Sally Hemmings's University of Virginia

When in school you may have been told that it was Thomas Jefferson who came up with the idea to found the University of Virginia. But do you think it's possible that Sally Hemmings, his educated slave and mistress, had a part in it?The History Bluff thinks so.

(Pictured is the son Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings had together).

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by The History Bluff.

Update 2/12/09 - Caveat lector (reader beware), the History *Bluff* is sort of The Onion of history. Funny stuff, but not real.

This load of nonsense gets persisted through sites like this. Though funny, it is completely unlikely including the hilarious photoshop job on the page. The Onion for history.
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@Ted, re: today's generation: I'm thinking if the name of the blog doesn't tip you off, a bit of historical misinformation may be the least of your problems.
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That's pretty condescending, violet.

And when you're a student surfing the web for information, do you take the time to read every single page, or really explore in-depth why a site has a particular name?
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@ted I'm gonna hop in here for violet.

The correct question isn't, "Do you take the time..." The correct question is, "Shouldn't you take the time?" If you're a student, like Violet said, a bit of misinformation is the least of your problems.
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Wow, Sambo. Just hop on the pretentious bandwagon, there.

You're talking about what students should do. I'm talking about what students actually do.

The whole idea of rewriting history is offensive, because there's so much real history to explore without having to make BS up.

Maybe I'll start a rumour that Hitler invented the bikini.
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Ted, I don't think it's condescending to make the case that people need to pay more attention. And if it is, I guess that's okay with me. You seem to argue for the idea that it's alright for people to not inquire, not have their bullshit detectors on, etc., and that satirists and their ilk should cater to that incuriosity instead of challenge it or ignore it.

I think that sounds like protecting ignorance, and I don't think there's anything valuable about that.

And with regard to "rewriting history," well, that's not what satire is. It is not an attempt to corrupt actual history for advantage, but a tool (in theory) for pointing out things like hypocrisy or simple absurdity (and sometimes just for fun, which is perfectly legit). It can be funny because of its very distance from reality--the humor is in the contrast between the two.

And if occasionally satire is lost on people, well, I don't think that's an argument for getting rid of satire; I think it's an argument for becoming more aware.
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