On the occasion of the New Year of 2022, the incident of the woman in chains has stung our hearts fiercely. It is hard for us to believe that today, women still face such a bad situation for their survival and freedom, let alone the pursuit of their own happiness and the realization of their own ideals. And around us, there are countless women who are bound by various invisible iron chains, whose voices are not heard and whose hearts are not understood.
In the first book of the "A Documentary" translation series "White and Black: Daughters of the Founding Fathers", historian Catherine Collison tells us the story of the three daughters of US President Jefferson who struggled with their fate. .
In the newly independent United States, these three girls embarked on completely different life paths. Their stories are remarkable, yet rarely told. The eldest daughter Martha received an open education in Paris and longed for independence, but she was cast into the role of a "housewife" early on. She gave birth to 12 children and lived under the dominance of patriarchy her whole life. The second daughter Maria is sensitive and obedient. She has been trying to live up to the ideals of her father and husband, practicing the appropriate female behavior prescribed by the times, but in the end she exhausted her body in the only recognized mission of women: "becoming a mother"; the dark-skinned little girl Daughter Harriet grew up on a plantation. In order to gain "freedom," she had to remain anonymous, switch skin color camps, pretend to be a white woman, live in silence, and endure loneliness all her life.
Although we have long been far away from that era, these stories are not far away. There are still many Marthas, Marias, and Harriets around us. We still need to continue to work hard to make them seen and heard.
The tragedy behind " Declaration of Independence " The Three Sisters -
"A Documentary" Translation Series - "White and Black: Daughters of the Founding Fathers" Author: [US] Catherine Collison Translator: Wu Xiujie, Bai Lanling Review School: Lin He, Edition: Movable Type Culture｜Contemporary World Press 2022
"We believe that the following truth is self-evident: all human beings are born equal, and the Creator has given human beings several inalienable rights, including the right to survival, The right to freedom , and the right to pursue happiness. "
This is a powerful sentence in the United States' Declaration of Independence, and it is undoubtedly one of the most influential slogans in modern history. It was Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who drafted this declaration. In orthodox history, Jefferson is the "Father of the Founding" in the hearts of the American people. The golden sentence he left behind, "All men are created equal", has become a national heritage, inspiring people to pursue equality and justice. However, in his private life, does he really practice the "equality" he advocates?
In the book "White and Black: Daughters of the Founding Fathers", American historian Catherine Collison reveals the cruelty behind this "equality". She researched and investigated several female stories related to Jefferson. Through these stories, you will see the contradictory and complicated face of Jefferson, the drafter of the Declaration of Independence.
A slave mother exchanged her body for the freedom of her children
In the early days of American independence , Jefferson served as a diplomatic envoy to Paris, France. At that time, his wife had just died, leaving his two underage daughters without anyone to take care of him. Jefferson took his two daughters to France to study. Traveling with his youngest daughter Maria was a 14-year-old black girl named Sally Hemings. Sally lived in Paris for two years, during which time she became Jefferson's secret mistress. In many film and television works, this secret affair has been exaggerated into a romantic love story. But in fact, the truth of history is not romantic at all. Not only did Jefferson own slaves, but he never truly treated Sally Hemings, a black slave, as an equal, including their children.
Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings in the movie Sally Hemings: An American Scandal, 2000.
Based on this, the American artist Titus Capa created a collage "Behind the Myth of Mercy". In the painting, the black slave woman representing Sally is hidden behind the curtain of Jefferson's portrait, symbolizing that this period was deliberately buried. History.
Titus Kaphar's "Behind the Myth of Benevolence" (Behind the Myth of Benevolence)
When Jefferson ended his career as an envoy, Sally was pregnant. In order to persuade her to return to the United States with him, Jefferson promised to give her special privileges - He promised that her children would be free when they turned 21. Sally agreed. Sally and Jefferson had at least seven children, and she traded her body for their children's freedom. It's just that no one knows what Sally endured. There is no record of her tears, grief, resistance or painful farewells.
No portraits of Sally Hemings and her children survived. This is the earliest photo of the Hemings family - businessman William Beverly Frederick Jefferson (left) and his three sons. The youngest son of Eston Hemings Jefferson (the youngest son of Sally and Jefferson, who was freed in 1827), Beverly served in the First Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment during the Civil War. After the war, he returned to Madison to take over the family business and run a successful restaurant.
Historical comparison photos taken by British photographer Drew Gardner. On the left is Thomas Jefferson, and on the right is Jefferson’s sixth-generation great-grandson Shannon LaNier.
In 1789, when Jefferson returned to the country, the French Revolution broke out. As the revolutionary programmatic document, the "Declaration of Human Rights" stipulated that citizens should enjoy the rights of democracy, equality, and freedom. However, at this time, women were still not included in the scope of "citizens." Inside. Although European women have begun to enthusiastically participate in politics and fight for their own rights, women still have a long way to go in pursuit of equality.
