Though
it is peculiar to intercept and respond to a slave owner’s letter, that is
exactly what I am doing. I am running away and leaving this godforsaken
Virginia once and for all to join the British and attain freedom on Lord
Dunmore’s promise, but before I do, I felt the need to respond to your letter,
addressed to my slave master. Why you chose to take out your frustrations on
what is a potential taboo relationship between a slave master and a slave girl on such an unsympathetic
ear as Mr. Crowley’s, I am baffled.
You
must be wondering how in the world I can write you
a letter. I have a great command on the written English language because of Mr.
Crowley. You see, his vision is
not what it used to be, so at a young age, he taught me and my brother to read
and write. (A skill that will undoubtedly be of great use as I evade my
dreadful former owner!)
Now,
I am writing to you because I am appalled not at your apprehension for such a
union between whom you call Thomas Jefferson and Sally, but at the fact you
show no regard for the well being of this fourteen-year-old girl, even in a
private letter, is quite appalling.
First
of all, she must have a last name, even if just passed down from an earlier
slave owner, so why did you not acknowledge that? Alas, I know the answer. You
do not hold the same respect for another woman as you do for older men who prey
on vulnerable girls, because of her skin color. For shame. This idea plagues
multiple generations here and I hope that one day this will cease to be the
dominant view of this country.
You
have pointed out that Sally’s and Jefferson’s potential future engagement with
each other threatens embarrassment to him, his family, and his surrounding
community but you have failed to point out the threat that he may be to her,
and that this potential connection is a microcosm of a much larger, systemic
problem. White men have unbridled access to women’s bodies. And Negro women in
particular have no say in the matter, since they are these men’s “property.”
And you also have failed to recognize the threat imposed on Sally when you
off-handedly commented on Sally’s lone six-week voyage across the Atlantic
Ocean, with a group of sailors. Do you have no empathy? Do you have no concern
for what may happen to a young girl who is at sea for six weeks without
supervision, in a ship full of sailors, who if they subscribe to the dominant
white male view, think of her as an inferior piece of property to do with as
they please?
From
your description of her “bright” skin and “European features,” it seems she is
attractive, to both white men and Negro men, from which part of your disdain
comes. However, your jealousy seems to make you unjustifiably think you have
the right to blame this young girl for Jefferson’s uncontrollable sexual urges.
(You had mentioned his wife died after their umpteenth child. What does that
tell you about his concern for a woman’s body and health?) What you fail to
see, though you have looked this child in the eye, is what in life she cannot
have because she is a slave. If she had been a white woman, she would have been
able to marry a reputable suitor and would have become part of a respected
couple in her community.
For
a woman who has seemingly attained the perks of being a lady, you have complete
disregard for the humanity that lies within those whom you “own.” After all, it
is the collective “we” who make your life manageable and more stress-free. For
those women who are not “bright” skinned and attractive as Sally seems to be,
we are forced to work in the fields, under the beating sun, our thirst and
freedom unquenched. We harvest with our calloused hands, our sore backs, our
blistered feet, and sweat-drenched bodies. Our eyes sting from the sweat
dripping down our foreheads after countless hours toiling in the heat and from
the tears we shed for our brothers, sons, and lovers whose backs are beyond
stinging when slave overseers do the dirty work of our slave masters.
I
hope I have shed some much needed light on your ignorant, perhaps tawny-haired,
skull.
Signed,
Beth
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