Letters to the Editor

Abstract

To the Editor: I would like to comment on the recent article about the exhibition concerning Thomas Jefferson's slaves, “Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty,” by Jordan Grant in the June 2013 JAH (pp. 158–62). I found two significant errors in the article. One referred to one of his alleged slave children as “Edison Hemings” rather than Eston; another error claimed that James Hubbard, who worked in the Monticello nail factory, was a joiner (i.e., a carpenter or furniture maker). It should perhaps be noted that it is more likely that Randolph Jefferson was Eston's father, since he was at Monticello when Eston was conceived, and the name Eston belonged to one of the Randolph family ancestors who had formerly owned the plantation Snowden, which Randolph Jefferson inherited from Peter Jefferson. Grant is a youngster, so he can be excused for making a few mistakes, although considering what he is writing about, one would assume that he knew the basic facts about tj's slaves. It is more disconcerting that the editors of JAH, the top journal in U.S. history, should permit such an oversight, which risks downgrading the journal's top-notch credibility and lowering its reputation. Although Jefferson scholarship over the past twenty years or so has become somewhat careless and sometimes even ludicrous, such indisputable facts as the names of Jefferson's slaves are above debate. In a sense, Grant's mistakes degrade Jefferson's slaves and call into question the whole purpose of his article and the Smithsonian exhibition, which is obviously to elevate them above the mire of slavery and see them as authentic, respectable persons.