JEFFERSON's DAUGHTERS by CATHERINE KERRISON GIVES US VITAL INSIGHT INTO SALLY HEMING'S and HER DAUGHTER HARRIET

Back in July 2018 I dedicated a month to Sally Hemings, the mistress of Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding Fathers of the United States and our 3rd American President who built the estate called Monticello in Virginia:

SALLY HEMINGS - WAS SHE A WILLING MISTRESS of THOMAS JEFFERSON or A RAPED SLAVE?

There has been a debate about the relationship between Thomas and Sally because she was a slave from birth, went to Paris where she was a maid to his daughters as a teenager, and became pregnant by Jefferson at that time.

In France, Sally and her older brother, who was learning to be a gourmet French chef, were not slaves. They could have stayed there, though how they would do in Paris is a question. When they returned to Virginia with Jefferson they were again enslaved. It would be easy to think that Sally would be willing to be left behind and proceed to support herself somehow, but return to the home and life she knew is what she did. The question is if the long relationship between Thomas and Sally, which likely produced several children, was akin to marriage or a master raping his slave woman...

I picked  up this book, published in 2018, as a whim and ended up loving it and recommending it to everyone. It's the result of excellent scholarship and I'm now more in favor of the notion that Sally and Thomas were of their time but also in loving long term relationship.

It was not legal for him to marry her, though she was significantly of the White race, because slavery was passed on by a persons mother's condition as a slave. Now that I know that he would have been defying the law of the land, I see that it was not all about personal choice for him either.

Here are some of my notes from portions of the book:

The summer of 1789 brought an enormous transition in the life of Sally Hemings as well. It is difficult to reconstruct her life at the Hotel de Langeac (this is the townhouse that Jefferson and his family lived in, in Paris, which was also used as a place the public could come to as an official residence of a diplomat...)  We do know she left the house for five weeks...  Annette Gordon - Reed has suggested that Hemings' stay with Dupre (*a boarding house) overlapped with the Jefferson's girls' illness (which was typhus) when Maria *(the younger daughter) was at her lowest ebb (she could have died.) Perhaps Jefferson sent Sally Hemings away to prevent her from contracting the disease, easily spread through body lice, after seeing the harrowing effects on Maria.  (Notes from page 112)  

When the girls returned in April (From their exclusive boarding school in Paris) Sally Hemings' duties may have changed as well. The care of Martha Jefferson's new silk gowns may have fallen to her, as well as dressing her hair, mending, running errands, and generally attending to the girl's requirements of a lady's maid. But Jefferson's expenditures rose for Sally as well, as she more frequently accompanied them in public...

But if anyone was confused about Sally Hemings' place in the Jefferson household, with knowing French discretion, they refrained from asking their wealthier connections ... nor were sexual predations of masters on their female servants unusual either. The young but worldly wise Botidoux*** took the unusual household configuration in stride, diplomatically using the honorific 'mademoiselle' (which normally was never used to address servants) to signal her acceptance of Martha's lead that Hemings was not an ordinary servant. (Notes from page 113)

That was just one of many ways in which Hemings learned something about her position in French society. Whatever her status in Virginia, as far as Parisians were concerned Sally was not a slave in France. Sally Hemings saw a great deal of aristocratic Paris in her attendance on Martha Jefferson. She ate fine French cooking (her brother was a master chef after all) she chatted with Martha's aristocratic friends, and she learned about French social mores from overhearing their talk. Thus, Paris had taught Sally Hemings a great deal about society, rank, presentation, dress, and language in addition to her skills as femme de chambre by the time Jefferson decided to return to Virginia.

Although of course both James and Sally Hemings returned to slavery. Although France's revolution was just beginning, the American Revolution was over, concluded with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. But the changes it had effected for enslaved Americans was severely limited.  Jefferson's own attempt to condemn slavery in the Declaration of Independence had been defeated by the Continental Congress. ...

***This is of interest:  https://history.cass.anu.edu.au/events/mysteries-mademoiselle-de-botidoux  Botidoux was a faithful letter-writing correspondent to Jefferson's daughter Martha.

