George Washington’s Slave Child?
“Volumes tell how he fathered a nation. Only iUniverse let me tell how he fathered a slave,” proclaimed a two-page advertisement that appeared in the New York Times Book Review, on Sunday, February 20. The advertisement promoted Linda Allen Bryant’s I Cannot Tell A Lie. Published in 2004, Bryant’s book tells the story of how George Washington, the nation’s first president, fathered his one and only child through a slave. The headline was certainly eye-catching, as intended. But was the claim off the wall?
According to Linda Allen Bryant, Washington initiated a sexual relationship with a female slave named Venus around 1784. Her claim is based on her family’s two hundred year old oral history and on conspicuous evidence showing that the Washington family afforded special treatment to West Ford. Bryant, a direct descendent of West Ford, points to correspondence between George and his brother, John Augustine, to argue that George Washington visited his brother’s plantation in 1784, and that a gap in Washington’s personal diary that year could account for a sexual liaison during this visit.
As the advertisement attests, iUniverse took a chance when the company decided to publish a book with such a controversial subject. Bryant’s claim, however, is not new. The paternity of West Ford has been the subject of discussion for decades. As far back as the 1940s the story found its way into print. Today, encouraged by the emergence of new historical revelations, the story of West Ford continues to excite debate.
In 1977, a local historian in Fairfax County, Virginia, discovered a freed slave register that proved that West Ford had been the slave of Hannah Washington, George Washington’s sister-in-law. The register itself, however, did not shed light on speculation that Ford had been the illegitimate child of George Washington.
The New York Times interviewed Judith Saunders Burton, a great-great-great granddaughter of West Ford in 1985. At the time, Burton was working on her dissertation, which explored West Ford and Gum Springs, the freed slave community he founded. Dr. Burton explained that the myth surrounding George Washington’s paternity of West Ford was “interesting,” but could not be confirmed.
In 1998, however, DNA testing showed that a male in the Jefferson line fathered a child with the slave Sally Hemmings; historian Joseph Ellis proclaimed that the evidence was strong enough to prove that Jefferson himself fathered at least one of Hemmings's children. Inspired by the use of science to verify historical paternity claims, the Bryant's family began a public campaign in 1999 to demand a similar DNA test to determine whether West Ford was indeed the son of George Washington.
The Mount Vernon Ladies Association, caretakers of the Washington estate, refused to allow DNA testing of hair samples believed to be those of George Washington, however. Lacking a hair sample, West Ford’s descendants could not prove the legitimacy of their family’s claim.
Without a scientific link or conclusive historical evidence, Linda Allen Byrant’s book, like her family’s claim, relies upon oral history. In An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves and the Creation of America, Henry Wiencek writes extensively about the case of West Ford, but does not come to a decisive conclusion. As he admits, "Oral history is difficult to interpret."3 In the end, Wiencek concludes that “the possibility still remains that George Washington could have been West Ford’s father.”
The Yale historian, Edmund Morgan, essentially agrees, as he informed HNN. Morgan is not familiar with Bryant’s book, and in his own words, “I know of no evidence that would support Ms. Bryant's claim that Washington fathered a child by a slave.” Yet, according to Morgan, “It does not follow that the claim is untrue. But in the absence of direct evidence, I would not accept such an assertion.”
While the Mount Vernon Ladies Association has not cooperated with DNA requests, the group has supplied Ford family researchers with access to archival documents and resources. Most of the factual information contained in Bryant’s book was found in the Association's collections of the papers of George Washington and was provided by the Mount Vernon Library staff.
Yet in the end, the Mount Vernon Ladies Association continues to maintain that oral history cannot prove that George Washington was the father of West Ford.
“We at Mount Vernon,” Dennis Pogue, Associate Director for Preservation told HNN, “believe that there is no evidence other than the Ford family oral history to support the claim that GW was the father of West Ford. To the contrary, we believe that when all of the evidence is examined carefully, there is considerable circumstantial evidence to contradict the claim.”
In all likelihood, the Association argues, West Ford was indeed a son of a Washington, but not of George Washington. “There is some pretty strong evidence suggesting that West Ford may have been the son of another member of the Washington family,” says Dennis Pogue. “But Ms. Bryant and her family don't seem to want any part of that conclusion.”
Historians may never be able to separate the fact from the fiction in the West Ford story or in Linda Allen Bryant’s book. Regardless, I Cannot Tell a Lie is an important reminder of the sexual, ethical, and racial double standards found in American slavery. Whether true or false, Bryant’s book is another addition to the canon of slave history that highlight the dark realities of the plantation culture.
For the time being, we are left to ponder the legitimacy of oral history as historical evidence--and to reflect on the fact that some of America’s most prominent families did indeed countenance the sacrifice, pain, and sexual exploitation of African slaves.
