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The Jefferson Paradox: Race, Slavery and the Promise of America
Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed, joined by Eddie Glaude, discusses her book “Jefferson on Race,” examining his ideals of equality and his contradictory life as a slaveholder.
In her new book “Jefferson on Race,” Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed invites readers to confront one of the most enduring contradictions in American history.
Among the nation’s founders, Thomas Jefferson was perhaps the most deeply and personally entangled with the issue of race and slavery. The author of the United States Declaration of Independence, who famously wrote that “all men are created equal,” enslaved more than 600 people over the course of his life while also condemning slavery in his writings. How can we understand this profound contradiction?
Drawing from Jefferson’s letters, public writings, plantation records, and accounts from those who lived at Monticello, including his son Madison Hemings, Gordon-Reed invites readers to examine Jefferson’s own words about African Americans, slavery, and Native Americans. The result is a revealing portrait of a founding figure grappling with the realities of a multiracial slave society while professing ideals of liberty and equality.
As the nation approaches the United States Semiquincentennial, this timely conversation offers an opportunity to reconsider Jefferson’s legacy and the enduring questions about race, freedom, and democracy that continue to shape the American story.
“Jefferson on Race” is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand Jefferson’s conflicted attitudes—and the impact of race and slavery on American history.
Presenting Partners: Princeton Public Library, Princeton University Press, Nassau Presbyterian Church and Labyrinth Books.
Campus and Community Partners: Princeton University Humanities Council, Princeton Theological Seminary, Historical Society of Princeton, Morven Museum & Garden, Paul Robeson House of Princeton, Department of African American Studies and GradFutures Professional Development Program.