Also of great interest is what happened to Harriet, who was born as a slave to Sally, but was only one-sixteenth Black. You will want to read this book for the tremendous research that author Catherine Kerrison did in attempt to find her.  Harriet was trained to be a weaver and left her home of Monticello with her older brother as Thomas had promised Sally he would free all her children when they reached adulthood. It is possible she passed as White and married in Washington, D.C.

C 2023 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights.

THE STATUE OF HURREM SULTANA IN ROHATYN

"Statue of Nastia Lisovska in downtown Rohatyn.

You'll note that Roxelana's name has variations. 

Her given name may be Alexsandra or some version of Natasia.

According to the Wikipedia site about the town of Rohatyn, in 1520 the region was attacked by Crimean Tatars and she was captured there and then sold to the Ottomon Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.  The region has been part of Poland and is currently in Ukraine.

I find it very interesting that the town acknowledges her birth there.  I wonder what they knew during her lifetime.  Did her family know where she was?  That she was alive? Were they ever able to communicate by letter, perhaps?

THE RUTHENIANS - WHY THEY ARE NOT RUSSIANS

I thought the book Empress of the East by author Leslie Pierce was outstanding but I did have one problem with it and that was her identification of Roxelana as Russian. You see Ruthenians are not Russians.  They are Slavic, but they are not ethnically Russian.  To those who are Ruthenian that is not OK.

The word SLAVE comes from the word Slav...

The slavers who took boys and girls, men and women, away from Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, and other areas of Central and Eastern Europe focused on poor areas that did not have a defense. When it came to the Turks in the 1500,  Slavers were part of a supply chain. Slavers were not just Tatars (a Moslem group) but also the Venetians (people from Venice before it was Italy) and other ethnic groups who human trafficked. Some of these people did not make the journey, some of them died young, and for women their fate had a lot to do with how physically attractive they were.

The Ruthenians are a Slavic group that has traditionally lived in and around the Carpathian Mountains, which using today's maps, are in four countries.  There are three groups - you could say ethnic subgroups - that make the Ruthenians, who are usually  Byzantine ie Greek Catholic (Orthodox) rather than Roman Catholic. Through the centuries various languages have come up with different names for them including Western Ukrainians. 

Based on the area in which Roxelana was captured, she was most likely of the Lemko group.

If you're more interested check out this link! CARPATHO RUSYN ORG - LEMKOS

You may also be interested in this achieved month"

SEX TRAFFICKING : MORE PEOPLE ARE SEX TRAFFICKED TODAY THEN THERE WERE EVER AFRICAN SLAVES IN AMERICA  in April 2021

Missy

HUNGARIAN SLAVE OF THE OTTOMAN TURKS

 

MIHRUMAH, THE DAUGHTER OF PRINCESS HURREM and SULEYMAN IS MARRIED OFF

Because Roxelana managed to marry Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, against all odds, as Princess Hurrem she did well by her daughter as well, who was also now eligible to marry.

The rules for a Moslem woman who was not enslaved for marriage in the Islamic Caliphate were that if she was a virgin, and of course that was expected, she could refuse any proposal of marriage. She could also divorce. However, I do think there was pressure on these women to accept the matchmaking that was done on their behalf and to remain married, just as there is today.  Mihrumah was married at seventeen to a man of Croatian origin, Rustem, who was a statesman in Istanbul.  I find it interesting that this man also came from a culture that was mostly Christian, but do not know if he was Christian or Moslem.  A little more research revealed that there were people of other religions such as Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire  He was twice her age. (Page 207)

Roxelana as Princess Hurrem also rose to the responsibility and authority of matchmaking slave women. Interestingly, they were allowed to marry and a good Moslem was to free a slave after seven years of service.  A newly freed woman was also allowed to have her own slaves. Not to defend slavery, but this seems a bit like 16th century internships!

Another surprise I found in Leslie Pierce's book was that eunuchs were allowed to marry and also could reproduce. I thought eunuchs were men who had been castrated and thus trusted to be around the harem without having sex with the women or interfering in this breeding program.  However a little more research revealed that the term could simply mean that these were trusted slaves who protected the women in their bedchambers.

C 2020 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot

Empress of the East by Leslie Pierce is the reference for this post.

HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT - DOCTOR KATE TRANSCHEL on HUMAN TRAFFICKING

This TEDX talk in Chicago is very harsh.  Doctor Kate refuses to avert her gaze from this crime.  CALIFORNIA is a prime destination for child slaves, who get traded at Disneyland.  California street gangs love to sell human flesh.  Nail parlors enslave Asians. Human trafficking is the fastest growing crime in America.

A WEEK OF RAPE AND SODOMY makes a 14 year old's eyes go blank.  She won't run away.  One adult woman had to have multiple surgeries to reconstruct her vagina and rectum.

A CALL TO A HOTLINE MAY LAUNCH A RESCUE FOR SOMEONE ELSE!

SLAVERYFOOTPRINT.ORG ASKS HOW MANY SLAVES WORK FOR YOU ?

SLAVERYFOOTPRINT.ORG 

You may say NONE.  But maybe you are buying products like some coffees and chocolates that are made by slaves.  TAKE THE SURVEY! Maybe it's your cell phone or your T-shirt.

LIGHT THE WAY

 

HARRIET HEMINGS? DAUGHTER OF SALLY and THOMAS JEFFERSON?

 So identified on a Pinterest site.  That a person could be mostly Caucasion (be it appearance or DNA) and still be a slave is more mystifying to us presently than it was back in the day.  Sally's father was Thomas Jefferson's wife's father too.  Sally may have also been "mulatto" - biracial. I notice that there are a lot of people making YouTube videos of the results of their DNA ancestry tests.  I wonder if these informational moments are actually backed by one of the DNA test companies. 

Update August 2021.  I learned a slave was a slave based mostly on the mother's status.

CONSIDER THE SLAVE

 This particular poster advertising the sale of Negroes is actually fairly respectful compared to some I've seen.  Notice that the people enslaved are called men, women, boys, girls, and called negroes (a term that some older black people still use for themselves today).
On some slave sale posters, men are called bucks, women are called wenches, and children are called pickininnys, names that distances them from other races, names that emphasis breeding.

As you consider this, consider that "White Slavery,"  also called Sex Slavery or Sex Trafficking, currently involves more girls (and some boys) than ever there were Slaves imported from Africa.

See my posts on Sex trafficking using the search feature embedded in this blog to find those posts.

JEFFERSON IN PARIS - MISTRESS MANIFESTO FILM REVIEW

JEFFERSON IN PARIS: This historical drama has some amazing scenes such as the hot air balloon rides that amused the wealthy Parisians and is taking place in the 1780's and pre French Revolution, but focuses on the forbidden love that Thomas Jefferson partook in as a widower.  First with the married Maria Cosway, British, whose parents arranged for her to be married to an artist rather than go into a nunnery; likely her husband was gay.  It is said that they did enjoy a sexual relationship, that he did propose marriage to her but she could not see living in the United States or understand slavery, and that they remained friends and wrote letters to each other for the rest of their lives.  And then with Sally Hemings, his slave brought to Paris as a servant to him and his daughters. Sally was underage by today's standards, and so the lovers story has modern notions of child abuse, seduction, and rape, as well as the power-over of a Master to a Slave. But perhaps the truth is in the long relationship Jefferson continued to have with Sally.  

 
IMDB JEFFERSON IN PARIS (1995)
As you can tell from this YouTuber's selection of frames from the film, it looks loving.

FRAMING A LEGEND by M. ANDREW HOLOWCHAK - THE DNA and DISTORTED HISTORY

Framing A Legend

Exposing the Distorted History of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings

M. Andrew Holowchak, assistant professor of philosophy at Rutgers

 2013 Prometheus Books

M. Andrew Holowchak does a fine job of deconstructing (dismissing) some of the books about the Sally Hemings- Thomas Jefferson relationship including Fawn Brodie's which have said that Sally was Thomas slave mistresses and that her 6 children were by him.  One aspect of this book that I found most interesting and perhaps convincing is when he tackles the question of family memory and DNA.  As Holowchak says it, a relative of Jefferson's is, in some branches of the Jefferson family, acknowledged to be the father of the children, meaning that some of the DNA is the same and some is not.  Since I think DNA is the most convincing evidence and that DNA testing is getting more and more sophisticated...I find it all so fascinating, especially as that no one has actually dug up Jefferson to test for his DNA ...

