"Apparently" -- well, that's the hub of the matter, isn't it? No one living knows for sure and the stories the dead have passed down don't (or won't) satisfy us. I still think it uncivil to discuss a woman's character in public, particularly one whom we know not at all -- and that speaks for itself.
David Kiracofe
David Kiracofe
History
Tidewater Community College
Chesapeake Campus
1428 Cedar Road
Chesapeake, Virginia 23322
757-822-5136
>>> <[log in to unmask]> 05/16/08 9:28 PM >>>
She had children without apparently knowing who the father of same were.
Res ipsa loquitur.
"Oral history isn't worth the paper it is written on." JD Southmayd.
JD Southmayd a/k/a J South
In a message dated 5/16/2008 7:23:57 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
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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