Tag: Thomas Jefferson

  • In “Mixed Bloods and Other Crosses,” Betsy Erkkilä argues that it is through the historical and psychological dramas of blood as a marker of violence, or race, or sex, or kinship that Americans have struggled over the meanings of democracy, citizenship, culture, national belonging, and the idea of America itself as it was constituted and…

  • Laws and cultural norms militated against interracial sex in Virginia before the Civil War, and yet it was ubiquitous in cities, towns, and plantation communities throughout the state. In “Notorious in the Neighborhood,” Joshua Rothman examines the full spectrum of interracial sexual relationships under slavery—from Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the intertwined interracial families of…

  • Enlightenment Poetry Daily 2012-10-09 From Thrall by Natasha Trethewey, Poet Laureate of the United States In the portrait of Jefferson that hangs      at Monticello, he is rendered two-toned: his forehead white with illumination— a lit bulb—the rest of his face in shadow,      darkened as if the artist meant to contrast his bright knowledge,…

  • A Hideous Monster of the Mind: American Race Theory in the Early Republic (review) Civil War History Volume 52, Number 2, June 2006 pages 180-182 DOI: 10.1353/cwh.2006.0034 Michael A. Morrison, Associate Professor of History Purdue University A Hideous Monster of the Mind: American Race Theory in the Early Republic. By Bruce Dain. (Cambridge: Harvard University…

  • A Hideous Monster of the Mind: American Race Theory in the Early Republic Harvard University Press February 2003 334 pages 6 x 9-15/16 inches Hardcove ISBN: 9780674009462 Bruce Dain, Associate Professor of History University of Utah The intellectual history of race, one of the most pernicious and enduring ideas in American history, has remained segregated…

  • ‘Master’ Jefferson: Defender Of Liberty, Then Slavery Fresh Air from WHYY National Public Radio 2012-10-18 Maureen Corrigan, Book Critic His public words have inspired millions, but for scholars, his private words and deeds generate confusion, discomfort, apologetic excuses. When the young Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are…

  • Thomas Jefferson advertises for a runaway slave in Williamsburg’s newspaper The Virginia Gazette Williamsburg, Virginia 1769-09-14 Source: Library of Congress: Thomas Jefferson: Creating a Virginia Republic Courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virgiania Runaway slaves were not unknown on the Jefferson plantations. In this 1769 advertisement Thomas Jefferson, who had inherited half of his…

  • Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves Farrar, Straus and Giroux an imprint of Macmillan 2012-10-16 352 pages Hardback ISBN-10: 0374299560; ISBN-13: 978-0374299569 Henry Wiencek Is there anything new to say about Thomas Jefferson and slavery? The answer is a resounding yes. Master of the Mountain, Henry Wiencek’s eloquent, persuasive book—based on new…

  • Imagining Jefferson and Hemings in Paris TransAtlantica: American Studies Journal 1 | 2011 : Senses of the South / Référendums populaires 10 pages, 20 paragraphs Suzanne W. Jones, Professor of English University of Richmond In Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics, cultural critic bell hooks argues that “no one seems to know how to tell…

  • Jefferson’s Women The Humanist: A Magazine of Critical Inquiry and Social Concern March/April 2012 Cleo Fellers Kocol Thomas Jefferson was a private man who kept his personal life to himself, and yet today 18,000 of his letters exist in the public forum. In them, this farmer, architect, inventor, philosopher, politician, attorney, and “man of letters”—learned…