An Enslaved American or Free African in Paris?

“De par le Roy.” Thomas Jefferson’s passport upon his return from France. Signed by King Louis XVI, Versailles. September 18, 1789. Manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Thomas Jefferson to Tench Coxe: Monticello June 1. 1795. Dear Sir I received a few days ago only your favor of Mar. 20 accompanied by the Collection of your papers lately printed, for which I cordially thank you. it will enable me to turn with more convenience to pieces which I consult with pleasure & instruction. I congratulate you on the successes of our two allies. those of the Hollanders are new, and therefore pleasing. it proves there is a god in heaven, and that he will not slumber without end on the iniquities of tyrants, or would-be tyrants, as their Stadtholder. this ball of liberty, I believe most piously, is now so well in motion that it will roll round the globe, at least the enlightened part of it, for light & liberty go together. it is our glory that we first put it into motion, & our happiness that being foremost we had no bad examples to follow. what a tremendous obstacle to the future attempts at liberty will be the atrocities of Robespierre! We are enjoying a most seasonable spring after a winter which had greatly injured our small grain. nothing can give us a great crop. I doubt if it can be made even a good one. our first hay-cutting (clover) begins to-day, this may mark to you the difference of your seasons & ours. my clover in common upland fields which were never manured will yeild 1500.lb to the acre at this cutting, which I consider as an encouraging beginning. I take the liberty of asking your care of two letters, both of them of importance. I have not inclosed Monroe, either to our office of foreign affairs, or the Minister of France, because I thought you might possibly find a safer channel than either. it requires safety & secrecy. but adopt either of those channels, if you think them the best. I am with much affection Dear Sir, Your friend & sevt. Th. Jefferson

François Nicolas Martinet. In Description Historique de Paris, 1779. View down the Champs-Elysees through the Grille de Chaillot. Thomas Jefferson’s house, the Hotel de Langeac, was on the left at the near corner.

Behold me at length on the vaunted scene of Europe! … you are perhaps curious to know how this new scene has struck a savage of the mountains of America. … Were I to proceed to tell you how much I enjoy their architecture, sculpture, painting, music, I should want words. It is in these arts they shine.

–Thomas Jefferson personal letter to Charles Bellini, September 30, 1785

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Morning Activity

Meet outside Cafe Lateral at 10 AM. We will then walk to the Arc de Triomphe and conduct an onsite analysis of this memorial with fascinating and hidden commemorations to Africans, Haitians, and African Americans who participated in French warfare.

At 11AM we will visit 92 Ave des Champs-Elysées (Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson’s former residence while Ambassadors to France) and the home of Sally Hemings.

At Noon we will conclude at the Egyptian Obelisk.

Required Reading

• Annette Gordon Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (W.W. Norton & Company, 2009), Read “Part II: The Vaunted Scene of Europe” with extra attention

Guided Reading Questions

• What primary sources does Gordon-Reed use to tell the story of Sally Hemings despite the fact that she did not leave written sources herself?
• What skills did the Hemings family have? What unique training did the acquire or showcase in Paris?
• What were the legal differences in Sally Hemings enslavement and status as a free woman in the United States vs. France? Why?
• What does manumission mean?
• What tensions are at play here in Thomas Jefferson’s private life, public life, and political ideology in documents like the Declaration of Independence?
• We will read a short excerpt together from Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia. While we read it, think about colorism (the difference in skin tones from light to dark). What role does it play in African American slavery? What role does it play in Thomas Jefferson’s understanding of race and classification? In his relationship with Sally?

Related Multimedia

Below, Harvard historian Annette Gordon-Reed discusses Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the Burden of Slavery

Analyzing the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile

Background Questions 

• Can you think of any memorials that exist on campus? Can you describe it? What is its purpose? How often do you interact with it?
• Where is this monument–The Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile–located in Paris?
• When was the monument created?
• Who created this monument?
• What was the purpose of the monument? Has it changed?
• Who do you think is the intended audience for the monument?
• Have other famous events happened in this place? How has it been represented in popular culture?

Observing The Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile

• What is it made of?
• What architectural and structural details do you notice? Some examples might be columns, spires, staircases, gargoyles, text, statues, plants, etc.
• Why do you think it was made in this form?
• What is the physical context in the city?
• What arguments could a historian make about Parisian society looking at this monument?
• What questions do you have about this monument? What primary or secondary sources could help you answer your questions?

Talking to Tourists

• How are people interacting with this monument?
• What do people do near or around it?
• Ask the tourists: why did they come? What does it mean to them? Do any of their answers surprise you?

Thinking about Paris Noir

• What does this monument have to do with African and African American life in Paris? In France? In the French Empire?
• What clues do you notice that suggest this is a monument that includes the history of black Paris?

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