Shoyu Chicken

I solved my problem with the due date on my library copy of The Hemingses of Monticello. When I was unable to renew it because there was a waiting list, I put myself on the waiting list. When I reached number one, I was the only one on the list. So, I canceled my request. Then, there was no waiting list and I was able to renew the book. Now I have plenty of time to read it.

The Shoyu chicken was absolutely delicious. Even Jeffrey liked it. Here is the recipe (Gerard halved it):

Ingredients:
5 1/2 to 6 lbs. chicken thighs
5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup mirin (this is a Japanese cooking wine)
8 med. garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
4-inch piece ginger, sliced 1/2-inch thick and smashed
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
5 Tbs. cornstarch dissolved in 5 Tbs. water
Thnkly sliced green onions, for garnish

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except cornstarch and green onions in a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to low and simmer, covered, turning occasionally, until chicken is tender, about 30 to 35 minutes more.
Remove chicken to a serving platter. Remove garlic and ginger and discard. Bring sauce to a boil, skim off excess fat, and cook until reduced slightly, about 10 minutes. Whisk in cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add chicken, turn to coat, and serve chicken with sauce and sliced green onions.

The Big Mystery

In the 1790's in Virginia, the children of female slaves were slaves and the children of freed female slaves were free. It was not easy for an enslaved woman to achieve freedom, but if she did, she freed all her unborn future generations as well. Sally Hemings at 16 was presented with this opportunity, and Annette Gordon-Reed spends a long time trying to figure out the motivation behind her decision.

Hemings was 16, living in Paris with U.S. ambassador Jefferson and pregnant with his child when it was time to go home. Gordon-Reed painstakingly (emphasis on the pain, for the reader) explains how easy it would have been for Hemings to gain her legal freedom in Paris, which did not permit slavery. She also makes it perfectly clear that Jefferson didn't force Hemings to return with him to Virginia; he talked her into it, and struck a bargain. The agreement was that he would free all her children with him when they turned 21. But as Gordon-Reed points out, she could have become free in Paris immediately if she stayed, and her unborn child and all subsequent children she had in her lifetime would be, therefore, also free. So why did she go back to Virginia?

Gordon-Reed runs through a number of options, but none is the clear answer.

• She could have loved Jefferson, but then why the hard bargaining? Besides, it doesn't seem likely that a beautiful (Gordon-Reed gives evidence of this) 16-year-old girl is going to fall in love with a 46-year-old man. (Sorry, 46-year-old men.)
• She could have missed her family. But she'd been separated from them for eight years already, and surely there would be some way to reunite with them eventually. And remember we're talking slave/free here. High stakes.
• She could have been outsmarted by Jefferson. But again, the length and seriousness of the bargain, which resulted in a written document, does not support this. and Hemings had her older brother and possibly a whole community of former slaves and/or mixed race servants to consult with.

One  possibility that Gordon-Reed does not touch (Afraid, Gordon-Reed?) is that Hemings (and the other Hemingses) wanted white fathers for their children. Hemings herself had only one black grandparent and three white grandparents. Her mother and grandmother had both had children with white men (though they had no choice in the matter). The Hemings women were said to be beautiful, and the whiter they became, the more they were considered by whites to be attractive. It also made it a lot easier for them to receive better treatment from whites when enslaved and when freed.

It's not very PC to suggest that someone black would wish to become white. But Hemings was 3/4 white and her children with Jefferson were 7/8 white. Gordon-Reed herself points out that the one-drop rule (that anyone with one drop of "black blood" was considered black) was still 100 years in the future, and there was not solidarity among all people of African descent. Gordon-Reed does point out that there were many young, single, mixed-race free men in Paris whom Hemings could have married. But she didn't. She went home with Jefferson voluntarily. I think it's worth at least considering as a possibility that Hemings chose Jefferson because he was white, and that she thought her future children would have a safer future as mostly-white in Virginia with the promise of being freed at 21, than they would as somewhat less white in Paris and freed on the spot. That may not be cool by today's standards, but Hemings lived 200 years ago. In every other case, Gordon-Reed warns us not to judge 1790s actions by 2010 standards. But she seems to have blinders in this situation.

I am cooking tonight because Gerard has to work (boo). He did the grocery shopping though, and left me with ingredients and a recipe for Shoyu chicken (thighs, broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger). Also some green beans to steam, as that's Emily's favorite vegetable and she's home for Thanksgiving. There's a 1/2 bottle of Green Truck organic chardonnay in the refrigerator with my name on it.

Getting to the Good Stuff

I feel like I'm working hard to get the salient details of the Hemings-Jefferson relationship, but the details are satisfyingly detailed and scandalous. Sally Hemings was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife as well as their slave. When the wife died, Hemings remained Jefferson's slave, and she lived with him in France while he was the American ambassador there. Also living with them were Jefferson's two legitimate daughters and another slave, who was Hemings' brother. Sally Hemings became pregnant while still in France, and gave birth in Virginia. She and Jefferson had four children together who lived to be adults. Three of them eventually were freed and after leaving Monticello, lived as white people.

