
When I was previewing the documentary that we’re going to see in SOC 209 today, I thought a lot about Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson helped to write the part of the Declaration of Independence which says that “all men are created equal” but at the same time, he owned over 100 slaves and wrote “
Notes on the State of Virginia” which justified slavery. This is hard for me to swallow. I studied Thomas Jefferson in first grade and even dressed up like him and gave a speech as him. My mom sewed special pants for me. There was a contest to see who could give the greatest Thomas Jefferson speech and whoever won got to be him in a play. I think Holly Clark won. My mom said that I would be good to play Thomas Jefferson because I had red hair. I think it’s interesting that I felt a personal connection to Jefferson. When I rethink this now it seems like more of a racial connection than anything else. I was proud to be in front of my class, impersonating a famous man. What a strange, privileged position that I was in.
Anyway, I really dug the “all men are equal” thing when I was young and I knew Jefferson had a slave mistress so it must be okay. He justified his beliefs that all White men were equal by believing that the color of a person’s skin meant something…. that there was a natural order. The word natural is very dangerous, I feel. What is not “natural”? Many people use the word natural when describing the differences between men and women, for example, even today. For example, many people believe that women are naturally better with children. Aside from having the ability to lactate, I do not see the justification.
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