Assignment 9

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."

We live in a world that has many histories. History is never as simple as just "what happened," because people imagine, interpret, and construct history in ways that are meaningful and sensible to them.

Does the recent news that Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson probably had one or more children together change your view of history, or allow you to see the history of "Cultures in Contact" in the U.S. in a different light?

In class we handed out copies of a 11/10/98 New York Times article on African American responses to this news story.

Here are a few sources of News, and you can find more on Nando Times, a service that has wire service stories from the most recent two weeks.

Jefferson Fathered Slave Son -- ABC News, 10/31/98

Was it Thomas Jefferson? -- ABC News, 11/05/98

The Secret Life of Thomas Jefferson -- Washington Post, 11/07/98

Please write a paragraph or two about your own understandings of this time period in our country's history, and how your view of Jefferson has or hasn't changed.

comments to Wilson or Lovata
Created 8/21/98, modified by SMW 11/10/98