I love the Parade Magazine which comes in our Sunday paper as a supplement. It’s so insubstantial in its coverage, even when it is trying to be a weekend magazine of record. Every Sunday morning I read it while eating breakfast.
In today’s edition, I was interested to discover this ad selling a cookbook.
Here’s what got me: “With hundreds of servants at her command…” I’m not a fan of the over/misuse of the dot, dot, dot, but what really got me like a kick in the stomach was the term “servants.” How could Martha Washington afford those hundreds of servants? Oh yes, because she didn’t have to pay them because they were SLAVES!
I don’t judge Washington, Jefferson or any other of our historical, quasi-mythical “founding fathers” for their ownership of other humans. At the time it was what was done throughout history, and all over the world. To expect them to act otherwise would not be in keeping with the realities of the time. Slavery was a horrible part of our country’s history and we are still living with the ramifications today. But let’s not just gloss over it by referring to humans held in bondage as servants. I find it disrespectful and disturbing.