Family History of Monticello Plantation PDF

Module: The Family Smith (2021) ​ History of the Monticello Plantation: Monticello was not solely defined by Thomas Jefferson; it was also shaped by the lives of the hundreds of enslaved people who lived and worked there. Jefferson spent much of his li...

Module: The Family Smith (2021) ​ History of the Monticello Plantation: Monticello was not solely defined by Thomas Jefferson; it was also shaped by the lives of the hundreds of enslaved people who lived and worked there. Jefferson spent much of his life away from the plantation, while many enslaved individuals remained there for generations, forming a community. The plantation's history is intertwined with the experiences of these enslaved families, whose lives and contributions are essential to understanding Monticello's legacy. ​ Thomas Jefferson and Enslavement: Jefferson, a founding father and author of the Declaration of Independence, owned numerous enslaved people throughout his life. He maintained extensive records of their lives and labor, often prioritizing his economic interests over their humanity. Despite expressing moral concerns about slavery, he continued to engage in the practice, separating families and selling individuals to pay off debts. Jefferson's relationship with slavery was marked by contradictions, as he sought to reconcile his ideals of liberty with the reality of his ownership of enslaved people. ​ Sally Hemings: Sally Hemings was an enslaved woman at Monticello and had a long-term relationship with Jefferson, beginning when she was around sixteen and he was in his mid-forties. Hemings bore several children, and there is substantial evidence suggesting that Jefferson was their father. The relationship was complicated by the power dynamics of enslavement, as Hemings had no legal recourse to refuse Jefferson's advances. The acknowledgment of this relationship has evolved over time, with recent historical research and DNA evidence confirming Jefferson's paternity of Hemings's children, prompting a reevaluation of his legacy at Monticello. Baker and O’Connell ​ Legacy of Slavery and Racial Inequality: The legacy (2022) of slavery is identified as a significant factor contributing to racial disparities in poverty. It is measured through the historical concentration of enslaved people in 1860, which serves as a proxy for contemporary structural racism. The study finds that this legacy exacerbates Black poverty, particularly within married with children’s households, indicating that the historical context continues to influence economic outcomes for Black families today. ​ Single-Mother Families vs. Married with Children Households: The findings reveal that the legacy of slavery has a more pronounced effect on married with children households compared to single-mother families. While Black poverty rates are higher than White poverty rates across both family types, the interaction between race and the legacy of slavery significantly increases the likelihood of poverty for Black married families. In contrast, the relationship between the legacy of slavery and racial inequality in poverty among single-mother families is less clear, suggesting that the economic disadvantages faced by Black single mothers may not be directly tied to the historical legacy of slavery in the same way. ​ Overall, the article emphasizes that structural racism, rooted in the legacy of slavery, plays a crucial role in perpetuating racial inequality in poverty, with varying impacts depending on family structure. The implications suggest that understanding these dynamics is essential for addressing economic disparities and informing policy development ○​ Lecture Concepts ​ Slavery and the Family o Enslaved Black families not really recognized as families ▪ ​ Marriages had no legal standing largely because if they had legal standing, that would mean slaves were being acknowledged of having rights which they didn’t during that time ▪ ​ Family members could be separated at any time, for any reason o Black fatherhood and motherhood denied under slavery ▪ ​ Black men could not protect or provide for wife and children under conditions of enslavement ▪ ​ Black women separated from their children and denied control over their own sexuality and reproductive capacities ▪ ​ Women often sexually assaulted by enslavers and they couldn’t do anything about it legally ​ Sterilization campaigns (Fannie Lou Hamer’s term- (the Mississippi appendectomy) o 1970s: government-sponsored programs courage sterilization (most rapid form of birth control_ ▪ ​ For Black women, sterilization often happened without their consent o Teaching hospitals known to perform unnecessary hysterectomies on poor black women ▪ ​ Mississippi Appendectomies-Fannie Lou Hamer fought for awareness for non-consent hysterectomies after she was given a hysterectomy without her consent while trying to get rid of tumor in her Uterus ▪ ​ Fannie Lou Hamer also fought for voting rights, organized freedom summers, co-founder of National Women’s Caucus which trained women to run for office  ​ Anti-miscegenation laws: Criminalized interracial marriage and sex (did not apply to enslavers so resulted in thousands of interracial children) o Interracial sex between White and Black servants common during colonial period o Biracial children posed a threat to racial order during Jim Crow (that is why rule of hypodescent was created) ▪ ​ Posed a challenge to White patriarchy since they challenged white men’s sexual relationship with White women as White women didn’t want men who had relationships with Black women o Loving v. Virginia (1967) ▪ ​ Supreme Court ruled laws prohibiting interracial marriage was unconstitutional o Subsequent trends in interracial marriage ▪ ​ After Loving Vs. Virginia, the percentage of interracial marriages went up from 3-17% ▪ ​ 39% of U.s Born Hispanic and 46% of U.S born Asian newlyweds married outside of their race ▪ ​ Black intermarriage increased from 5% to 18% in 1980 ▪ ​ White intermarriage rate rose from 4% to 11% in 1980(but still the lowest of any group) ▪ ​ Most common interracial marriage was one white + one Hispanic spouse from 2014-2015 but government didn’t consider it interracial ▪ ​ 58% American Indians interracially married, 28% Asian, 19% Black, and 7% in 2013 ▪ ​ Black men are twice as likely to interracially marry compared to Black women ▪ ​ Asian women are more likely to interracially marry compared to Asian men  ▪ ​ Percentage of non-black people who said that they would be opposed to relative marrying a Black person fell from 63% to only 14% opposed in 2016 ▪ ​ Percentage of non-Asians who said that they would be opposed to relative marrying Asian fell from 20% to 9% in 2016 ▪ ​ Those with bachelor’s degree more likely to intermarry ▪ ​ People with some college education more likely to interracially marry compared to those with education of high school diploma or less ​ The “Pathological Family” and the “Moynihan Report” o What did they focus on? How did they frame racial inequalities? Weaknesses of this argument ▪ ​ Pathological Family: Problem of racial inequality reframed as stemming from dysfunction family rather than systematic racial domination ​ President Johnson began hinting at the “family problem” being the cause of inequality in speeches on civil rights ​ Reframing laid groundwork for policies focusing on “deficiencies” of Black families rather than the institutional racism that existed which is the weakness of the argument ▪ ​ Moynihan Report ​ Argued that most problems facing African Americans caused by pathologies within (female headed) Black families since Fathers weren’t present in Black children’s lives ​ Framed racial inequality being caused by the fact that female headed Black households were detrimental towards boys’ wellbeing  ​ Black Children lacked role models since they often didn’t have a father figure ​ Weakness: Long discredited by sociologists since it placed attention on pathological Black family instead of larger institutional racism structures ​ Myth of Absent Black Father Video o Very false than Black fathers are not present in Black children’s lives when they are more present in a child’s life than any another race