The University of Virginia’s Centennial Celebration in 1921 marked 100 years of UVA. The celebration was a huge event, bringing in guests from all over to celebrate Jefferson’s epic achievement. The event featured a pageant, several speeches from friends about Jefferson’s character and his life, and a collection of addresses from different students and departments about the architecture and legacy of the university of the past 100 years. Curiously, in both the pageant and the speeches, Jefferson was almost idolized. As we know today, Jefferson, while he was our founder, was a more morally complicated character. We know now that he was not the sole “builder” of the university, but rather that the work of enslaved people built the university. This work, however, is almost entirely glossed over by the numerous speeches praising Jefferson’s work.

The first archival object that I looked at, which was the poster for the celebration in general, features a large shadow of Jefferson in the background, with the text saying “The Shadow of the Builder”. The narrative that Jefferson is the infallible father of the university is perpetuated throughout the entire celebration. The purpose of the pageants in general was to share history in a way that embellished the truth in order to convey more patriotic, American values. Throughout the entire script and this speech, Jefferson is uplifted as being the most virtuous and the most perfect example of a true citizen. The celebration almost feels somewhat less about the University as a whole more about Jefferson’s legacy.

The second archival object that I looked at was a book documenting the events of the celebration. Rather than on the script itself, I focused on the addresses in the back. I looked through a couple of the speeches that were given about Jefferson during the centennial celebration. The most interesting address I read basically talked about people's criticism of Jefferson and his character. This speech was given by Judge Richard Thomas Walker Duke Jr. Judge Walker was a notable alumni of the UVA law school and an active member in Charlottesville politics at the time. His family was heavily connected with the Jefferson’s, as his ancestor was Thomas Jefferson’s guardian. Therefore, especially given the speech he gives, this is one of Jefferson’s very close friends.

The speech is entitled “The Private Life of Thomas Jefferson”. The opening of the essay begins saying, “We forget for the moment the wonderful brilliancy of his statesmanship, the breadth of his philosophy, the depth of his marvelous intellect. We think of him today as the Father of the University of Virginia.” (Walker 102). This paves the way for the tone of the entire rest of the speech. There are countless references, in both the poster for the centennial celebration and the other sources I looked at, such as the letters, to Jefferson being the sole and only builder and creator of the University. This idea of paternalism and the idolization of founders is consistent in this time period, but it's especially prevalent in this celebration.

The speech also directly addresses his relationship with Sally Hemings and his ownership of enslaved peoples. The main idea was saying that he was a kind master and that people just did not understand him truly. The main idea of the speech was that everything published about Jefferson was supposedly false and that he was a virtuous man with no faults, like I previously mentioned. The fact that Walker directly mentioned his relationship with Sally Hemings, though he did not say her name, was rather shocking to me. Since most of the other sources I looked at, such as the rest of the script and the centennial celebration poster, did not mention the enslaved peoples at all, and they certainly did not acknowledge any of Jefferon’s darker history.

Before mentioning various slanderous statements about Jefferson, Walker goes to talk about how virtuous Jefferson is, saying that his opponents just do not truly know him and, if they did, they would agree that he was almost infallible. Two major quotes stood out to me. The first was the enumeration of Jefferson’s roles. Walker writes, “I wish to speak to you of him as the tender and solicitous father of affectionate children; as the devoted and loving husband; the good citizen; the faithful zealous; kind master of many slaves.” He then says “Here stands the house he builded - carefully watched over and preserved by its hospitable and patriotic owner.” (Walker 103). Once again, going along with the same narrative as the poster, photos, and letters, Walker reiterates that Jefferson is the sole builder and creator of the university, and reaffirms his virtue and patriotism. The poster and the images also tie in this idea that the founders are the picture of patriotism. The pageants served as not only a reminder of the history, but also an exaggerated retelling of history in order to portray the importance of pride for your country. This sentence tied in with the pageant and the centennial celebration all together paint Jefferson as an American hero. This narrative of the founders being American heroes and the role-models for virtue was incredibly popular during this time period. As people were starting to develop a national culture, events like this were moments to ignore negative aspects of the founders and simply regale tales of their heroism (World’s Fair Week 1 link below).

Overall, I thought this speech definitely tied-in to the narrative of nationalism and sensationalism from the pageants. This speech essentially idolizes Jefferson as an infallible leader with no flaws. The pageant and the entire celebration as a whole glossed over Jefferson’s complicated history. It glorifies him as an American hero and a leader of democracy and democratic ideals. He is seen as the virtuous builder and the father of the university. The most interesting takeaway of all of these sources tied together is that it becomes very clear that Jefferson’s darker history that we look at now was not as hidden as we thought it was. The speech that I analyzed proves that there was at least some pushback on Jefferson’s character and that the centennial celebration was very aware that they were glossing over some of his history. This speaks to the fact that, not only did they put him on a pedestal, they likely had some idea that they were doing so.

Sources:

Centennial Celebration Poster

The Script

In class reading about the celebration

The 3 documents and letters from other universities and the invitation

https://digitalchicagohistory.org/exhibits/show/worlds-fair-music/fair-music-introduction