Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Person of the Millenium: Jefferson?
If there was an opportunity to get onboard a time machine and meet Jefferson, you'd probably take it right? Well, as a person of African descent, I'd have to wonder what his response would be to my insistence that he free people who may have been my ancestors. I'd wonder whether he would protest if someone came up to us and claimed that I was their property - a runaway slave. Don't get me wrong, Jefferson was in many ways a brave and noble man who beyond his mistress/children was sensitive to plight of people of color in his time - see http://www.lib.virginia.edu/etext/readex/24073.html . However, that still doesn't alter the fact that he may have enslaved my ancestors - or anyone else. That makes it tough to elevate him to Person of the Millenium.
There are responses to this message:
This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:46:05 PM.
© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.