a play “reversing” the roles of slave and slave owner is literally a mockery of one of the most evil events in world history. And a spit in the face to the millions of Africans stolen from their home and those born into slavery. Fuck Hamilton.
Okay. So I’ve been hesitant to respond and comment to this for days for fear of backlash (the internet is a scary place, guys!). But here it goes… @thesouptimes perhaps you can aid me in case I’ve forgotten anything or said anything wrong…
Perhaps it’s just the way that this is worded that rubs me the wrong way, but I truly don’t understand how someone could say that Hamilton “reverses” the roles of slave and slave owners? Like to me, I would imagine that meaning all the founding fathers in the play were played by black men and all the slaves (which I don’t think are represented in the play - which I understand could be viewed as a problem in its own right, but that’s a whole other conversation) are played by white actors/actresses. Which I don’t believe is the case at all. Again, I would love to understand better what the original poster meant by “reversing”.
But moving on, I can understand hesitations to the content of said play. Yes, it is a story about real people who were white. Yes, all the main characters are played by people of color (except King George). But what I think is really important is this wonderful quote from creator Lin-Manuel Miranda about why they chose to have the diverse cast they have playing these historical white figures. He always describes the musical as “the story of America then, told by America now”.
In an age where movies are still casting white actors to play characters of color (like that new Scarlett Johannsen shenanigans), I think it’s so so important that this musical was created with actors of color specifically in mind. Lin-Manuel is probably the furthest thing from a racist. And both his musicals celebrate diverse cultures in their own way.
Perhaps it is a problem in itself that the issue of slavery is only every briefly mentioned in the musical, but Lin-Manuel does make a point to draw attention to the hypocrisy of these founding fathers who claimed to be abolitionists while still owning slaves (Thomas Jefferson, specifically). But he does also bring to the foreground revolutionist John Laurens, whom I had never heard of before (and I’m sure most people hadn’t) who had early on been at the forefront of criticizing slavery.
Furthermore, it’s truly inspiring to hear how the cast feels about playing these characters. Daveed Diggs, for example, is Jewish African American, and has said in multiple interviews that being able to play Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette has given him a sense of agency in his feeling as an American. That for many of the cast members, they have never felt as American as they do now.
Obviously, not everyone is going to love everything, Hamilton included. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, especially in art where a work grows on its own and may lose sight of the artist’s intention. But it’s important to remember that Lin-Manuel Miranda had never intended to exploit what was a horrible and disgusting time in this nation’s (and world’s) history. He merely sought to bring to life the story of a forgotten founding father. And while doing so, he gave inspiration and opportunities to people of color today who would never have in a million years before think that they could ever play the likes of George Washington or Elizabeth Schuyler. If the play has done nothing else, it’s at least helped proven that representation matters.
“Like to me, I would imagine that meaning all the founding fathers in the play were played by black men and all the slaves (which I don’t think are represented in the play - which I understand could be viewed as a problem in its own right, but that’s a whole other conversation) are played by white actors/actresses.”
You said it right here. This isn’t representation all, like I’m so tired of talking about how gross Hamilton is. But you saying that Hamilton has helped prove that representation matters is a reach, a lie, an untruth. George Washington owned slaves! He owned black people! He took teeth from his slaves and put them in his own mouth! He was a slave owner! He was not a good person! Why would any black person who knows the history of slavery want to play a monster like that???? What is wrong with you people defending this play???
Hamilton married Elizabeth lmfao
FOR THE MONEY AND STATUS. And did slave trades FOR her family.
Just going to put this out there that Alexander Hamilton’s legacy proved him to be one of the greediest most disgusting people on historical record.
