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| Monticello (1825 Painting by Braddick) |
On March 29, 2012, Slate
made headliners of Jefferson and Hemings (some might say “Jemings”) all over again. In an article titled “Hemings and Jefferson Together Forever?” – Max Perry Mueller explores the religious and ethical dimensions of such “Troubling cases of Mormon ‘proxy sealing.’”
The fact that both Hemings and Jefferson have been dead for decades seems to be one of Mueller’s least
concerns. He instead
focuses upon educating the reader about the whys and wherefores of Mormon
sealing. Mueller presents
this explanatory quote from Matt Bowman, author of The Mormon People:
“Mormons believe that heaven consists of a great network of families bound together through a particular sacramental ritual called sealing. Parents are sealed to children, spouses to each other, ancestors to descendants.” According to this religious belief, the posthumous sealing of Hemings and Jefferson could potentially be a great blessing to them and their kin.
So what’s the problem?
Mueller goes on to explore the ethical dilemmas of a Hemings/Jefferson “until death don’t we part” type scenario. He asks
this crucial question: Could love actually pass between
the most influential man in America and a
mixed-race slave he owned? Since welcoming Jefferson’s advances might have been tantamount to survival for Hemings, was this type of “love” more rape than it was sacrament? At the very least, relationship dynamics like these would be deemed abusive by today’s standards.
And since posthumous sealing, by its very nature, involves a “shifting” of events from one historical context to another - perhaps it is both relevant and fair to analyze the Jefferson/Hemings relationship by today’s standards, especially when attempting to influence its spiritual destiny…
Resources
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/faithbased/2012/03/sally_hemings_mormon_and_married_to_jefferson_proxy_sealings_raise_difficult_questions_for_lds_church_.2.html
http://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings-brief-account
Copyright April 2012 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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