Results tagged “thomasjefferson”

At the Carver Library and Cultural Center, Austin held its other book festival on Saturday, June 27th: The Third Annual African American Book Festival. Less well-known than that book gathering held in the Capitol each fall, it still attracted some prominent authors. One, Annette Gordon-Reed, spoke of her obsession with the story of Sally Hemings, the now famous slave and mistress of Thomas Jefferson. She described a journey that began with reading Jefferson's biography as a third grader to research on his life as a college history student and the eventual publication of two books. Jefferson scholars dismissed the relationship as just "negro news," she said. In 1997, her first book, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, examined the entire historical record. Soon after, DNA evidence confirmed the liaison. Then, using Jefferson's obsessive record keeping, the oral history, and his letters, she reconstructed the Hemings family story in, The Hemingses of Monticello, for which she received the 2008 National Book Award and 2009 Pulitzer Prize. She expressed regret at not listening more carefully as a child to her grandmother’s family stories. "Slavery was a part of my life," she said; her grandmother's mother was a slave. Gordon-Reed, now a law professor, wanted to individualize Sally, describe her family context, and allow her to be known as more than just a "slave girl." It was a short hour listening to the story behind the story.

The notion that ‘It's not a conspiracy theory if it's actually true,’ is about as spot-on and useful as ‘Golly, she ain’t a witch if she done drown.’

• The first Muslim congressman is going to be sworn in using Thomas Jefferson's Quran. God bless America.
• 2007 will be the hottest year yet. Pet them polar bears goodbye.
• Stop making fun of grad students. Education keeps you young.

Last week, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded architect Antoine Predock, designer of Austin's geometrically-gifted City Hall, their highly-coveted AIA Gold Medal. The annual honor is meant to celebrate those "whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." Among the past winners are Thomas Jefferson (1993), Frank Lloyd Wright (1949), Louis Sullivan (1944), LeCorbusier (1961), Louis Kahn (1971), and I.M. Pei (1979) - in other words, a fairly impressive bunch.