Abstract
Jefferson's life has come to symbolize America's struggle with racial inequality, his successes and failures mirroring those of his nation. The quest for a more honest and inclusive rendering of the American past has placed a heavy burden on Jefferson and his slaves. Generation after generation of Americans has sought some kind of moral symmetry at Monticello, some kind of reconciliation between slavery and freedom, black and white, past injustice and present compensation.
Document Type
Book Chapter
ISBN
0813914639
Publication Date
1993
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 1993 University Press of Virginia. This book chapter first appeared in Jeffersonian Legacies.
Please note that downloads of the book chapter are for private/personal use only.
purchase online at University Press of Virginia.
Recommended Citation
Ayers, Edward L. and Scot A. French. "The Strange Career of Thomas Jefferson: Race and Slavery in American Memory." In Jeffersonian Legacies, edited by Peter S. Onuf, 418-456. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993.