Charlottesville votes to end Thomas Jefferson’s birthday as city holiday
By Neal Augenstein | @AugensteinWTOP
July 2, 2019
It’s hard to think of Charlottesville, Virginia, without thinking of one of its most famous residents, but the city council has voted to remove Thomas Jefferson’s birthday from the list of city holidays.
“Charlottesville is the location of Jefferson’s birth, his death, and it’s the place he called home when he wasn’t in Washington,” as the third president of the United States, said Hawes Spencer, a longtime Charlottesville reporter and resident.
Jefferson was born April 13, 1743. He founded University of Virginia, and his home, Monticello, “sits on a little mountain on the outskirts of town and draws almost half a million visitors annually,” Spencer said.
Though Jefferson was a founding father, who wrote “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence, he also owned slaves.
Some in Charlottesville have spoken often about Jefferson’s dichotomy, but, Spencer said, “I’m not sure there’s been a lot of listening.”
About 20 years ago, a new high school was planned for Charlottesville.
“At the time, the proposal to name it Monticello High School sailed right through, but I think a lot of white Charlottesvillians didn’t give proper heed to was that what we call a house was actually a plantation, or some might even call it a work camp,” Spencer said. “Or worse.”
“It was a place where over 400 people were held in bondage, not only for the course of their lives, but the children they had grew into slavery, as well,” Spencer said.
On Monday, the Charlottesville City Council voted to drop Jefferson’s birthday as a city holiday. In a separate vote, they created a new day of celebration called Liberation and Freedom Day.
Spencer said the new official holiday — which will be celebrated on March 3 — “Commemorates that day in 1865 when Gen. Philip Sheridan’s troops rolled through town and found a population that was majority African American — and although emancipation for most of them probably didn’t occur on that day, it was the opening salvo for a lot of Charlottesvillians’ freedom.”
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Charlottesville votes to end Jefferson’s birthday as Holiday
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- UpstateSCHokie
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Charlottesville votes to end Jefferson’s birthday as Holiday
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” ― Voltaire (1694 – 1778)
Re: Charlottesville votes to end Jefferson’s birthday as Hol
Oh no
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Re: Charlottesville votes to end Jefferson’s birthday as Hol
Total dumbfuqs. Everyone in Charlottesville should be deported. They're too stupid to be US citizens.
"I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Thomas Jefferson
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Re: Charlottesville votes to end Jefferson’s birthday as Hol
HooHokieJoe wrote:Total dumbfuqs. Everyone in Charlottesville should be deported. They're too stupid to be US citizens.
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Re: Charlottesville votes to end Jefferson’s birthday as Hol
Why is this an issue? Most municipalities have moved towards having their holiday schedule track that of the fedeal government. Same with most businesses. It's just easier for everyone. TJ still gets plenty of coverage in C'ville.
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Re: Charlottesville votes to end Jefferson’s birthday as Hol
Yeah, agry. There's no Patrick Henry county holiday that I'm aware of in Hanover. If we were to holiday every one of the famous Virginians' birthdays, Virginians would have a lot of time off! Where to start?133743Hokie wrote:Why is this an issue? Most municipalities have moved towards having their holiday schedule track that of the fedeal government. Same with most businesses. It's just easier for everyone. TJ still gets plenty of coverage in C'ville.
That said, this is nuts-
the new official holiday — which will be celebrated on March 3 — “Commemorates that day in 1865 when Gen. Philip Sheridan’s troops rolled through town ...
"rolled through town" is a neat little euphemism for raping, burning, and pillaging a largely undefended place. Read local historian's writings about what that was like in C'ville and Scottsville. To celebrate that is..well...stupid. That's not a celebration of "freedom". If one wants to celebrate emancipation, more appropriate dates could be found, like, oh, how about when the slaves were actually freed? I know, stupid idea, huh? It is arguable that many slaves' circumstances were worsened by Sheridan's destruction, confiscation of all food, and leaving them behind with even less than the nothing they had before Sheridan arrived. C'ville was already economically devastated before Sheridan's men marched through. It is as if the holiday is more about sticking it to whitey than celebrating gains by blacks.
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Re: Charlottesville votes to end Jefferson’s birthday as Hol
Cartoon from 2016
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” ― Voltaire (1694 – 1778)
Re: Charlottesville votes to end Jefferson’s birthday as Hol
Sure, no leftist politics at play here. None at all.133743Hokie wrote:Why is this an issue? Most municipalities have moved towards having their holiday schedule track that of the fedeal government. Same with most businesses. It's just easier for everyone. TJ still gets plenty of coverage in C'ville.
"I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Thomas Jefferson