‘Slavery bounded his life’: Thomas Jefferson’s views on race – in his own words

A new book by historian Annette Gordon-Reed explores the former US president’s writings on race throughout his life Thomas Jefferson’s interactions with enslaved people bookend his life. The third US president and a founder of the United States was born into a slave-owning family in a society upon which slavery was the bedrock. A Black woman was probably his earliest nursemaid – evidence shows that his mother did not breastfeed her children, so it is probable that a Black woman was also Jeffe...

By Adria R Walker