Thomas Jefferson' s concern for the future of American' s white children is often cited as evident of his recognition of the inherent brutality of slavery. Jefferson, who served as the third president of the United States and was himself a slaveholder, argues in Notes on Virginia that the institution of slavery, as witnessed by the children of plantation owners, serves as a teacher to these children, instructing them to follow in the footsteps of generations of white Americans when it comes to stripping black people of their humanity.
Jefferson didn't care about black people; instead, he contemplated the harm slavery was exacting on white children. For future generations of white Americans would forever be tainted by a false sense of privilege to determine whether or not others deemed inferior have the right to live or die. How is slavery, Jefferson asks, with its "most unremitting despotism" and its "degrading submission" of humanity to inhumanity, serving as an institution that hardens the hearts and minds of "our" children, children, in turn, who "learn to imitate" the brutal practices against black people?
What is America to learn from a study of slavery?
Shouldn't Americans be concerned about what is learned at home and at school about this institution? After all, it's serving as a pillar of society, and not just in the South. "From the cradle to his [or her] grave [he or she] is learning to do what [he or she] sees others do." The violence of this institution, Jefferson continues, "gives a loose to the worst passions, and thus nursed, educated, [the child] daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities."
What are we teaching our children when we ignore the violence of this institution of slavery and its legacy?
Fast forward to the early half of the 20st century where a certain set of photos and postcards are crisscrossing the country. It's America, so it has become a business. American citizens, "nice" people, neighbors, family members, begin selling the evidence of a continuing pattern of behavior, acceptable in a culture expressing its love of freedom. And the supremacy of the white race. Countless photos of white Americans surrounding their children. And they are teachers of sorts, instructing these embraced children by pointing upward at the mutilated body of a black man hanging from a tree.
The smiles on the faces of the adults reflects on the children indicating that the lessons were welcomed. And why not?
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