>    I am working on a paper about race in America.  Could you please
>send me any information that Thomas Jefferson wrote regarding race,
>slavery or issues related to these subjects.  Is it true that he had
>children with one of his female slaves (I think her name is Sally
>Heming).

Please refer to the following section of "Thomas Jefferson on Politics &
Government" for quotations regarding Jefferson's views on race and
race relations.

         http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1290.htm

There is also a discussion of "Jefferson and Slavery" at:

         http://www.oocities.org/CapitolHill/7970/jefpnote.htm

The matter of his alledged children by Sally Hemings is discussed
on the following web pages:  

	 http://www.oocities.org/CapitolHill/7970/resrpt1.htm

	 http://www.oocities.org/CapitolHill/7970/jefpnotg.htm

It appears highly unlikely that Thomas Jefferson had a relationship with Sally
Hemings.


Some modern critics of Thomas Jefferson have said that he is "a metaphor for race
relations in America."  If anything, Thomas Jefferson struggled all his life to
eliminate the slave trade and to solve the problem of slavery in America.  No other
Founding Father -- not George Washington, not John Adams, not Alexander Hamilton -- 
made as many deliberate efforts to solve the problem as did Thomas Jefferson.  If
anything, he is a metaphor for those who struggled against insurmountable odds against
slaver.  Rather than Thomas Jefferson being a metaphor for race relations in America, 
his critics are a metaphor for racial McCarthyism in our time.  Consider, for example,
the following actions taken by Jefferson:

1769 -- Prepared a bill to abolish the importation of slaves in the state of Virginia.  
Also promoted the first law in Virginia that allowed
the freeing of a slave.

1770 -- Howell vs. Netherland.  Jefferson argued for a slave's freedom on basis that all men 
	are born with inalienable rights to freedom.  This slave had been transported 
	into a free territory.

1774 -- "A Summary View of the Rights of British America" detailed how the king had opposed 
        colonies on control and reduction of slave trade.

1776 -- "Declaration of Independence" had one section condemning George III and his support 
	of slavery.  This was eliminated by Congress in order to conciliate
Georgia and South Carolina.

1776 -- Proposed Constitution for the state of Virginia had provision to eliminate slavery 
gradually beginning in 1800.

1778 -- Presented a proposal to Virginia General Assembly to abolish slavery.  Helped pass 
a Virginia law preventing the importation of any slaves.

1783 -- Proposed all slave children born after 1800 be freed

1784 -- Northwest Territories Bill, provision to eliminate slavery in those territories.
No one would be born into slavery after 1800 in any new state admitted into the union.
This provision lost by one vote.  

1785 -- "Notes on the State of Virgina" details detrimental effect of slavery on both slave 
	and master.

1787 -- Northwest Ordinance, passed while Jefferson was in Paris, was based on his earlier 
	Bill (1784)

1808 -- As President, signed Act banning slave trade with Africa.

These deliberate efforts by Thomas Jefferson to eliminate slavery are not matched by the 
actions of any of the other Founding Fathers.





> To what extent are the racist stereotypes and attitudes of Thomas Jefferson
> still affecting white attitudes toward black americans?

Thomas Jefferson's statements about blacks have NO influence upon white
attitudes whatsoever today.  If anything, his mistaken notions about blacks
become the occasion for contradicting them, not for adopting them.

> how do positive media
> images of blacks, such as Michael Jordan and the "bill cosby show"
> contradictthe more prevalen media stereotypes?

There are now NO prevalent media stereotypes of blacks, as there once was
with Amos and Andy, and Rochester on Jack Benny's show, etc.  Turn on your
TV, and you see blacks in every possible role, EXCEPT the Amos and Andy type
roles.

> how do positive images
> contradict Jefferson's profile of blacks?

As above, Jefferson's profile of blacks has no significant influence today.

> why are the negative images of
> blacks more prevalent in the media?

That is a myth.  Negative images of blacks are not prevalent in the media
today.  Give examples if you think they are.

> would you accuse Jefferson of hypocrisy
> or do you believe he was a prisoner of his era and culture?

It was not hypocrisy, because that would mean saying one thing and believing
another.  Jefferson merely expressed his honest beliefs based on his
personal observations.  Those beliefs were affected by the cultural role
assigned to blacks in his era, and he fully recognized that that might be
so.  "I have supposed the black man in his present state might not be [equal
to the white man]; but it would be hazardous to affirm that equally
cultivated for a few generations, he would not become so." --Thomas
Jefferson to Chastellux, 1785. ME 5:6, Papers 8:186

> would you, accuse
> Jefferson of contributing to contemporary american racism?

Jefferson's views on race have NO influence on contemporary Americans
whatsoever.

> do you agree that
> blacks and immigrants shared the same opportunities?

"shared" = past tense.  Obviously, blacks and immigrants did NOT share the
same opportunities until the last twenty or thirty years.  Because of
affirmative action, blacks NOW probably have an (unfair) advantage over most
immigrants.

