Presidents who owned slaves deserve scrutiny for it
Thomas Jefferson attracts significant attention regarding his relationship with black slave Sally Hemings.
As a slave, Hemings had no legal right to refuse unwanted sexual advances by owners who regularly involved themselves in cross-race sexual encounters that produced children.
When the master came knocking, acquiescence followed whether or not the person of interest had a significant other.
Jefferson allegedly fathered at least four children with Hemings and while some historians note that the Monticello relationship differed from many slave/owner interactions, reality underscores that slave owners, including George Washington who held papers on several hundred slaves, enjoyed an innate right to pursue sexual trysts with any of their human property.
Interestingly, all of the earliest presidents owned slaves except for John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams. That reality offers the Adams family special recognition for leading a nation without the need for participating in human bondage.
Washington delivered ambiguity on the slave issue with his support for the Fugitive Slave Act and opposition for the Northwest Ordinance which established the Ohio River as a divide for free states and slave states as U.S. interests expanded westward.
One historical account of Washington alleged he held people as slaves for virtually all of his life but he expressed reservations about the institution during his career. Essentially, the man dubbed “Father of our country”, apparently held a private distaste for slavery that never became public.
While no proof exists to support any idea that Washington fathered a slave-child, although such an allegation exists, it’s ridiculous to believe that the first president avoided the social power plays tethered to slave ownership.
If Martha Washington said “not tonight honey” or faked a headache, George Washington had a rite of passage to select any slave woman for substitute sex.
Such personifications of power highlight a past Caucasian male supremacy that violated moral codes. And while we should call the behavior of Bill Cosby abhorrent, slave owners did not have to spike drinks of black females.
Slave owners, including presidents and statesmen, had a right to sexually assault men, women and children. Slave owners had a right to murder, mutilate and to deliver unimagined torture to their property. Slaveowners had unfettered, unshackled power.
Patriots Week in Trenton delivers Washington crossing the Delaware River or on horseback in the capital city — and a new city initiative introduced Assunpink Firewalk at the Iron Bridge in Mill Hill Park.
The new holiday tradition honors the Battle of Trenton and its role in winning the American Revolution as U.S. interests turned toward a massacre of the country’s indigenous people followed by a lucrative investment in human trafficking and slavery.
“This event is going to light up the historic corners of Trenton in a fashion that harkens back to General George Washington’s days,” Mayor Reed Gusciora noted.
While most accounts of Washington’s complex life, avoid his slave ownership issue, it’s imperative we as a nation and city include these valuable passages of his existence.
Mind you, learning history remains a worthwhile pursuit but no point exists in telling the past unless all doors open for inspection.