Passing into Privilege

Considering the dire circumstances of their time, I find it difficult to judge the Hemingses for their choices in distinguishing themselves from the other, darker skinned slaves and taking advantage of the familial relationships to their masters. During the era of U.S. and British colonial slavery, I would imagine that every decision was based on survival; how to endure the least amount of suffering under a social system economically and psychologically dependent on their subjugation. Why would not one “pass” if it kept him or her in a relatively privileged position compared to other slaves? Of course the Hemings men could not completely escape their bondage and the dangers brought upon them by their skin color. But their gender and light skin tone gave them the freedom and autonomy (though limited) not afforded to women both black and white.

The Hemings women, like their enslaved female counterparts, were valued or devalued for their physical capabilities to fulfill sexual white male fantasies and to increase the profit of the white household with the children they bore. Their remarkable beauty as noted by male observers I believe may have made them more vulnerable to sexual advances and violence by the white males in their company. As for the relationships they had with the men of Monticello, consent cannot be implied because as slaves they had no agency; they could not refuse unwanted advances, even if they so desired, without negative social consequences. Unless there is evidence of consent, we can never really know what went on between black female slaves and white men. Because of their property status, I find it more probable that black women were raped in most cases. Personally, it is hard for me to imagine that enslaved women found their oppressors desirable considering the brutality of slavery. They may have manipulated these affairs (not to dismiss any likely possibilities of rape) to their advantage because they had no other choice in matters of sexual agency and physical self-ownership. They were owned and they were property to be used at the whims of their masters and their masters’ friends if permitted. Therefore, consent is not the appropriate term for romantic or sexual relationships between female slaves and white men because of the extreme imbalance of power.

What would be disappointing to me is if the Hemingses believed they were superior to other slaves and identified with their oppressors. It would sadden me if they removed themselves mentally from the sufferings of the slaves around them, including the field workers of Monticello. Did they sympathize with them? Was their loyalty to the Jefferson household true? Or was all of this a survival mechanism? How do people with features associated with post-colonial ideas of beauty today “pass” in order to gain privilege? And why? Who or what (class, group...) do they identify with?