It was an ordinary day. Just when I thought I had seen the last of my heroes bite the dust, along comes another. I recently wrote about my hometown hero, United States President James Buchanan, and the fact that he endorsed slavery at one time. Now I read in the local newspaper that another Untied States hero of mine, Thomas Jefferson, also was a slaveholder. Thomas Jefferson drafted the initial version of the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. Eventually eighty-six changes were made to Jefferson's original draft by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and other members of the committee appointed to draft the document, and by Congress. But, as I began to check out many of our nation's early elected officials, I found a few more who were slave owners at one time or another. I suspect that there were quite a few, since at the time it was a common occurrence for wealthy politicians to have slaves work for them. Doesn't mean it was right, but that it was more accepted. Well, it seems that there is a statue of Thomas Jefferson in New York's City Hall Council chambers that will be removed very soon.
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| Thomas Jefferson |
The 1833 statue has been in the council chambers for ages and has been asked by council members for years to be removed, but has remained in the chambers. Finally, enough members have requested it's removal that it will finally be removed from the chambers. Originally there were plans to move it to another room in City Hall where fewer people would see it, but it will now be moved to New York Historical Society. It is said that it will be on a long-term loan...perhaps a permanent loan. The Jefferson statue is a plaster model of the statue by French sculptor Pierre-Jean David d'Angers that stands in the Capitol rotunda of the United States Congress. State Assembly Member Barron had requested in 2001, when he was on City Council, that the statue be removed since Jefferson was "a slave holding pedophile who should not be honored with a statue." Assembly member Barron was referring to historical evidence that Thomas Jefferson fathered at least six children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman who was his wife's half sister. Historians have factual information that shows that a sexual relationship between Jefferson and Hemings began when she was in her teens. But, it seems that there is a problem with loaning a piece of public art to a private museum that charges admission to enter. The statue is a piece of public art and thus should be placed in a location that doesn't require a ticket to view it. Many are favoring that it be moved to the Governor's room in City Hall where anyone can still view the statue without having to pay to view it. I agree that the statue must go, but perhaps to a different room that has less access to it. How many more of my childhood heroes will lose their place on my list of favorites due to owning slaves. What were they thinking back them? Did they think they could actually own a human being and not have it come back to haunt them? I guess they did...since so many did. More and more are now losing status on the list of national heroes. So sad to see that happen, but not as sad as it was to see the many people who had to live under slavery for most of their lives. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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