AND WE'RE BACK AT THE U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
... THE LIBRARY, FOUNDED IN 1800, WAS FIRST
HOUSED IN THE U.S. CAPITOL, UNTIL IT GOT ITS
OWN BUILDING, NOW NAMED AFTER THOMAS JEFFERSON.
RIGHT AND JEFFERSON WAS THE MAIN AUTHOR OF
THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, AS WE'VE DISCUSSED,
BUT HE WAS ALSO THE NATION'S THIRD PRESIDENT
AND A LIFELONG SLAVEHOLDER.
WHICH WAS KIND OF IRONIC,
BUT JEFFERSON OWNED HUNDREDS OF SLAVES, YES
IT'S TRUE, AT HIS MONTICELLO ESTATE IN VIRGINIA,
DESPITE BEING AN OPPONENT OF THE SLAVE TRADE.
RIGHT AND
THAT'S WHAT'S MOST INTERESTING, IS THAT JEFFERSON
ACTUALLY THOUGHT THAT SLAVERY WAS HARMFUL
TO BOTH THE SLAVES AND THEIR MASTERS BUT HE
INDEED DID
OWN SLAVES HIMSELF FOR HIS ENTIRE LIFE.
NOW SEVERAL EXHIBITS HAVE EXPLORED THIS MORAL
CONFLICT OF JEFFERSON'S, AND EARLIER THIS
YEAR, VOA'S JULIE
TABOH WENT TO MONTICELLO TO FIND OUT MORE.
LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THAT.
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 GROUND BREAKING 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, 20 PERCENT OF ALL THE
POPULATION WAS ENSLAVED.
AND JEFFERSON WAS ONE OF THOSE SLAVE HOLDERS.
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'S SLAVES.
MANY OF THEM LIVED AND WORKED ON MULBERRY
ROW, THE PLANTATION'S 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'S 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.
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 FOUNDING 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 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 50TH 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.
THIS WAS PRETTY INTERESTING ALEX.
DEFINITELY A PART OF JEFFERSON'S LIFE THAT
WE DON'T USUALLY HEAR ABOUT.
YEAH, IT WAS VERY ENLIGHTENING, TO THINK ABOUT
SOME OF THESE CONFLICTS THAT OUR FOUNDING
FATHERS FACED, VERY SIMILAR TO
A LOT OF CONFLICTS OFFICIALS ALL OVER THE
WORLD FACE TODAY.
