In this period of time, mixed blood lines could mean native American as much
as African American - slave. I can show several Cherokee families that a
parent was often of Scottish descent. You will see depictions of 'Indians'
with clothing resembling Scottish attire. Many children were sent back to
school in Scotland. Remember being a half breed was a social defect. So all
your comments about 'black blood' is an attempt to bring racial prejudices'
and mores of the 21st century against 17th and 18th societies, education,
and institutions. As a small additions why are we not bringing the people of
the north, i.e. Brown of Rhode Island as a prime example of someone who
benefitted economically upon the plight of the Africans he brought to our
country. TJ and his family were caught in the vortex of time. We should be
glad they gave us the cornerstones for this country of ours, not some place
like Somalia or some other war crime riddled place like that. A little
condemnation of the Slave trade of today certainly seems to be a little
remiss, while we are all ripping into TJ and other slave holders, like
Washington who freed his family's slaves upon his death. Martha's were her
'property' and he could or would not interfere with the Custis's family's
property. Sorry about that one. Slavery is always been the 800 pound gorilla
in the history of our beloved country. Hopefully it won't be the demise of
the USA.
DNA has brought out that instead of the Blacks of today being native
American, they are approximately 30% Caucasian or more. I have many 'Black'
Hawkins, James, Pearson, Lee, Pittman's, and other families who are African
American. Most of you would be proud to have them for family members, I
certainly am glad they have kept me.
John Philip Adams
Texas
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hist Docs
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 6:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Presidents with black blood: Thomas Jefferson
"There was so much mixing and matching going on back then, "
I most definitely concur with that! Unfortunately, the powers that be too
often cut off branches that were less than perfect in their eyes. Indeed
makes for some complicated searching.
RBJ
----- Original Message -----
From: Anita Wills<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 7:04 PM
Subject: Re: Presidents with black blood: Thomas Jefferson
There was so much mixing and matching going on back then, nothing would
surprise me. There was a man on Oprah many years ago whose father was
passing for white, until he went bankrupt. That is when they found out their
grandmother was African American. Many of those able to pass went as far
north as Canada (and all states in between), and passed as white. Entire
lines of my family have changed their racial identity over the generations.
The only time the powers that be become involved is when they wanted to
declare someone Mulatto, Colored, Negro or black.
In Jefferson's days a lot of assumptions were made, including about race.
Many of the genealogies of our leaders are incomplete. If you read them
carefully you will see that their are gaps, and many dead end lines. This is
not just with Jefferson, but Washington, Monroe, and several others from
that ilk. This is not a new discussion it has been going on in the African
American community for quite a while. Remember we went places, and heard
things, that the average white person did not. After all no one was going to
believe anything coming out of a black servants mouth. That is why it is
best too keep an open mind when looking into these family histories.
Happy Hunting!!
Anita
> Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 14:56:36 -0400
> From: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Presidents with black blood: Thomas Jefferson
> To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
> As a Jefferson Family Historian who has researched ALL
> Jeaffresons/Jeffersons from Pettistree, Suffolk Co., England since the
> late 1500s, I can say that I have found no recording of any black blood
> in Thomas Jefferson's family history.
>
> Herb Barger
> Jefferson Family Historian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Laura Fortune
> Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 4:44 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [VA-HIST] Presidents wth black blood
>
> I have just read an article in the Arcade@Home<mailto:Arcade@Home> that
claims that Thomas
> Jefferson was our first president with black blood. Do any of the
> historians on this list have any information on this allegation? The
> artcle
> also states that Andrew Jackson was the son of an Irish wonan who
> married a
> black man, that Abraham Lincoln was the illegitimate son of an African
> man
> and allegedly an Ethiopian woman, that Warren Hardng had black ancestors
> on
> both sets of parents, and that Calvin Coolidge claimed his mother was
> dark
> because of mixed Indian ancestry. I have never heard of any of these
> before. Is there any truth here?
>
> Laura Catherine
>
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