Racism and the Craft of History

Abstract

Documenting sex in history is a tenuous enterprise. When Winthrop D. Jordan asserted his doubt that Thomas Jefferson had had sexual intercourse with married Maria Cosway, he pointed out that almost equally persuasive case could be made that Jefferson was masturbating during Cosway affair. Jordan also, however, felt question to be of no import.' Indeed, does matter whether Thomas Jefferson had sex after death of his wife, either with Maria Cosway, or with his slave Sally Hemings? Scholars differ on this point, but in Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, Annette Gordon-Reed moves debate about Hemings beyond fact of liaison to examine racism that has plagued historical method in writings about Hemings and Jefferson-racism that has persisted despite historiographical revolutions in study of slavery over last thirty years. In this compelling work, author focuses closely on the way story has been discussed, particularly by those who deny it (p. xiii). As a Harvard-educated lawyer and professor of law, Gordon-Reed's central accusation concerns inconsistent assessment of evidence on