It was fairly shocking to learn at the Rhino Times website that Guilford County is planning to place a monument to Dolley Madison at the Old County Courthouse in downtown Greensboro.
This flies in the face of all the cultural Marxist nonsense to which we had been subjected over the last decade. After all, Dolley Madison is white and was part of the original Founder class that has been so virulently castigated. In addition, James Madison had a bunch of slaves on his plantation. (We must presume that Dolley was there as well– don’t you think?).
Yes, I know. She originally came from this region. She is a woman, and everyone loved her, and therefore she gets a pass, I suppose.
The socialists control Guilford County. There is a longstanding, deep-seated legacy of racial identity politics that pulses through their collective bloodstream. This story in the Rhino must have been in error.
Help me understand this.:)
If they dig, they are sure to find some dirt on Dolley to prevent this. A Federalist newspaper reported ~1804 when Jefferson was running for re-election that Jefferson had been pimping Dolley and her sister out from the White House [where Dolly served some as hostess for the widowed Jefferson]. Seriously. ‘Journalist’ has long been a synonym for ‘liar.’ 😉
A more serious Presentist criticism would be that Dolly sold a number of the slaves after James’ death to pay her bills (her son was profligate). Nor did she free the remaining ones on her death.
One of the commenters at the Rhino site, J. Sobran, said she grew up in a home on Friendly Avenue and was part of the New Garden Quaker community. I was aware she was from our area, but was unaware of those particular details.
I always assumed the town of Madison in Rockingham County was named after her, but I don’t know that with certainty.
It is inescapable that she was at the plantation/ homestead James had in Virginia– Montpelier– where they had all those slaves:
https://www.montpelier.org/
Her family lived in Guilford but she was born in what is now Person County.
Her family moved to Virginia from Guilford when she was about a year old.
She downplayed her NC roots, claiming to be a Virginian who was born in NC while visiting an uncle.
Why are Greensburghers so anxious to claim someone who didn’t claim us?
(Info from Wikipedia and books I’ve read)
JayCee, the Rhino article indicates this monument was pursued by the Dolley Madison Woman’s Club, of which I was completely unaware. Why did the socialist county commissioners sign on to this? I have no idea but perhaps they were trying to score political points with this particular group, for whatever reason.
Thanks for the additional information about her background.