Title

Jefferson's pillow : the founding fathers and the dilemma of Black patriotism

Description

Wilkins examines the lives of the founding fathers to discover how, "race and slavery still impede our progress."

Identifier

957865

807009563

Creator

Wilkins, Roger W

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

2001

Program air date: August 12, 2001.

Publisher

Beacon Press

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes on front endpaper: 69 yrs. Old-my father died when I was 8, segregated cemetery in MO. 20 blacks in Jamestown Aug 1619. Madison, Jeff., Wash., Mason owned 400 human beings. Bacon's rebellion--impact on racism in A. p 19. By the time of the American revolution 40% of Virginia was black. Make sure who was boss--lop off a toe, a finger or an ear. John Locke-followed by Mason and Jefferson-had no objection to slavery as a matter of property. p 29. Bacon's rebellion 1676-anti Native American sentiment. Notes on back endpapers: House slave/field slave dichotomies. P 100 You refer to Jefferson's admiring white biographer. P 99 Power to control slaves-including power to have sex with children. Free African Society--Richard Allen, Absalom Jones founded American Black Church. Visit to Cape Coast Castle--Guinea on Coast Ghana found place of my origin. Great-grandfather--Charles Wood--light skin father Earl. Cherokee strand in my family. I feel rising rage about founders p 121 they were morally crippled. South Africa--three people in the rain--I was feeling exposed, in a funk. Ethnic cleansing of Native Americans in early years. 1990--spent 10 days in U.S. with Mandela. I liked Madison the most--compare him to Cal Ripken his slave Billy. T.J.--great but deeply flawed--relied heavily on blacks, more than any other founder. Allowed him to reflect, enjoy leisure-sold some slaves to reconcile accounts. Secular saints-Ed Coles and Anthony Benezet. Privilege is addictive p 138 Korean War S-2 Ann Arbor 3 yr deferment. Who said "At no time have I ever felt like an American?" Uncle Roy. Trip to Ghana, Mandela, Uncle Roy, Geo. Mason. G.W. escaped slave any Judge. Madison's intensive study ask Jeff for books from Paris. 1777 Mar 26. Notes/Underlinings: Underlinings included additional details on Wilkins's background, family and historical details. Notes: "The Temple," "38 yrs in Wash.," "pillow," "movie Wash crossing the Delaware," "lives cushioned by slavery," "twoness," "Olaudah Equiano," "Mason," "black Americans = the poor of England," "whiteness," "Nathaniel Bacon," "killing members of an Indian tribe," "1767 Bacon's men devastated Jamestown and Gloucester Ct.," "education," "slave codes," "a toe, a finger, an ear," "So there to England," "Mason," "people required to kneel before addressing Mason," "owning 400 human beings," "property owners had vested interest," "all men created equal," "Locke's ideas 1690," "no objection to slavery as a matter of property," "in Mason's head and heart only "some" men were created equal," "toleration of blacks," "1777 Madison 26," "predatory giants," "*Madison intensive program of study," "1786 Annapolis no quorum," "strong central gov.," "didn't want monarchy," "Washington," "a hero's welcome," "Madison keeping a good record," "U.S. House popular representation," "slavery," "Mason on slavery," "strong gov. vs. slavery," "ugly word," "protection for slavery," "Mason and Madison succeeded," "Mason slave trade," "Bill of Rights," "Mason wouldn't sign," "Mason, father of Bill of Rights," "Oct 1792 Mason dies," "freed 5 slaves," "British Admiral Edward Vernon," "Virginia, 'my country'," "37 yrs old," "G.W. 55 yrs needed cash," "Lafayette," "vast holdings," "Charles Tomson," "Wash siding with Hamilton," "strong central government," "Wash wrote to Jeff. about internal dissensions," "Wash symbol of unity," "travel," "Rhode Island," "G.W. worried about slaves freedom," "first saw property," "1792 a troubling year," "G.W. 2nd term far more difficult," "thin skinned," "my family, my farm, my books," "John Jay the treaty," "Genet," "G.W. exploded," "Hamilton, Jefferson quit the cabinet," "G.W.'s escaped slave," "Oney Judge G.W.'s slave," "G.W.'s anger explosion about Oney," "G.W.'s class conscience," "Judge marries," "farewell speech," "3rd term," "ill," "G. Wash died at 67," "Jackie Robinson," "Blacks not included," "Free African Society," "problems blacks face," "branding "R" runaway," "Africans not a homogeneous group," "Mason's James most trusted slave," "1930s 89 yrs old," "whites believed in inferiority of blacks," "kind masters," "slave codes," "no freedom of religion, speech, fair trials," "imbalance in males," "slave marriages," "right to impose sexually on female slaves," "Sally Hemings," "DNA testing," "elements that sustain Jefferson's story," "Mary Prince," "blacks did marry," "space," "20% of Wash's army black," "inferior, self-hatred," "no self-hatred," "Ghana," "great grandfather," "freeman," "grandparents Asberry and Emma Wilkins," "God," "My father Earl," "no stone marks graves," "rising rage," "South Africa," "4 white Virginians," "until recently not mention of slaves," "Lincoln," "Washington craved wealth," "the indispensable man," "1990 Mandela," "Mason, haughty aristocrat," "Europe corrupt," "best brains in the country," "Frederick Douglass," "yet unfinished story," "race today in America," "evil," "my students," "compensation programs."

Subject

"Mason, George, 1725-1792--Relations with African Americans."

"Washington, George, 1732-1799--Relations with African Americans."

"Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826--Relations with African Americans."

"Madison, James, 1751-1836--Relations with African Americans."

"Wilkins, Roger W., 1932-"

"Wilkinson family."

"Founding Fathers of the United States."

"African Americans--Civil rights--History."

"Nationalism--United States--Psychological aspects."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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