Among Sally and Jefferson's children was a girl named Harriet Hemings. Although she is the daughter of the president, Harriet is unable to have her own independent identity and the right to education because of her background as a slave. However, from her mother Sally, she learned that another life was possible and that she would no longer need to be a black slave in the future.
But she had to "disguise" to achieve this possibility.
Through her mother's education and her own efforts, and with Jefferson's acquiescence, she boarded a long-distance bus and left the place where she grew up. Finally, she successfully pretended to be a "born free" white woman, and then No one could find her either. However, the price is also huge: she cannot go home or talk about her past to others. She must endure the pain of separation from her family for the rest of her life, living anonymously, silently and alone.
The cabin where Sally Hemings and her children lived. Jefferson did not live openly with his slave mistress, acknowledge and support the children born of the relationship, as many planters of the time did.
noticed Harriet's secret, Catherine Collison investigated and restored this thrilling disguise story. She spent many years, reviewed a large amount of information, and launched a major project to find Harriet Hemings. In the book, she carefully investigated 58 people named "Harriet" and the stories of each of them like a detective, but the final ending was still confusing.
This caricature was painted in 1825 and shows the relationship between white slave owners and black slaves at that time - sexual and labor exploitation coexisted, which became something of an open secret.
The fate of three sisters fight against the "iron chains" of childbirth.
But will they be happy if they try hard to pretend to be "white women"? "White and Black" also tells the story of Jefferson's two other white daughters-the eldest daughter Martha and the second daughter Maria.
Martha received many years of enlightenment education in Paris. She has outstanding knowledge and ability, has ideals and pursuits. But after returning to the United States, reality hit her head-on. Just 17 years old, she got married and became a wife, housewife, and mother. She was pregnant, giving birth, nursing, over and over again, ad infinitum. After giving birth to 12 children without any respite, she had no choice but to pin her ideals on the education of her children.
The life of the second daughter Maria is even more of a tragedy.She was once a little girl who loved reading and observing, but her wandering life since she was a child made her extremely eager for love and a stable family. Her goal in life was to be a good wife and mother. However, during seven years of marriage, she became pregnant four times and miscarried once. In the end, her life ended abruptly at the age of 25 due to the burden of bearing children.
This was a common cause of death for countless women in that era. The only recognized mission of women was "to be a mother." This is the life of Maria and Martha, and the life of countless women. Even if they have received higher education, even if they are the daughters of the president, they can only become reproductive tools without exception.
Stills from the movie "Kim Ji Young Born in 1982" and "The Hours"
The obscured history of women rediscovers the female power hidden in the tragedies of the times
Whether it is Sally and Harriet, mother and daughter, or Martha and Maria, life Teach them how vulnerable women are in this world. Neither love, kindness, the body, nor education, reading, or writing are enough to soften the extremely rough boundaries of patriarchy.
Their lives clearly demonstrate that relying on men for meaning and livelihood is not only dangerous but also inadequate for women to withstand the vagaries of life. Even the daughters and granddaughters of the authors of the Declaration of Independence have no hope of receiving the freedoms promised by the Declaration of Independence.
However, we can still read from their despair a power that cannot be suppressed - their wisdom, knowledge and talent, their resistance, energy and passion.
Harriet refused to accept the racial hierarchy, broke the most difficult rule at the time, and miraculously succeeded in broadening the boundaries of life that she was born with.
Maria's husband respects her vision for their lives, and considers her opinion indispensable when he decides on any major family matter. This marks a major change in the presuppositions of marriage from the time of Jefferson to their generation. change.
As for Martha, her girlhood in Paris ultimately fundamentally shaped her concept of female education, which in turn affected her plan to educate her daughter. Her daughters learned to enjoy the joys of spiritual life.
In the movie "Jefferson Love", Sally's mother warned her to fight for her child's freedom.
However, the ultimate goal of all the efforts made by women in pursuit of equality is to obtain institutional protection and broad social recognition of gender equality rights.
On the occasion of the New Year of 2022, the incident of the woman in chains has sharply hurt our hearts. It is hard for us to believe that today, women still face such a bad situation for their survival and freedom, let alone the pursuit of their own happiness and the realization of their own ideals. Around us, there are countless women who are bound by various invisible iron chains. Their voices are not heard and their hearts are not understood.
In "White and Black", there are countless obscured and unknown women's stories, they are similar but different. Today, although we have long been far away from that era, these stories are not far away. There are still many stories of Martha, Maria, and Harriet around us. We still need continuous efforts to make them seen and heard. .
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