Additionally, I wonder if there is any DNA investigation into the DNA of Thomas Jefferson's wife's DNA, and her fathers, which should also be appearing in Sally and her descendants.

AN 1804 POLITICAL CARTOON MOCKING THOMAS JEFFERSON and SALLY HEMINGS

There had been speculation about Thomas and Sally, but it would seem discretion was used by his friendly peers and he in writing to each other about their lives, families, and politics.  But Thomas Jefferson had his detractors, those who thought the relationship scandalous either because they thought he should have fought against slavery, or because they thought it was wrong to mix with slaves.  The question of how willing Sally was to be his Mistress looms large and one that I myself have struggled with. In this cartoon we see an image of Sally in which she is dark but her facial features including her nose are not stereotypically "African" and I do wonder if this image is actually accurate, based on the testimony of those who actually saw the woman.


Missy

OFFICIAL WORD on SALLY HEMINGS CHILDREN and DNA

MONTICELLO - SALLY HEMINGS brief account

MONTICELLO ORG - ON THOMAS JEFFERSON and SALLY HEMINGS


EXCERPT: According to Madison Hemings, Sally's mother Elizabeth Hemings (1735-1807) was the daughter of an African woman and an English sea captain. By Madison Hemings's and other accounts, Sally Hemings and some of her siblings were the children of John Wayles, Thomas Jefferson's father-in-law, making her the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson (1748-1782). Elizabeth Hemings and her children lived at John Wayles' plantation during his lifetime.

Read the Report of the Monticello Research Committee on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings for yourself.

*********

If it is true that Sally's mother was one half African/Black and father, the English sea captain, was European/White, then Sally's mother was one half White. If Sally's half-White mother then conceived her with another European/White Man, Mr. Wayles, that would make Sally three quarters White and one quarter Black.  If Sally then had children with Thomas Jefferson, another White/European man, these children would be mostly White.  But color is not the only identifier when it comes to race or ethnicity.  When someone tells me how they identify I respect them by believing them. I know that appearances aren't everything. 

-Missy

POLARIS PROJECT - WORKING TO ELIMINATE MODERN SLAVERY - ASHLEY JUDD AMBASSADOR

Readers, you know that I stand for choice, and choice made with knowledge and understanding. 

Those who have little to no choice in life are of great concern to me.  In these Blog Posts, you read about so many people who had little to no choice because of the times they lived in as women, or their class or status or poverty.  Well, today there are very many people who are SLAVES in this world, and in particular people who are SEX TRAFFICKED, often young teenage girls, some runaways, some snatched.

In choosing charities that I think you should know about, perhaps donate or volunteer for, POLARIS PROJECT seems to be well regarded and INTERNATIONAL. 

POLARIS PROJECT - STOP HUMAN TRAFFICKING


National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline 1 (888) 373-7888  (United States)

FROM THEIR SITE:

Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery -- a multi-billion dollar criminal industry that denies freedom to 20.9 million people around the world. And no matter where you live, chances are it's happening nearby. From the girl forced into prostitution at a truck stop, to the man discovered in a restaurant kitchen, stripped of his passport and held against his will. All trafficking victims share one essential experience: the loss of freedom.

Sex traffickers use violence, threats, lies, debt bondage, and other forms of coercion to compel adults and children to engage in commercial sex acts against their will. Under U.S. federal law, any minor under the age of 18 years induced into commercial sex is a victim of sex trafficking—regardless of whether or not the trafficker used force, fraud, or coercion.
The situations that sex trafficking victims face vary dramatically. Many victims become romantically involved with someone who then forces or manipulates them into prostitution. Others are lured in with false promises of a job, such as modeling or dancing. Some are forced to sell sex by their parents or other family members. They may be involved in a trafficking situation for a few days or weeks, or may remain in the same trafficking situation for years.

Victims of sex trafficking can be U.S. citizens, foreign nationals, women, men, children, and LGBTQ individuals. Vulnerable populations are frequently targeted by traffickers, including runaway and homeless youth, as well as victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, war, or social discrimination.

Sex trafficking occurs in a range of venues including fake massage businesses, via online ads or escort services, in residential brothels, on the street or at truck stops, or at hotels and motels...