I think what is upsetting here for some folks is that while Sally Hemings may loom larger in the imagination -- even to the point of being "semi-fictional" as you say -- than the hard historical record warrants, there was, in fact, such a living person: she lived as a slave at Monticello, a woman, and apparently had a number of children, she was a mother.    We know little about her beyond that that everyone on the list could agree on, but I for one consider it uncharitable and ill-mannered to describe someone who I don't know with such perjorative and even cruel terminology.

David Kiracofe

David Kiracofe
History
Tidewater Community College
Chesapeake Campus
1428 Cedar Road
Chesapeake, Virginia 23322
757-822-5136
>>> "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> 05/15/08 10:49 PM >>>
What I find intriguing is how anyone can get upset over an opinion about a
semi-fictional character such as Sally Hemings.  We have those who can no
longer bear to risk further shocking language and they abandon the list. 
We have other self-appointed censors who secretly call the ListManager and
encourage him to bounce the offender.  If this list had a rule that
everyone had to know what they were talking about before they contributed a
post, that could cause serious deletion.

Richard E. Dixon
Editor, Jefferson Notes
Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society
4122 Leonard Drive
Fairfax, Va 22030
703-691-0770 fax 703-691-0978

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