Slavery's legacy examined in Forest
By Marcia Apperson
The News & Advance

FOREST - School teachers, archaeologists and people who work at historic sites in the area came together Friday and Saturday to learn more about a controversial topic people sometimes feel uncomfortable discussing - slavery.

It was a tough issue to tackle because for most people today it is inconceivable to own another person like a piece of property, force families to separate or use a whip to discipline an individual.

"The past was a foreign country," said Anne Willis, museum educator at Colonial Williamsburg. "They did things differently then. It's like us going to Antarctica. Everything is different."

But the audience learned it's important to talk about slavery to better understand history, what Colonial Americans lived through and the effects those times have on people today.

About 100 guests attended the seminar about interpreting slavery that Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest was able to host through a grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy.

The first half of each day-long seminar started at the Forest library and then continued just a couple miles away at Poplar Forest, where slaves once worked on a plantation spread over more than 4,000 acres.

"We wanted to give our docents background so they could do the type of job they wanted to do," said Dianne Kinney, tour services and volunteer coordinator at Poplar Forest.

With the basic background information, she said, the volunteers would be better able to answer questions and explain the lives of slaves at the plantation.

The group spent about seven hours discussing the history of slavery in Virginia and then more specifically at Carter's Grove Plantation and Poplar Forest. Then they learned how to address the issue when teaching children or giving tours.

The group was told to tell the truth, tell it with confidence and don't sugarcoat the past.

"It's a very valuable resource," said Sally Johnson, who teaches fifth grade in Amherst. "In just a few hours, we got an in-depth view of something that really isn't, or has not been until now, published."

Jefferson was the center of much of the discussion because of the irony that continues to surround his name for writing about liberty and equality in the Declaration of Independence but owning slaves at the same time.

"Number one, he's a product of his time," said Rosemarie McAphee, a training specialist at Colonial Williamsburg. "I think that's the best way to put it."

The first group of slaves arrived in Jamestown in 1619. By the time Jefferson was born, American slavery had been around for about 125 years.

"This isn't black and white," said Dylan Pritchett, a living history interpreter. "It's about how to make money."

Slavery was an economic institution, which Pritchett said was comparable to drugs now.

For example, slavery - like drugs - caused families to be separated and made a few rich while the majority suffered, he said.

Throughout his life, Jefferson owned 400 slaves. He spoke out against slavery and predicted it would end, but not in his generation.

"It was always on Jefferson's mind to emancipate slaves," Pritchett said. "One person couldn't do it and he understood that."

Evidence has shown that Jefferson did have good relationships with some of his slaves at Poplar Forest.

In the early 1800s, slave Phill Hubbard wanted to marry a younger slave at the plantation. Jeremiah Goodman, who was the overseer on part of the plantation, interfered with the marriage.

Hubbard ran away to Monticello to tell Jefferson about the situation. Jefferson agreed to let Hubbard get married and move to another part of the plantation to live near his family.

Jefferson evidently had a good relationship with his butler and manservant, Burwell Colbert. When Jefferson died he freed Colbert, gave him $300, a log house and an acre of land.

But about 70 slaves were sold after Jefferson's death. Jefferson sold some of his slaves throughout his life to help offset debt.

The panelists encouraged the guests to tell these stories, especially the stories of the individual slaves, to help people understand what life was really like at Poplar Forest as well as other historic sites.

As archaeology and restoration projects progress and expand at Poplar Forest, it is the staff's goal to interpret all of the history there - which includes enslaved workers, Kinney said.

The staff doesn't want visitors to view the site as just Jefferson's retreat home, but want guests to learn about the slaves who actually worked on the plantation and made the home what it was.

"Black and white visitors are coming to your site," McAphee said. "They don't know about slavery. We're not being responsible if we're not telling this story."