When Hemings and Jefferson began their sexual relationship, she was 16 and he was 46. Annette Gordon-Reed, the author, suggests that any time an unsupervised teenage girl is introduced into a household where an adult man is not married, an inappropriate relationship is inevitable. I'm not sure I believe this is inevitable. Possible, surely. Maybe even probable?

As she tends to do. Gordon-Reed painstakingly points out obvious things to the reader and she's driving me crazy. For example, she explains the difference between a man's relationship with his wife and his relationship with his daughter. She does this to help build her case that Hemings and Jefferson's sexual relationship was a likely turn of events, considering that Jefferson was a widower, and therefore, unmarried. Now I'm doing it! (Pointing out the obvious, that is.) Anyway, Gordon-Reed actually says that if a wife had been present, she would have said, "Stop gazing at Sally" and "Have sex with only me." But that a daughter could not say such things, mostly because she'd have nothing to give in return, because daughters don't have sex with their fathers. She said that.

I believe that Gordon-Reed's continual pointing out of the obvious is not meant to be patronizing. I think she's refuting the years and years of historical interpretations (and denials) about Jefferson and Hemings' relationship and the marginalization of Hemings. I think she isn't really talking to me; she's talking to those historians. But it's still hard to take.

For those who read my blog to find out what I had for dinner, last night it was rib-eye steak, rosemary-garlic oven-roasted potatoes and a green salad. We have salad a lot, because it's one of the few vegetables our son will eat. I played sous chef and seasoned the steak with lemon pepper and seasoned salt. It rained, so Gerard abandoned plans to grill, and cooked it in a cast-iron skillet with some more of his compound butter. We also had a beer sampler, as he had bought a mix-and-match six-pack of micro-brews from Whole Foods. I tasted "Hairy Eyeball" and "Small Craft Warning."

Update

I'm rocking along; on disc 10. Dinner tonight was bourbon-orange salmon, roasted corn-on-the-cob with compound butter, and saffron rice. With the House Martini and sparkling water.

Getting Into the Hemingses of Monticello

I'm already on Disc 6. Typically, I save my listening for my work commute, but because this book is so long, I decided to also listen whenever I'm in the car, doing chores or carpooling. The advantage is that I'll get through the book sooner, possibly before it's due. The downside: No more denial over how much time I actually spend carpooling.
The details about Thomas Jefferson's household, the lives of people in the late 1700s and the institution of slavery are fascinating. Gordon-Reed is a historian, and the book reads like a history book, so it can be a little dry, especially when she goes over the complex family trees. It's like all those "begats" in the Bible. But you'd be amazed how entangled Jefferson's and his wife's family trees are with the Hemingses'. HA! I knew that plural proper possessive information would come in handy.
One thing I don't like about the book is that Gordon-Reed is constantly preaching about how black slaves were actually complete, complex human beings with full-fledged feelings and individual talents, personalities and intelligence. I understand that white people who condoned slavery did not acknowledge this, but I do, and I'm sure just about everyone else in 2010 does as well. I get it, Annette Gordon-Reed, I get it. Stop patronizing me.
Last night for dinner, my husband cooked chicken scallopini, rice risotto with musrooms, onions and green peppers, and a green salad, and served a pino grigio.

Early Impressions of The Hemingses of Monticello

I already like this book for two reasons: the title and the length. I like the title because it contains a plural proper name. I discuss plural proper names with my college students, and they don't easily grasp the concept. I'd like to point out that the possessive form would be "Hemingses'" as in, "The Hemingses' story is fascinating."
The audio book is 25 discs. I love a long book because if I'm going to make the effort to get to know the characters and their world, I want the relationship to last for a long time. During my 69-mile one-way commute to work, I can get through almost a whole disc. I commute three days a week. That calculates to six discs a week. It will take me four weeks and one day to complete the book. The library gives me only three weeks to keep it, so I'm going to have to try to renew after one week and one day at the earliest, but after two weeks would give me some breathing room. I hope no one else is on the waiting list, or I won't be permitted to renew.

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed

Why I chose to read this book:

1. I'm fascinated by the details of the way people lived in other places and times
2. I'm interested in the scandal when it was revealed to the American public that President Jefferson had a second, non-white family
3. I want to know more about how Africans and African-Americans suffered under slavery in the U.S

How I first learned about this book: The book review in the Atlanta-Journal and Constitution

Where I got it: The Dekalb County Public Library

What format I'm reading it in: Audio CD (25 discs!)

What my husband Gerard made for dinner tonight:

• Sea scallops with butter and bacon
• Rice with carmelized shallots
• Steamed broccoli and carrots
• Vodka martini with garlic-stuffed olives