Tag: sally hemings

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The Narratives of History in “Killadelphia”: Part V

Over the past few posts, I’ve been examining Jupiter Evans’ and Sally Hemings’ narrative arcs in Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander’s Killadelphia. Specifically, I’ve been looking at the ways that the histories of Jupiter and Sally get filtered through white perspectives and the counters to the white perspective through Jupiter’s telling of his own history. We do not see Sally’s perspective directly, and we do … Read More The Narratives of History in “Killadelphia”: Part V

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The Narratives of History in “Killadelphia”: Part IV

Over the past few posts, I’ve examined Jupiter’s backstory in Rodney Barnes and Jason Shaw Alexander’s Killadelphia, specifically looking at the ways that Jupiter’s story illuminates the violence, trauma, and dehumanization of chattel slavery in the United States. Jupiter introduces us, as well, to Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman that Thomas Jefferson raped and sexually assaulted, notably after the death of his wife Martha … Read More The Narratives of History in “Killadelphia”: Part IV

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The Narratives of History in “Killadelphia”: Part III

Writing to John Wayles Eppes in 1820, Thomas Jefferson spoke about about the exploitation of those he enslaved, especially in relation to the profits that he acquired off of the backs of their labor. He told Eppes, “I know no error more consuming to an estate that that of stocking farms with men almost exclusively. I consider a woman who brings a child every two … Read More The Narratives of History in “Killadelphia”: Part III