> what aspects of black
> history were not shared by the immigrants?

"were" = past tense.  In general, immigrants were not subject to
discrimination on the basis of skin color, although they WERE often subject
to discrimination on the basis of their ethnic and cultural origin.  "No
Irish need apply."

> how did each of the following undermine for black americans the model of
> success:?
> Slavery and the breakup of African culture

In fact, slavery and the breakup of African culture introduced blacks to the
American model of success.

> Treatment of and attitudes toward emancipated slaves

This no doubt prevented blacks from becoming integrated into American
society.

> Violence against blacks

This also tended to prevent integration and to alienate blacks, forcing them
to form their own culture separate and apart from American culture.

> To what extent  did the north offer blacks more opportunities for success
> than the south?

The north permitted blacks to find employment on a more equal basis with
whites.  There was still some degree of segregation and discrimination, but
it was somewhat less than in the south.

> To what extent was their migration North a response to the
> possibilities of economic success?

Economic reasons were probably the chief incentive.  Less segregation and
less discrimination were more minor factors, since those still existed to
some extent.  But for most people, if they can get a good job, they can make
a good life for themselves, and these other factors can almost be ignored.

> What strategies did the federal government use to end legal segregation of
> the races in the south?

Forced integration in schools and public accommodations.  Civil rights acts,
and suits brought in federal courts which overturned legal segregation.

> What role did court-ordered school redistricting and busing play in these
> desegregation actions?

An unsatisfactory role.  Busing and redistricting probably caused more
conflict than they solved.   In fact, they solved none, but they did help in
general open up public accommodations to blacks and promoted the idea that
blacks had as much rights to public accommodation as anyone else.  The
contribution to this was minimal, however.  Forced busing probably caused
more resentment than it lessened segregation.  The net result of forced
busing was probably a set back.  In retrospect, it was a bad idea.

> What evidence is there to support the conclusion of author Juan Williams that
> the north now has the highest levels of racial segregation while the south
> has the highest levels of racial integration?

I know of no evidence to support that.  The evidence needed would be a
showing that more blacks have greater job opportunities and more live in
desegregated neighborhoods in the south than do in the north.  But I do not
know if that is so.

>
> Why do blacks in integrated schools tend to segregate themselves from the
> white students?

It is a matter of cultural identity and the social contradictions that the
civil rights movement has created.  Many blacks want equal rights and equal
access, while at the same time they want to maintain their black culture and
identity.  These things are naturally contradictory.

> why do white students shy away from their black peers?

Similar to the above.  They recognize a cultural difference, and either feel
excluded, or feel "if you don't want to be a part of my crowd, I don't want
to be a part of yours."  Blacks often have open hostility towards "white"
culture, even looking upon education as "white" -- a disastrous viewpoint.
>
> How does segregation create fear and uncertainties among the white
majority?

Because the black minority forever exists as a group apart, little
understood, and always at odds with or outside the white majority.
Differences give rise to suspicions, and black poverty is perceived as a
threat to white affluence.

> How did urban riots, crime and other forms of racial tension impact
> negatively on both the white and the black communities?

It confirmed whites worst suspicions.  Urban riots turned black
neighborhoods into burned-out war zones and further depressed their living
standards.
>
> Do you believe that integration, as envisioned by Dr. MLK 30 yrs. ago remains
> the central approach to bridging America's racial divide?

Yes.  It is the ONLY way to bridge the racial divide.  The problem is,
blacks seem to have turned away from that approach.  Many blacks and black
leaders today do not wish to bridge that divide.  They in fact want a real
"separate but equal" culture, but history suggests that this is not
possible.  This is the basic source of centuries of persecution of the Jews,
who have probably been better educated, more affluent, and of higher general
intelligence than the white communities that surrounded them.  But their
separation made them suspected and hated.  Many black leaders today take the Jews
as their model for maintaining a separate culture in the midst of white
America.  Whether this is a good model or not could be debated endlessly.
Jews are much more accepted today than they were 50 years ago.  But cultural
differences are always the source of tension.  Whether this tension can be
reduced and differences maintained is an interesting question.

> How did the rest of the following undermine for/the black americans model of
> success:?
> Disenfranchisement of blacks

This tended to isolate blacks and prevent them from being a regular part of
American society, thus making it difficult for them to pursue success.

> Jim Crow segregation of southern life

Same as above.  These tended to make it impossible for blacks to move
outside black culture.

> the sharecropping system

This was a system that made it very difficult for blacks to rise above a
subsistence level of living.

> discouragement of black family life

I can think of no way in which black family life was discouraged.

> intimidation of blacks in daily life

This was part of segregation and discrimination.  It tended to make blacks
fearful of doing anything to better themselves and of participating in
"white" society.

> educational discrimination

This tended to deprive blacks of opportunities for getting a good education
and therefore a chance to better themselves.

> job discrimination

Same as with educational discrimination.