Why Visit Plantations If You Can’t Handle the Truth About Slavery?
Some people see plantations as playgrounds rather than museums, and that's a problem.
When Jeffery Tucker, the founder of the libertarian Brownstone Institute, visited Monticello, former President Thomas Jefferson's plantation home, he was greatly displeased with what he heard from curators, who had the audacity to describe enslaved people's experiences and contributions throughout the property. According to the White House's website, Jefferson enslaved 600 Black people, more than any other U.S. President throughout his life. The truth was too much to handle for Tucker, who expected to hear Jefferson praised throughout the tour.
For years, the curators at Monticello intentionally "sanitized Jefferson's history for the 25 million tourists who have flocked there since it was opened to the public in 1923." For instance, they often referred to slavery quarters as "servants' quarters" and deliberately undermined the harm Jefferson caused throughout his life. Tucker accused the curators of being "woke" for telling the truth, which historians should have told all along. Unfortunately, the whitewashed narrative, which so many Americans have come to accept as complete, portrays the former President as a saintlike man. For generations, White tourists enjoyed basking in the sun at Monticello, imagining a world where their heroes were free from blemish, and some White people want to keep that faux dream alive.
In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote that it was "self-evident" that "all men are created equal." How ironic that a man boasting about equality among men being "self-evident" would spend his entire life exacerbating the disparities between Black and White men. Jefferson did not believe in the gospel of equality he preached. On the contrary, he cruelly held Black men, women, and children in bondage. We wouldn't call German Nazi soldiers heroes because they abused, killed, and dehumanized Jewish people. No matter what else they accomplished in their professions, Nazi soldiers will always be remembered for their bigoted beliefs and barbaric acts of cruelty. But, somehow, in America, some White people expect Black people to bow and kiss the ring, to worship enslavers as heroes, people who literally ripped Black people's humanity to shreds. Saying that Thomas Jefferson owned 600 slaves is not an attack — it's a historical fact.
A 100-year-old former Nazi guard is currently facing trial for war crimes he committed against Jewish people during World War II. However, no such system of accountability was ever brought against former slave owners or those who participated in thousands of ritualistic lynchings throughout the United States. If Jefferson and justice were alive at the same time, the public would have convicted him of crimes against humanity and thrown him under the jail. Why should any of us pretend that Jefferson was heroic just because he wrote down some words he wasn't willing to live by? Americans trying to live by those values are the real heroes, not Jefferson, who lived his life oppressing others.
Sadly, conservative White people are treating scholars like Nikole Hannah-Jones as the villains in the story, simply for telling the truth about the founding fathers. She wrote in The 1619 Project, "The United States is a nation founded on both an ideal and a lie." Men, women, and children were forced to labor for Jefferson at the Monticello plantation to ingratiate his family with money, wealth, and power. White men like Tucker feeling uncomfortable cannot be the basis on which we assess historical figures like Thomas Jefferson. His proposition that all men were created equally was only true for white people. As Hannah-Jones suggested, this nation was founded on the idea that we should be treated equally and a lie because those speaking those words deliberately maintained racial inequality.
Nace was enslaved at Monticello and once had to beg Jefferson for vegetables to help him recover from illness. "We are suffering," Nace wrote. James Hubbard tried to escape Monticello on two separate occasions. At one point, he effectively evaded the slave patrols for over a year. Yet, once found, Jefferson paid to have him returned to Monticello, where ordered him to be "severely flogged in the presence of his old companions and committed to jail. The stories of dozens of Jefferson's "slaves" were maintained by the federal government and are available for the public to examine. Visiting Monticello and expecting not to hear about the 600 people Thomas Jefferson enslaved is like visiting a concentration camp and expecting not to hear about the injustices committed against Jewish people.
Millions of Black Americans served life sentences without ever having committed a crime, were born into a system of abuse and were deprived of their inalienable right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, then take it up with the founding fathers, who built this nation on the principle that only land-owning White men could vote. If American hypocrisy offends you, chances are you realize how unjust these conditions were but lack the maturity or intellectual honesty to engage in conversations about slavery. No lies were told during the Monticello tour, but for Tucker, the truth about Jefferson felt like hot soup in July. Jefferson once said, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." But Jefferson’s his vision of the future, Black people were still enslaved.
We can't ignore the fact that Thomas Jefferson's vision was flawed compared to a great man like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who envisioned a future where Americans would "transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood." In Jefferson's America, freedom was meant for some but not for all, and we should normalize the critical analysis of historical figures like him, not hide the parts of history that don't fit a narrative.
When Jefferson died in 1826, he left his family in "a debt of $107,000, over a million dollars in today's money." Even with a lifetime of profiting from free labor, the former President's resources were depleted by the end of his life. So, Jefferson's White family members sold much of his property and the men, women, and children Jefferson enslaved at the 1827 Slave Auction. White men like Tucker, who recently visited the Monticello plantation, seem to desperately want Jefferson portrayed as a hero, a man that shows us what America's all about. But, here's the thing, Tucker, Thomas Jefferson does show us what America's all about. But, as Academy Award-winning actor Jack Nicholson said in A Few Good Men, "you can't handle the truth."
Saying that Thomas Jefferson owned 600 slaves is not an attack, it’s a historical fact.
So, what can we learn from former President Thomas Jefferson? He shows us that America was founded on a bed of hypocrisy. And Tucker's outrage shows us that some White Americans are still uncomfortable with discussing slavery, even while visiting a plantation. It's racist to expect Black stories to remain suppressed and that only the slave-owners stories should come to light. Yet, rather than advocate for change that could dismantle systemic racism, far too many White people are taking a deep dive into denialism. It's no wonder Texas Republicans wanted students to hear about slavery as "involuntary relocation" instead of being honest that the chattel slavery system encompassed the trafficking, exploitation, systematic abuse, and dehumanization of Black people. Astonishingly, some White Americans are still fully committed to lying to future generations about slavery and the role racism plays in American society. Ignoring the founding fathers' role in harming Black people and Indigenous communities promotes fiction, and in history, we strive to leave no room for falsehoods.
After Tucker's visit, he accused the foundation of being "woke." Of course, that term has become a favorite slur from those on the political right, who consider Black scholarship and historical facts offensive. White people cannot change history any more than a white tiger can change its stripes, but we've seen in recent years that the truth won't stop them from trying. William Shakespeare once wrote, "ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven."
So, why are White people visiting plantations expecting no one to discuss slavery? Sadly, many people think of plantations as places for them to frolic and envision a romanticized version of slavery, all so men like Jefferson can still be accepted as heroes. If telling the truth that Thomas Jefferson enslaved 600 people is offensive to you, just imagine what it was like to live your entire life imprisoned at Monticello simply because of the color of your skin. The only way Jefferson fits into the pantheon of American heroes is through the dehumanization of Black people and the wanton ignorance of their systematic suffering at the hands of White men. America is not deprived of heroes, but for too long, White people have chosen to elevate men unworthy of praise.
Reference:
Heading photo: Thomas Jefferson's Plantation Home Monticello, Charlottesville, Va. 1905 | Photo Credit | Library of Congress
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There have always been those who are uncomfortable learning real history. I'm a Museum Educator/Living Historian who's been interpreting slavery history since 1995, and I've run across this quite often. It's gotten worse since 2020, but it's always been there.