There are two elephants in this room: the first being that all wealthy persons from this time-period were slave-owners and seem to just get a historical pass on that fact [from white people] when it should rightfully be at least acknowledged every time their memories are invoked. The second is that, aside from ALL OF THEM being profiteers of human ownership, Alexander Hamilton is one of the vilest, most disgustingly awful people in all of history, not just American history. So any mention of him other than to say, “Alexander Hamilton was a pure garbage human being whose lust for a privatized America solely laid the foundation for our current condition today; in other words, we’re all stuck living in Hamilton’s wet dream of a nation.”, is being completely dishonest. Last I checked this is not the sole dialogue of “Hamilton”, therefore, it’s lying to the audience. And the show doesn’t just stop with romanticizing and mythologizing Hamilton, it actually goes out of its way to give Hamilton principles, something actual history proves wrong, while at the same time making a villain of Jefferson, the only person that called Hamilton out for being a disgustingly awful person every chance he got. Let’s not forget, the two had distinctly different visions for what the newly formed US government would look like. One wanted a total democracy, without elected representatives that would surely just become puppets for moneyed interests, one in which everyone would get to vote on everything, and the government would just keep us safe and grow the country. That same person also wanted to ensure that two types of businesses never gained too much, let alone absolute, power, those types being banking institutions and joint-stock companies [the latter is now called a corporation]. The other sold the idea of the common-man working far too hard on their farms, or pushing westward, to be involved with the matters of politics, so representative democracy was a must. He also felt that only men of “certain quality” were fit to lead the masses, another thing representative democracy ensures. This person also wanted banking institutions to have all the power they wanted, even wanted a private English central bank to set-up shop as our “national bank” [something that finally happened in the early 1900’s and has the cute, deceptive name “Federal Reserve” to make it seem governmental though it’s 100% for-profit] and for joint-stock companies to not only grow but also share the same rights as people. So…both terrible people in terms of slavery, and as stated before, it should never go unmentioned, they are tied to it and rightful judgement should be passed upon them, but one’s evil carried into absolutely everything he did, and somehow he gets a play that glorifies and distorts his 100% trash legacy, while the other is simply a man the play turns into a gossipy attention seeker. Just more proof to backup my long-held belief that in our blind society, we hold the very worst people on-high…
Y'all are so seriously delusional. He was not a good person by ANY regard. He was honestly the WORST of the worst. Cracking open a book will tell you that. But you’re all so quick to humanize an actual monster just to speak over Black people and steer the conversation away from reality and the genuine concerns of Black people who are directly affected by that propaganda.
I’m sorry, but what?
Like, I agree that Hamilton was basically the father of Everything Wrong With America Today, but are you honestly trying to claim that Jefferson’s ideal America would be any better? Jefferson’s populism was very obviously white male farmer’s populism, right in line with Andrew Jackson’s later monstrous platform. Westward expansion, accompanied of course by genocide, was totally his thing–Louisiana Purchase, much? Between the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions and his promulgation of scientific racism in Notes On The State Of Virginia, not to mention his consistent political defense of slavery, I doubt there’s another person of his generation who did more to lay the groundwork for the Civil War. Jefferson’s ideal America would look pretty much like the Tea Party’s–his politics were significantly worse than Hamilton’s by any reasonable measure unless you were a Southern planter. Like, if Hamilton was the Hillary Clinton of his day, Jefferson was Donald Trump. His policies around Haiti were absurdly horrible, a major step down from the not-totally-awful Federalist platform, and have severely restricted Haitian flourishing to this day. Also, y’know, he owned slaves on an industrial scale, was notably cruel even by Virginia standards to those who attempted escape, and repeatedly raped a child, none of which was true of Hamilton (not to imply he wasn’t a racist fuck, just less actively so).
Also, speaking of “hold[ing] the very worst people on-high”, it’s hard to argue that Hamilton is unfairly favored when Jefferson’s face is literally carved into the side of a (stolen, sacred) mountain. Chernow’s biography and the play were intended as pushback against the narrative you’re pushing here, that Hamilton was corrupt elitist Satan incarnate while Jefferson was a hero of the people who really fought for freedom and yeah the rape and slavery stuff was bad but let’s talk more about how much Hamilton sucked. That’s been the dominant narrative for most of US history, thanks to Jefferson’s post-1800 political control and his longer lifespan, and it’s trash. Chernow and (especially) Miranda painting Hamilton as a good guy is not exactly an improvement, but if nothing else I’m glad they’ve made it more acceptable to call Jefferson out as the small-minded, hypocritical monster that he was.
