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someone tell kathy galvin that thomas jefferson is well remembered on days other than his birthday — i’m on a historic walking tour of downtown, looking at the site of what was once the blacksmith shop of an enslaved man jefferson freed in his will.
joseph fossett was freed in thomas jefferson’s will. he gets a lot of credit for that. but he didn’t free fossett’s wife and eight children. they were auctioned off in the estate sale. he eventually managed to purchase five of his own children.
in the early 1800s, virginia law required freed men & women to leave the state unless their former owners could prove their continued presence here “benefitted white society.” so fossett kept his own children as slaves so they could stay together.
listening to these monticello tour guides describe the fugitive slave act as i scroll through stories about impending ICE raids tomorrow. what is legal is not what is right. then & now.
from a small unity days display inside york place downtown. note the july 12, 1898 lynching — there will be a small event on july 12 this year to place a marker in court square remembering john henry james. 
and here’s what vinegar hill looked like before it was stolen & razed by the city in 1965. black homes & businesses were taken & now all that’s there is a fucking staples.
anyway the monticello to main street walking tour was short & interesting. it doesn’t hold a candle to @Jalane_Schmidt’s walking tour of the confederate statues, but i’m not sad to have walked around a bit on a nice saturday. i think they’re doing at least one more of these.
