority of established
>scholars. I was always taught that slavery was a relatively benign
>institution, that the masters took good care of their slaves, that there
>was often a close bond of affection between master and slave, and that,
>in the Revolutionary era, the Founders really had no inkling that
>slavery was evil. Now we learn--from The Wall Street Journal!--that
>when Jefferson wrote "all men are created equal" he was holding his own
>kin in slavery. I think that fact, at the very least, calls for a
>reexamination of Jefferson's character, and for a reexamination of the
>reasons why the southern Founders saved slavery when many voices,
>including that of Franklin, called for its abolition. And then we learn
>that a member of Jefferson's own class, George Washington, said that
>slavery was "repugnant" and freed his slaves--at the very time when, we
>are told, nobody thought slavery was wrong--so it makes you think that
>maybe we don't understand slavery as well as we thought we did. Maybe
>it's not just "a historical fact." Maybe these waters are much, much
>deeper than white folks ever thought. Certainly the implications of
>these new facts are so disturbing that The Wall Street Journal cannot
>allow its readers to think that Thomas Jefferson was the responsible
>party.
>
>Henry Wiencek
>Charlottesville
>
>To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
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Anita L. Wills
PO box 3571
San Lendro CA 94578-0571
(510)481-1804
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