Slavery System in the United States of America - Essay Example

s Sally Hemings Slavery in the United s began in the early sixteenth century when the Dutch brought the captured African slaves into American soil. This system of slavery evolved into a nightmare for African-Americans, leading to cruelty and abuse for many centuries. Even after the slave trade from Africa was outlawed in 1808, slavery continued to exist through domestic slave trade. Slaves were denied of any kind of rights and were forced to be totally dependent on their masters for every basic necessity. Gender influenced the way in which slaves were assigned works, with men performing backbreaking field works and women doing household works, childrearing as well as field work. Physical and sexual abuses were part of their slave lives, and family relationships were always unstable because slave trades frequently broke up families. The American colonies practiced this slavery throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, until the American Civil War and leaders like Abraham Lincoln put an end to it. However, even after the abolishment of slavery system, the legacy of slavery influenced the American history, in the disruptive years of Reconstruction. When slavery existed in United States of American, it was considered to be a cruel part of history. However, for Sally Hemings, it was a completely different story. She gave up freedom for many uncertain reasons. The different facets of Hemings as concubine, mother, slave, and the privileges she had for being a slave is analyzed in detail. “Being a woman added burdens to a slaves life but also furthered the ‘cooperation and interdependence’ necessary for a womans survival”.1 This statement aptly fits the life of Sally Hemings. She was a enslaved woman of mixed-race who was owned by then President, Thomas Jefferson. She was said to have had a long-term relationship with Jefferson, consequently bearing as many as six children with him. She was born in 1773 to Elizabeth (Betty) Hemings and John Wayles, Thomas Jefferson’s father-in-law. She entered Monticello as part of inheritance that was given to his Jefferson’s wife Martha Wayles Jefferson. Initially, she was a nursemaid to Jefferson’s daughters doing household chores and other works that an enslaved woman would do. Later, in 1784, when Jefferson travelled to Paris, Hemings accompanied him with his 8-year old daughter named Martha. It is said that it was during this time that the relationship between Jefferson and Hemings could have developed. There are many instances to show that Sally Hemings gave up her freedom for unknown reasons, either it being personal or family related. According to reports, Jefferson never officially freed Sally, although she was given an unofficial freedom by Martha thereby allowing her to stay in Monticello. It was contradictory to the law then, because once a slave was freed, they are expected to leave the state within a year. However, Jefferson had requested Martha to give Sally her time to get freed, which is an unusual statement for slave freedom. ‘Giving time’ was an informal emancipation that avoided the removal law, and so the slaves were free to stay in the state at their will. But then, Sally served as a chambermaid at Monticello until the death of Jefferson, later moving to her son Eston and Madison in Charlottesville. Her reasons for denying freedom are still unknown. “Sally remained a slave in Jeffersons will, and no documented justification has been uncovered. What is certain is that she remained his slave and possible mother of his six children, until his death on July 4, 1826”.2 However, the possible reasons could have been economic, social, and personal implications surrounding her slavery- stricken life. Though not definitive, it could possibly be assumed that the love and affection between Jefferson and Hemings could have been one of the many reasons that made her to stay. Unlike the other slaveholders of his time, Jefferson was affectionate towards the children of his slave concubines, particularly Hemings and her offspring. Even though, she was ‘free’ at Paris, according to the French law, the reasons why she withheld her position at Jefferson’s house is still uncertain. It can be assumed that because of their intimate relationship in France, she could have become pregnant and so did not want to leave Jefferson. In addition, Jefferson had promised her some ‘extraordinary privileges’ and also free her about-to-be born child, when he/she attains the age of 21. Although that child died too young, Sally had other children with him, who were freed when they reached 21. “Jefferson allowed two of Sally’s children to escape and freed the remaining two in his will”.3 Despite the fact that Jefferson made no financial guarantees for their slave children, the expectations that he would offer that economic guarantees to her children might have forced Hemings not to leave him and thereby deny her own freedom. The other key reason for her stay is that Sally was given assurances by Jefferson that she would get some special privileges at his house on her return. She was willing “to go home with assurances that she could expect a certain type of lifestyle at Monticello”.4 So, she returned to Monticello based on these privileges and importantly because of her expectations that she and her children would get freedom in the future. Even though, it was a ‘treaty’ made with Jefferson, the proof or verifiable evidence of it is still lacking, but it facilitated her to stay. The privileges that Sally gained at the Monticello are not too many but were more than any slave of that time could have gotten. Being the chambermaid and seamstress, she was given responsibility throughout her life to take care of his chamber and wardrobe, and also his children. There were also reports that she was given a separate room at Monticello for being a seamstress, though not as a house-keeper. She had special permissions to wear ‘finer’ clothing like the household servants rather than the routine uniforms distributed to other slaves. Apart from that, she was allowed to have ‘baby-sitters’ during her childbirth and childrearing period. This was indeed a ‘special’ privilege, which was not possible to other slaves of that time. Even her family was spared from few restrictions of the slave system. Her mother and sisters were not given backbreaking works in the field. In addition to that, no other slaves other than Hemings’ family were freed at will by Jefferson. Her allotment of restrooms, baby-sitters, and light domestic works are apparent dispensations she received at Jefferson’s house, which are not normally accorded to enslaved field workers. It is definitely an acceptable fact that Sally Hemings was a slave, mother, and a concubine in Jefferson’s Monticello. Whatever reasons would have contributed for her return to Monticello, her status at Jefferson’s chamber was more than a slave. Her denial of slave freedom can be linked with the economic guarantees and social freedoms she might have gained for the future of her children. The fact that she had special privileges at Jefferson’s chamber strengthens the argument that they are in fact were in a relationship. Though not definitive, the recent DNA studies have shed some light on this issue, adding grounds to the possibility of their relationship. Despite being a slave, the special dispensations she and her family received, her return to Monticello by giving up freedom, and the informal emancipation she acquired, were all obvious grounds on which one can assume the reality behind their so-called relationship. So,, these evidences suggest, if not to proven conclusively, that the relationship between Hemings and Jefferson is possibly more than just rumors. Bibliography David, John Seh. The American Colonization Society. New York: iUniverse, 2014. Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. New York: W. W. Norton, 2009. Lewis, Jan Ellen, and Peter S Onuf. Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1999. Morgan, Winifred. “Gender-related Difference in the Slave Narratives of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass.” American Studies (1994): 73-94. Read More