Photos: Monticello slave cemetery, by M.T. Hernandez
In 2005 I went to Monticello. I had always wanted to see the place -
It was truly beautiful. The house with the famous dome and porch stood on top of a hill -- you could see for miles all around.
Jefferson's furniture, artwork, and many inventions were everywhere. He really was pretty amazing.
Yet with all the sunshine, and cool objects, the place has a shadow over it. When we began the tour the guide was telling us all sorts things about Jefferson's children. I guess she did this because there was group of middle school kids in the room. My husband asked her (in front of the students) if she was talking about his children from Sally Hemings. The woman stumbled and stuttered. I never quite got what she told us. She said maybe it was true, but maybe not true, that he had children from Hemings.
As we walked around the grounds, the house was in very good condition, as were some of the other buildings. Naturally there were no slave quarters except what was left of their foundations. I guess the homes of slaves weren't important enough to either save or reconstruct.
One thing I thought about when I saw Jeffersons scores of inventions and heard the guide talk about his prolific writing - was that he was able to do this because of his slaves. He was the gentleman scholar. His only concern was to invent and write.
Just before we left the site, we went by his grave. Its beautiful, in a small cemetery along with many relatives; with a big wrought iron fence and a big lock. We could at least see it, and remarkably there were scores of nickles (with Jefferson's image) all over the ground. Sally Hemings and her children could not be buried here.
We had been looking for a Monticello staff person so we could ask about the slave cemetery. We saw it on the map but couldn't find it. At the Jefferson gravesite, someone was walking by - we asked and she told us.. "Its next to the parking lot."
We certainly found it. We had parked our car right next to the cemetery. It didn't look like a cemetery. It was a small area with some very large beautiful trees. There were four or five boulders scattered around.
There was a sign that said the cemetery was discovered in 2001. The boulders marked graves.
Someone had come by earlier and placed small American flags near the boulders. Someone else had gotten two tree limbs and made a cross. I had been writing a chapter for a book on slaves and plantations in Texas - seeing this cemetery really affected me. I took nickels and scattered them around the graves. I took lots of pictures of the boulders with the flags, with the makeshift cross.
Well, our world these days is not perfect, but at least in the U.S. people are not shackled all the time (only when being detained for being undocumented). Virginia - along with the other slave states - has a murky past. The past is tight lipped. . When I was doing my research it was near impossible to find documents about slaves - there was no shortage of archives, books, and newpaper articles on the slaveowners.
This is the murky past the Washington Post is talking about-- are these the shared values that Virginia politicians expouse?
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Republicans Stumbling Against 'Virginia Values'
By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 13, 2007; Page VA06
...Last week, Howell spoke to a group of business leaders at the Virginia Foundation for Research and Economic Education meeting in Richmond. In response to a question from the audience about illegal immigration, Howell said the state's newest residents might not be accustomed to the "shared values we have in Virginia," according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Asked by a Washington Post reporter on Monday to explain what he meant by "shared values," Howell hung up the phone. At least one business leader who attended the event described Howell's comments as appalling. G. Paul Nardo, Howell's chief of staff, said the speaker was talking about "Virginia values."
"Those values are lower taxes, less burdensome regulations and a positive business environment," Nardo said.
Democrats interpreted the remarks as something worse. They say Howell's "shared values" comment was the latest in a series of insulting remarks from Republican leaders, including then-Sen. George Allen's macaca slur last year and a statement in January by Del. Frank D. Hargrove Sr. (R-Hanover) that Jews are responsible for killing Christ.
...Republican leaders stress that Virginia values mean a commitment to faith and family. That argument can still be a winning message for Republicans in ethnically diverse Northern Virginia. After all, Hispanics make up the fastest-growing segments of the Catholic and Protestant religions in the United States.
...Does the Republican Party really want Northern Virginia voters to decide between a message about the future and one that causes some to think of the state's past?
For complete article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/11/AR2007091102173.html
