Anyone who has kept up with the headlines over the past weeks knows that black women have factored in them prominently. Who has garnered attention?: Sally Hemings and Angela White (better known as Blac Chyna). While each entered the spotlight in different capacities, their stories are, strikingly, not dissimilar. Turns out these women—born over two centuries apart, wherein one was enslaved and the other free—have more in common than imaginable. And, more importantly, the recent unfolding, as well as the public responses, have been instructive regarding black womanhood, sexuality, non-consent, and white male culpability.
Just in time for the 241st celebration of America’s Independence, news outlets broke the story of what archaeologists unmasked at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home. They uncovered the living quarters of Sally Hemings, not only the property but also the mother of six children by Jefferson, our nation’s third President and a Founding Father. And, yes, the same Thomas Jefferson who wrote about the barbarism and natural inferiority of blacks in Notes on the State of Virginia while not so secretly engaging in a liaison with Hemings, the black “half sister” of his wife. Shonda Rhimes could not have written a script more dramatic and “scandalous” as this.
Yet, the surprise itself was not so much that Hemings’s windowless living quarters was discovered adjacent to Jefferson’s room. After all, the news and details of their relationship and children are nothing new, as historians unearthed that long ago. It is emblematic of the American paradox and contradiction of freedom and slavery. The real controversy, rather, was how Hemings factored into the headline: as Thomas Jefferson’s “mistress”. According to Merriam-Webster, “a woman who has power, authority, or ownership” is the denotative meaning of “mistress,” as is “a woman other than his wife with whom a married man has a continuing sexual relationship.”
By definition, Hemings—who was 14 when Jefferson was 44, who was property/chattel and could not legally consent to anything (sex, marriage, or contracts)—certainly could not be Jefferson’s mistress. And it is precisely because words, as do actions, matter that the headlines prompted “clapback” on social media and elsewhere challenging the representation of Hemings and Jefferson, given the implications. Even if “mistress” seems innocuous or embracing of Hemings (in a revisionist account that affords a black enslaved woman the “luxury” of romance or sexual proximity to power), it is troubling for multiple reasons.
Descendants of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Emma Byrd Young, third left, great-granddaughter of Hemings and Jefferson, with her family.(Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.)
It is reflective of the problematic ways black women’s sexuality has historically operated and been stereotyped, stigmatized, and held responsible for the sexual exploits, moral indiscretions, crimes and illegalities of white men rarely held accountable or deemed culpable. It whitewashes, normalizing and sanitizing Jefferson’s personhood and his sexual and moral comportment. It romanticizes that which, given the dynamics, was nonconsensual and illegal since interracial relationships were unlawful. In fact, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Loving vs. Virginia which legalized interracial unions.
Lastly, it unfairly imbues Hemings with a promiscuous jezebel-like sexuality and makes her responsible as if she lured Jefferson into an extramarital affair that, in turn, renders Jefferson an innocent bystander overpowered by an insatiable black female sexuality. It is precisely because of their race, gender, and sexuality that black women, like Hemings, are rendered lascivious and, far worse and dangerous, as unassailable. This is, in part, why during particular moments in history, black women have been deemed incapable of being raped, sexually violated, or assailed, which has left them without legal or other types of recourse and protection.
Enter Angela White/Blac Chyna, an African American model and entrepreneur, who was engaged to and has a daughter (Dream) with Rob Kardashian. Kardashian took to social media to publicly shame and eviscerate his ex for the “disrespect” he felt upon seeing pictures of her with other men. Releasing several provocative, sexually explicit photos exposing Blac Chyna’s genitals and body, Kardashian characterized the mother of his child in troublesome ways: as a whore, an unfit mother using drugs and alcohol, and a gold digger, which animates some of the most vicious, disturbing stereotypes of black women.
Disclosing the excesses of monetary and physical gifts he gave Blac Chyna, Kardashian’s actions were not merely petty or “love-stricken”. Instead, they have greater gravity. They reflect a type of toxic masculinity, rage, and revenge anchored in a sense of male entitlement that dangerously commodifies and assumes (black) women’s bodies are accessible to men. That women’s bodies and ineffable loyalty can be bought and owned. And, if he cannot have her, he is determined to slander, disparage, and incriminate her.
Equally problematic is that even as Kardashian engaged in revenge pornography, cyber exploitation and bullying, he has faced no real consequences. For actions that are punishable offenses in the state of California, he merely faced a closed Instagram account, and Blac Chyna was granted a restraining order.
Whereas there was a social media frenzy and support around Sally Hemings, where is the love/rage for Blac Chyna? Instead, she, rather than Rob, has been dismissed by people assuming that because of her former profession as a stripper, she is immune or forfeited her right to how her body and images of it operate, even if without consent. “Words are words, but once you start posting actual pictures, then that’s just not right. It’s actually against the law,” says Blac Chyna in a People exclusive. “This is my body. It’s my right. Once somebody else does it, it’s just not right.”
The fact that Rob Kardashian received a “pass” and that there’s been no love/rage for Blac Chyna—or that discussions have not engaged the larger issues of black womanhood, sexuality, consent and toxic masculinity—are indications that there is much work for us all—men and women alike—to do.