Annette Gordon-Reed '81
The bestselling author on Thomas Jefferson, race and reparations
"I INTEGRATED OUR COUNTY SCHOOLSYSTEM IN TEXAS. I was the little girl who goes to school under some very strange conditions."
"BEING THE ONLY BLACK CHILD IN ASCHOOL WAS BAD AND GOOD. Some people were very nasty, some reached out. It made me have a realistic view of race relations; it prevented me from saying all white people are racist."
"I UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL PRESSUREFORCES PEOPLE who are not strong to go along with things they may not even believe."
"MY EXPERIENCE AT DARTMOUTH WASDEFINITELY POSITIVE. When people hear I went to Dartmouth they say, 'Areyou okay?' I guess because they've heard about The Dartmouth Review. It may be okay in Hollywood, but bad publicity is never good for a college."
"IF I HAD TO PICK ONE LABEL FOR MYSELF IT WOULD BE WRITER. That's been my identification since I was 6 or 7."
"I WROTE THOMAS JEFFERSON AND SALLY HEMINGS WORKING 12 HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. I didn't have a publisher. I had no idea what would happen to it. It was an obsession."
"I CAN ACCEPT THOMAS JEFFERSON'S ATTITUDES BECAUSE HE LIVED IN THE IBTH CENTURY. Brilliant as he was, he was somewhat primitive just by living when he did. I'm not as tolerant of people who've had the opportunity to know better."
"I'M ALWAYS STRUCK BY THOSE WHO CONSIDER JEFFERSON'S RELATIONSHIP WITH SALLY HEMINGS A BLIGHT on his character, but who aren't bothered at all by his being a slave owner."
"I GET QUESTIONS FROM BLACK PEOPLE ABOUT WHY I AM INTERESTED IN JEFFERSON. He is connected to so much of American history that he can't be ignored. There's also the reality that there are no 'black' topics and no 'white' topics."
"SOUTHERN WHITES HAVE BEEN OVER WHELMINGLY POSITIVEA BOUT THE BOOK. Many have told me similar stories about blood ties created during slavery in their own families."
"BLACKS ARE MORE COMFORTABLE WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIPS THAN WHITE PEOPLE ARE. You go to any black family reunion and the evidence is there. Often, the older the relatives, the lighter their skin."
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT HEADLINE THE NEW YORK POST WOULD PUTON THE JEFFERSON-HEMINGS STORY, BUT I KNOW THEY'D SHOW ALOT OF PICTURES. Does anyone know what the girlfriend of another famous golfer besides Tiger Woods looks like?"
"WHITE PEOPLE CAN HAVE AN APPRECIATION OF THE LASTING EFFECTS OF SLAVERY. It may not be the same as black peoples but it will be enough."
"BY STUDYING JEFFERSON I GET TO STUDY RACE AND SLAVERY ANDTHE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM. I may not be writing about Jefferson at 70, but I'll always be engaged with those topics."
"THAT REPARATIONS MAKE MORAL SENSE IS CLEAR. Whether Or not it can be done is another matter. The topic should be on the table to bring home that slavery was an economic institution—even as it's almost unseemly to talk about money when you're talking about people's lives."
W "AFFIRMATIVE ACTION HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT WHAT'SGOING ON TODAY. It's not about repairing a wrong done in the past. It recognizes that if certain people and I instiutions are not prodded to look for black peopie, they're just not going to do it."
"THE WHITE MEDIA NEEDS BLACK WHIPPING BOYS. If you put your head up, you're a candidate. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton polarize people becuase of their ubiquity."
"[PRESIDENT] BUSH'S WORDS A BOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHI GAN CASE WERE MORE DAMAGING THAN THE BRIEF.It wasn't necessary for him to act like it's the moral equivalent of war."
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: Author, Thomas Jefferson andSally Hemings: An AmericanControversy (1997) touted by The New York Times as conveying "the possibility that Jefferson and Hemings shared a loving, trusting, enduring bond"; co-author, Vernon CanRead (with Vernon Jordan, 2001); editor, Race on Trial:Law and Justice in AmericanHistory (2.003)CAREER: Associate, Cahill, Gordon & Reindel, 1984-'87; counsel, New York City Board of Corrections, 1987-'92; professor of American legal history, property and American slavery, New York Law School, 1992-present EDUCATION: A.B., history; J.D., Harvard Law School, 1984 PERSONAL: Resides in New York City with husband Robert and children Susan,13, and Gordon, 10
