Jefferson and Hemings
Whether Sally
Hemings bore Jefferson a child or not is still a matter of inquiry and debate.
Whether she did or not is, mainly, not as important as what the
story
of their fabled relationship meant to their contemporaries
as they creatively imagined “America.”
Hemings and Jefferson were the prime time soap-opera media
event of the newly hatched “America.” They were America’s
Couple: “Sally
and Tom.” Their tryst and affair was whispered about, lampooned
in the tabloids, and festered into a full-fledged scandal—they
were and remain literally and symbolically skeletons in
the closeted vision of “America.”
Of all the intriguing questions that
could be asked of Hemings:
Why didn’t you
kill him?
Not commit infanticide?
What did you think you were
doing? Protecting others from the Master’s
wrath? Softening the Master up so that your (and
possibly
his) children would be
freed, at least upon his death?
Did you enjoy yourself?
Did you bask in that special relationship?
—a deeper insight would have been generated
by Jefferson's responses to:
Why did you need the Dark Feminine?
A shadow woman?
Is this an insight into
your own maleness—an actual expose
and validation of your Lone Maleness and
faithfulness
to the Warrior’s
Quest?
How could—and can!—you
look upon your children as
legal property?
Continue—Jefferson
