Word: hemingses
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Yet none is more interesting, and more implausible, than a piece in the November 30 issue of The New Republic. Writer and historian Sean Wilentz claims that "It is impossible to imagine that the relationship of Tom and Sally was an inhumane one. The conditions were ugly, but the affair...
But romanticizing Jefferson's relationship completely underemphasizes the power imbalance between slave and master. While Wilentz does note that "It was not remotely a relationship of equals," he argues that Jefferson's attraction to Hemings was not merely physical: "It is said that Hemings spoke French and, it seems, could...
It is impossible to view the assertion that love can occur between a master and a slave without a bit of sarcasm. Love occurs between two people who view each other on equal terms, never between one person who owns and has nearly absolute power over the other. Hemings might...
It was power that allowed Jefferson to compel Hemings into his bed. It was power which allowed the affair to go on for so many years. It was power which left Hemings' manumission uncertain. Hemings could have had absolutely no agency in such an arrangement, as no slave in a...
Perhaps individuals like Wilentz simply refuse to see Jefferson as capable of sexual misconduct. Perhaps because it is too difficult to see "the greatest hero of the eighteenth century" as a hypocrite. But by validating the union of Jefferson and Hemings as one of love, we dismiss the tragic legacy...