Thomas Jefferson's Role as Slave Owner Explored

Thomas Jefferson lived much of his life at Monticello a sprawling plantation near Charlottesville Virginia but although he wrote the Declaration of Independence he owned 600 slaves during his lifetime that contradiction is the subject of two groundbreaking exhibits one at Monticello hundreds of african-american slaves and their families lived here and they labored for Jefferson's enterprises Susan Stein is senior curator at Monticello she says Jefferson was born into a culture dominated by slavery in America in his time twenty percent of all the population was enslaved and Jefferson was one of those slaveholders so coming to Monticello is an opportunity for people to think about this complexity Stein and fellow curators wanted visitors to see the complete picture so they decided to focus on Monticello slaves many of them lived and worked on Mulberry row the plantations Main Street a computer animation shows what the street looked like some of the slave homes and workshops will be reconstructed wormely hughes was Jefferson's head gardener he tended to his master's prized plants and trees wormely hughes planted seeds bulbs trees he also dug the grave of his master Thomas Jefferson in July 1826 we're standing at the site of the original blacksmith shop historian cinder Stanton learned about Hughes and other slaves from Jefferson's extensive records but for Stanton that was not enough almost 20 years ago she and a colleague began an oral history project to identify the descendants of Monticello slaves it's a way of seeing how the institution was cruel and oppressive but within that institution people were able to make valuable lives and pass on values and skills to their children formally h hughes karen hughes white is a descendant of wormely hughes she collects artifacts and other objects related to slavery white attended an oral history gathering at Monticello 15 years ago I learned where my ancestors walked I learned where they worked the tour was designed specifically for us and we knew where we fit in in the scheme of Monticello the home of the president White says she has come to understand Jefferson I think he was a great family father but I also know that he enslaved many of my ancestors so it's just learning about a time of history and acknowledging it for what it was and not trying to paint it one way or the other a second exhibit presented by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American history lists the names of every slave Jefferson ever owned on a huge wall Rex Ellis co-curated the show in order to see Jefferson clearly you have to see him through the lens and through the eyes of his enslaved population and even if only what we know about them is their name it is significant Thomas Jefferson died on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and almost 40 years before slavery was abolished he's buried here at Monticello and several of his slaves likely rest here too although in unmarked graves Julie Taboh VOA news Charlottesville Virginia

Channel: VOA News

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Keywords: Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, Declaration of Independence, slavery, Getting Word, oral history project, Julie Taboh, VOA

Id: CXQYCTgBFQ0

Length: 3min 57sec (237 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 13 2012