Yet as Linda Allen Bryant points out, her book is also testimony to a former slave who rose above the ravages of slavery. “It is time for all Americans," she writes, "to view afresh the historic role of their black counterparts and the contributions they have made in the fields of science, music, literature and art.” As she notes, “African American’s contributions to the making of this great country are more than a shameful entry in the book of America’s slavery past. ”
According to Linda Allen Bryant, Washington initiated a sexual relationship with a female slave named Venus around 1784. Her claim is based on her family’s two hundred year old oral history and on conspicuous evidence showing that the Washington family afforded special treatment to West Ford. Bryant, a direct descendent of West Ford, points to correspondence between George and his brother, John Augustine, to argue that George Washington visited his brother’s plantation in 1784, and that a gap in Washington’s personal diary that year could account for a sexual liaison during this visit.
As the advertisement attests, iUniverse took a chance when the company decided to publish a book with such a controversial subject. Bryant’s claim, however, is not new. The paternity of West Ford has been the subject of discussion for decades. As far back as the 1940s the story found its way into print. Today, encouraged by the emergence of new historical revelations, the story of West Ford continues to excite debate.
In 1977, a local historian in Fairfax County, Virginia, discovered a freed slave register that proved that West Ford had been the slave of Hannah Washington, George Washington’s sister-in-law. The register itself, however, did not shed light on speculation that Ford had been the illegitimate child of George Washington.
The New York Times interviewed Judith Saunders Burton, a great-great-great granddaughter of West Ford in 1985. At the time, Burton was working on her dissertation, which explored West Ford and Gum Springs, the freed slave community he founded. Dr. Burton explained that the myth surrounding George Washington’s paternity of West Ford was “interesting,” but could not be confirmed.
In 1998, however, DNA testing showed that a male in the Jefferson line fathered a child with the slave Sally Hemmings; historian Joseph Ellis proclaimed that the evidence was strong enough to prove that Jefferson himself fathered at least one of Hemmings's children. Inspired by the use of science to verify historical paternity claims, the Bryant's family began a public campaign in 1999 to demand a similar DNA test to determine whether West Ford was indeed the son of George Washington.
The Mount Vernon Ladies Association, caretakers of the Washington estate, refused to allow DNA testing of hair samples believed to be those of George Washington, however. Lacking a hair sample, West Ford’s descendants could not prove the legitimacy of their family’s claim.
Without a scientific link or conclusive historical evidence, Linda Allen Byrant’s book, like her family’s claim, relies upon oral history. In An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves and the Creation of America, Henry Wiencek writes extensively about the case of West Ford, but does not come to a decisive conclusion. As he admits, "Oral history is difficult to interpret."3 In the end, Wiencek concludes that “the possibility still remains that George Washington could have been West Ford’s father.”
The Yale historian, Edmund Morgan, essentially agrees, as he informed HNN. Morgan is not familiar with Bryant’s book, and in his own words, “I know of no evidence that would support Ms. Bryant's claim that Washington fathered a child by a slave.” Yet, according to Morgan, “It does not follow that the claim is untrue. But in the absence of direct evidence, I would not accept such an assertion.”
While the Mount Vernon Ladies Association has not cooperated with DNA requests, the group has supplied Ford family researchers with access to archival documents and resources. Most of the factual information contained in Bryant’s book was found in the Association's collections of the papers of George Washington and was provided by the Mount Vernon Library staff.
Yet in the end, the Mount Vernon Ladies Association continues to maintain that oral history cannot prove that George Washington was the father of West Ford.
“We at Mount Vernon,” Dennis Pogue, Associate Director for Preservation told HNN, “believe that there is no evidence other than the Ford family oral history to support the claim that GW was the father of West Ford. To the contrary, we believe that when all of the evidence is examined carefully, there is considerable circumstantial evidence to contradict the claim.”
In all likelihood, the Association argues, West Ford was indeed a son of a Washington, but not of George Washington. “There is some pretty strong evidence suggesting that West Ford may have been the son of another member of the Washington family,” says Dennis Pogue. “But Ms. Bryant and her family don't seem to want any part of that conclusion.”
Historians may never be able to separate the fact from the fiction in the West Ford story or in Linda Allen Bryant’s book. Regardless, I Cannot Tell a Lie is an important reminder of the sexual, ethical, and racial double standards found in American slavery. Whether true or false, Bryant’s book is another addition to the canon of slave history that highlight the dark realities of the plantation culture.
For the time being, we are left to ponder the legitimacy of oral history as historical evidence--and to reflect on the fact that some of America’s most prominent families did indeed countenance the sacrifice, pain, and sexual exploitation of African slaves.
Yet as Linda Allen Bryant points out, her book is also testimony to a former slave who rose above the ravages of slavery. “It is time for all Americans," she writes, "to view afresh the historic role of their black counterparts and the contributions they have made in the fields of science, music, literature and art.” As she notes, “African American’s contributions to the making of this great country are more than a shameful entry in the book of America’s slavery past. ”