Happy Independence Day
How to portray a woman who did not leave a photograph or a portrait behind her? Her shadow on the wall testifies to both her presence and her absence from much of the historical record.
It’s the Fifth of July (okay, posting a day late), so it’s appropriate to take a moment to be glad–perhaps “satisfied” is a better word–that Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s planation, has opened a new exhibit to explore and explain the life of Sally Hemings.
What should we call Sally Hemings? Jefferson’s slave? His mistress? His victim? His common-law-wife? His sister-in-law? Mother of his enslaved children?
Or how about simply a woman who had independence in her grasp but gave it up, only to work hard and negotiate skillfully to achieve independence for her children.
Sally Hemings features in my adaptation of Jon Meacham’s biography of Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson: President and Philosopher.
In his farm book, Jefferson recorded the fate of his crops and the details of the lives of his slaves. He coolly noted down the births of his own children with Sally Hemings. These children did not receive the tender care that Patsy’s and Polly’s boys and girls knew from their grandfather. Jefferson was apparently able to think of them as something entirely separate from his cherished life with his white family. “He was not in the habit of showing…fatherly affection to us as children,” said Jefferson’s son Madison Hemings.
She also gets a mention in Secrets of the Seven: The Eagle’s Quill.
Read MoreWe Interrupt Your Work to Present This Puppy
Please do not write. Please snuggle. Thank you.
This is Karma, sixth month old rescue pup who is doing her best to ensure that I never write another word. Stay tuned for more insights about writing, children’s literature, house training, and chewing the furniture.
Read MoreChildren Make Good Teachers
Okay, these particular people are VERY white.
Sometimes we need people to help us look at our own work with new eyes. Children are especially good at this. They don’t come with automatic reverence (assuming that something is good because it’s been published, or won a medal, or been labeled a classic.) And they have that special brand of ruthless honesty, particularly when they are related to us.
This can be a helpful, as when my daughter pointed out to me that all of the people in the illustrations of Imagine a Night are white.
“What?” I said. “No way!”
I grabbed the book. We looked through it together. And of course she was correct. Sixteen illustrations in that book and not a single one of them showed a person with something other than pale skin.
Well, maybe it’s just a coincidence? Maybe the companion books, Imagine a Day and Imagine a Place, show more variety?
Nope. A total of forty-nine pieces of art in all three books, and not a single person with a significant amount of melanin.
My immediate reaction was to explain that this was not my fault. I did not paint the images (the illustrator did that). I did not select them for the book (the editor did that). The book is not narrative or sequential, so I was concentrating hard on each image individually as I wrote the poems that went with them, not thinking as much about the book as a whole.
But I bit those thoughts back. They are true, but they are not particularly relevant here. Because I may not have been able to change the illustrator’s paintbrush or the editor’s choices (I was brought onto this project quite late, after the selections were already made), but I certainly could have done one thing.
I could have noticed.
Imagine a Night was published in 2003. It’s still in print. I’ve read it aloud hundreds of times. I’ve used it in countless school workshops. And I never noticed that there is not a single person of color in the entire book. How could I not have seen?
If all the people in the art had been male, I bet I would have noticed.
My own blind spots continue to amaze and dismay me. Thanks to the people who keep helping me see what I should have seen myself, but did not. I can’t change this book, but I can try to do better in the future. I can try to notice more. And once I’ve noticed, I can try to take action.
Read MoreChenery Book Festival
I love this book festival in Belmont, Massachusetts! Always a great crowd of interesting, engaging, talented writers and kids, parents, and teachers who are enthusiastic about books. This year I brought along the Ninja Rope Puzzle to promote Deadly Flowers and Deadly Wish, and watched pair after pair of brave aspiring ninjas try to get themselves untangled. They all made it (eventually!)
Sarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly