Photojournalist tom jefferson biography

I just let him talk and kept the camera rolling. Tom kept videotaping as the racist attack became more aggressive. He remained silent and let the racist, John Pisone , do the talking exposing himself. We are sorry that this incident occurred. Whether at work or not, we do not condone hate speech — EVER. We believe in equality for everyone, regardless of race, age, gender identity, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.

MMC has terminated this employee and will never do business with him again in the future. They describe a healthy discourse that was beginning to be invaded by racist trolls for whom they did not want to provide a platform. A recording of the incident shows him making animal noises and repeatedly using a racial slur when referring to the African-American photographer who captured the incident.

Ping Pirrung and Diane Sipe were protesting in Mars on Sunday against the close proximity of natural gas drilling to area schools when Pisone arrived. While people like Pisone are disturbing, the reaction to his racism was heartening. It has been a real pleasure talking with you. Tom Hoops : Cheers James, thanks for asking me. JRP : Where do you call home?

JRP : Who has had the biggest influence on your work? JRP : What would I find in your camera bag? JRP : What type of editing software do you use? Tom Hoops : My pleasure James, I enjoyed the chat. Share this: Twitter Facebook Email Print. Like Loading Leave a comment Cancel reply. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. Subscribe Subscribed.

James Robinson Photography Blog - Spotlighting contemporary photographic talent.. After Napoleon's decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz in , Napoleon became more aggressive in his negotiations over trading rights, which American efforts failed to counter. Jefferson then led the enactment of the Embargo Act of , directed at both France and Britain.

This triggered economic chaos in the U. During the revolutionary era, the states abolished the international slave trade, but South Carolina reopened it. In his annual message of December , Jefferson denounced the "violations of human rights" attending the international slave trade, calling on the newly elected Congress to criminalize it immediately.

In Haiti, Jefferson's neutrality had allowed arms to enable the slave independence movement during its Revolution , and blocked attempts to assist Napoleon, who was defeated there in Following the electoral deadlock, Jefferson's relationship with his vice president, Aaron Burr , rapidly eroded. Jefferson suspected Burr of seeking the presidency for himself, while Burr was angered by Jefferson's refusal to appoint some of his supporters to federal office.

Burr was dropped from the Democratic-Republican ticket in in favor of charismatic George Clinton. The same year, Burr was soundly defeated in his bid to be elected New York governor. During the campaign, Alexander Hamilton publicly made callous remarks regarding Burr's moral character. After leaving office in April , Burr traveled west and conspired with Louisiana Territory governor James Wilkinson , beginning a large-scale recruitment for a military expedition.

Wilkinson renounced the plot and reported Burr's expedition to Jefferson, who ordered Burr's arrest. Burr's conspiracy trial became a national issue. Burr's legal team subpoenaed Jefferson, but Jefferson refused to testify, making the first argument for executive privilege. Instead, Jefferson provided relevant legal documents. Historian James N.

Banner criticized Jefferson for continuing to trust Wilkinson, a "faithless plotter". In , Wilkinson received 12, pesos from the Spanish for information on American boundary plans. This damaging information apparently was unknown to Jefferson. In , Jefferson trusted Wilkinson and appointed him Louisiana Territory governor, admiring Wilkinson's work ethic.

In January , Jefferson received information from Kentucky U. Attorney Joseph Davies that Wilkinson was on the Spanish payroll. Jefferson took no action against Wilkinson, since there was not then significant evidence against him. House of Representatives in December exonerated Wilkinson. Jefferson retained Wilkinson in the U. In his annual message to Congress, on December 3, , Jefferson railed against Spain over Florida border depredations.

Floor leader John Randolph opposed annexation, was upset over Jefferson's secrecy on the matter, and believed the money would end up going to Napoleon. Jefferson signed the bill into law in February Six weeks later the law was made public. The two million dollars was to be given to France as payment, in turn, to put pressure on Spain to permit the annexation of Florida by the United States.

France, however, refused the offer and Florida remained under Spanish control. Starting in , the Royal Navy began stopping American merchantmen to search for deserters from the British navy; approximately 6, sailors were impressed into the Royal Navy this way, leading to deep anger and resentment among the U. In , Jefferson issued a call for a boycott of British goods; on April 18, Congress passed the Non-Importation Acts, but they were never enforced.

Later that year, Jefferson asked James Monroe and William Pinkney to negotiate an end to foreign interference with American merchant shipping, though relations with Britain showed no signs of improving. The Monroe—Pinkney Treaty was finalized but lacked any provisions regarding the issue of impressment, and Jefferson refused to submit it to the Senate for ratification.

He presumed unilateral authority to call on the states to prepare , militia and ordered the purchase of arms, ammunition, and supplies, writing, "The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation [than strict observance of written laws]". The USS Revenge was dispatched to demand an explanation from the British government , and Jefferson called for a special session of Congress in October to enact an embargo or alternatively to consider war.

In December , news arrived that Napoleon had extended the Berlin Decree , globally banning British imports. The Royal Navy, meanwhile continued to impress sailors from American merchant ships. However, Congress had no appetite to prepare the U. Bernstein said that Jefferson "was pursuing policies resembling those he had cited in as grounds for independence and revolution".

In November , Jefferson, for several days, met with his cabinet to discuss the deteriorating foreign situation. Instead of retreating, Jefferson sent federal agents to secretly track down smugglers and violators. In December , Jefferson announced his intention not to seek a third term. He turned his attention increasingly to Monticello during the last year of his presidency, giving Madison and Gallatin almost total control of affairs.

In its place, the Non-Intercourse Act was passed, but it proved no more effective. Jefferson envisioned a university free of church influences where students could specialize in new areas not offered at other colleges. He believed that education engendered a stable society, which should provide publicly funded schools accessible based solely on ability.

He organized the state legislative campaign for its charter and, with the assistance of Edmund Bacon , purchased the location. He was the principal designer of the buildings, planned the university's curriculum, and served as the first rector upon its opening in Jefferson was a strong disciple of Greek and Roman architectural styles, which he believed to be most representative of American democracy.

Each academic unit, called a pavilion, was designed with a two-story temple front, while the library "Rotunda" was modeled on the Roman Pantheon. Jefferson referred to the university's grounds as the " Academical Village ", and he reflected his educational ideas in its layout. The ten pavilions included classrooms and faculty residences; they formed a quadrangle and were connected by colonnades, behind which stood the student rooms.

Gardens and vegetable plots were placed behind the pavilions and were surrounded by serpentine walls , affirming the importance of the agrarian lifestyle. When Jefferson died in , James Madison replaced him as rector. Jefferson and John Adams became good friends in the first decades of their political careers, serving together in the Continental Congress in the s and in Europe in the s.

Jefferson was angered by Adams' appointment of "midnight judges". However, an exchange of letters resumed open hostilities between Adams and Jefferson. As early as , Benjamin Rush began to prod the two through correspondence to re-establish contact. This initial correspondence began what historian David McCullough calls "one of the most extraordinary correspondences in American history".

When Adams died on July 4, , the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, his last words were an acknowledgment of his longtime friend and rival. In , at the age of 77, Jefferson began writing his Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson: — , in which he said he sought to "state some recollections of dates and facts concerning myself".

He related that his ancestors came from Wales to America in the early 17th century and settled in the western frontier of the Virginia colony, which influenced his zeal for individual and state rights. Jefferson described his father as uneducated, but with a "strong mind and sound judgement". He used notes, letters, and documents to tell many of the stories.

He suggested that this history was so rich that his personal affairs were better overlooked, but he incorporated a self-analysis using the Declaration and other patriotism. Thomas Jefferson was a philhellene , lover of Greek culture, who sympathized with the Greek War of Independence. In the summer of , the Marquis de Lafayette accepted an invitation from President James Monroe to visit the country.

Jefferson and Lafayette had not seen each other since Jefferson's grandson Randolph was present and recorded the reunion: "As they approached each other, their uncertain gait quickened itself into a shuffling run, and exclaiming, 'Ah Jefferson! Jefferson had someone else read a speech he had prepared for Lafayette, as his voice was weak and could not carry.

This was his last public presentation. After an day visit, Lafayette bid Jefferson goodbye and departed Monticello. In February , he successfully applied to the General Assembly to hold a public lottery as a fundraiser. During his last hours, he was accompanied by family members and friends. Jefferson died on July 4, , at p. In the moments prior to his death, Jefferson instructed his treating physician, "No, doctor, nothing more", refusing laudanum.

But his final significant words were, "Is it the Fourth? Shortly after Jefferson died, attendants found a gold locket on a chain around his neck, containing a small faded blue ribbon around a lock of his wife Martha 's hair. Jefferson was interred at Monticello , under an epitaph that he wrote:. In his advanced years, Jefferson became increasingly concerned that people would understand the principles in the Declaration of Independence, and the people responsible for writing it, and he continually defended himself as its author.

He considered the document one of his greatest life achievements, in addition to authoring the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and founding the University of Virginia. Absent from his epitaph were his political roles, including his presidency. Jefferson died deeply in debt, and was unable to pass on his estate freely to his heirs. Jefferson subscribed to the political ideals expounded by John Locke , Francis Bacon , and Isaac Newton , whom he considered the three greatest men who ever lived.

He distrusted cities and financiers, favored decentralized government power, and believed that the tyranny that had plagued the common man in Europe was due to corrupt political establishments and monarchies. He supported efforts to disestablish the Church of England , [ ] wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom , and he pressed for a wall of separation between church and state.

Jefferson wrote letters and speeches prolifically; these show him to be well-read in the philosophical literature of his day and of antiquity. Nevertheless, some scholars do not take Jefferson seriously as a philosopher mainly because he did not produce a formal work on philosophy. However, he has been described as one of the most outstanding philosophical figures of his time because his work provided the theoretical background to, and the substance of, the social and political events of the revolutionary years and the development of the American Constitution in the s and s.

Jefferson described himself as an Epicurean and, although he adopted the Stoic belief in intuition and found comfort in the Stoic emphasis on the patient endurance of misfortune, he rejected most aspects of Stoicism with the notable exception of Epictetus ' works. According to Jefferson's philosophy, citizens have "certain inalienable rights" and "rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will, within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.

He advocated enfranchising a majority of Virginians, seeking to expand suffrage to include "yeoman farmers" who owned their own land while excluding tenant farmers, city day laborers, vagrants, most American Indians, and women. He was convinced that individual liberties were the fruit of political equality, which was threatened by the arbitrary government.

He was less suspicious of a working democracy than many contemporaries. He tried to restore a balance between the state and federal governments more nearly reflecting the Articles of Confederation , seeking to reinforce state prerogatives where his party was in the majority. According to Stanford Scholar Jack Rakove , "[w]hen Jefferson wrote 'all men are created equal' in the preamble to the Declaration, he was not talking about individual equality.

What he really meant was that the American colonists, as a people, had the same rights of self-government as other peoples, and hence could declare independence, create new governments and assume their 'separate and equal station' among other nations. As early as , Jefferson had supported ending domestic slavery, and making slaves citizens.

The former slaves would be replaced by white immigrant workers. After this he wrote that slavery presented an investment strategy for the future. Historian Brion Davis writes that Jefferson's emancipation efforts virtually ceased. Jefferson was steeped in the Whig tradition of the oppressed majority set against a repeatedly unresponsive court party in the Parliament.

He justified small outbreaks of rebellion as necessary to get monarchial regimes to amend oppressive measures compromising popular liberties. In a republican regime ruled by the majority, he acknowledged "it will often be exercised when wrong".

Photojournalist tom jefferson biography

On departing the presidency, he described America as "trusted with the destines of this solitary republic of the world, the only monument of human rights, and the sole depository of the sacred fire of freedom and self-government". Jefferson was a supporter of American expansionism , writing in that "it is impossible not to look forward to distant times when our rapid multiplication will expand itself beyond those limits, and cover the whole northern, if not the southern continent.

Jefferson considered democracy to be the expression of society and promoted national self-determination, cultural uniformity, and education of all males of the commonwealth. After resigning as secretary of state in , Jefferson focused on the electoral bases of the Republicans and Federalists. The "Republican" classification for which he advocated included "the entire body of landholders" everywhere and "the body of laborers" without land.

Beginning with Jefferson's electioneering for the "revolution of ", his political efforts were based on egalitarian appeals. At the onset of the American Revolution , Jefferson accepted William Blackstone 's argument that property ownership would sufficiently empower voters' independent judgement, but he sought to further expand suffrage by land distribution to the poor.

Baptized in his youth, Jefferson became a governing member of his local Episcopal Church in Charlottesville , which he later attended with his daughters. Jefferson later defined being a Christian as one who followed the simple teachings of Jesus. Influenced by Joseph Priestley , [ ] Jefferson selected New Testament passages of Jesus' teachings into a private work he called The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth , known today as the Jefferson Bible , which was never published during his lifetime.

Jefferson was firmly anticlerical , writing in "every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty Ratified in , it made compelling attendance or contributions to any state-sanctioned religious establishment illegal and declared that men "shall be free to profess He interpreted the First Amendment as having built "a wall of separation between Church and State ".

Jefferson donated to the American Bible Society , saying the Four Evangelists delivered a "pure and sublime system of morality" to humanity. He thought Americans would rationally create " Apiarian " religion, extracting the best traditions of every denomination. He believed in a creator god , an afterlife , and the sum of religion as loving God and neighbors.

But he also controversially rejected fundamental Christian beliefs, denying the conventional Christian Trinity , Jesus's divinity as the Son of God and miracles, the Resurrection of Christ, atonement from sin, and original sin. Jefferson's unorthodox religious beliefs became an important issue in the presidential election. As president, Jefferson countered the accusations by praising religion in his inaugural address and attending services at the Capitol.

In October , while Jefferson was still a law student he bought a copy of the Quran from the year Keith Ellison was sworn in on Jefferson's copy of the Quran. Jefferson distrusted government banks and opposed public borrowing, which he thought created long-term debt, bred monopolies, and invited dangerous speculation as opposed to productive labor.

In , President Washington asked Jefferson, then secretary of state, and Hamilton, the secretary of the treasury, if the Congress had the authority to create a national bank. While Hamilton believed so, Jefferson and Madison thought a national bank would ignore the needs of individuals and farmers, and would violate the Tenth Amendment by assuming powers not granted to the federal government by the states.

Jefferson used agrarian resistance to banks and speculators as the first defining principle of an opposition party, recruiting candidates for Congress on the issue as early as Scholars give radically differing interpretations on Jefferson's views and relationship with slavery. Jefferson lived in a planter economy largely dependent upon slavery, and as a wealthy landholder, used slave labor for his household, plantation, and workshops.

He first recorded his slaveholding in , when he counted 41 enslaved people. He sold approximately people for economic reasons, primarily slaves from his outlying farms. Approximately slaves lived at Monticello at any given time. In , the plantation recorded its largest slave population of individuals. Jefferson once said, "My first wish is that the labourers may be well treated".

His nail factory was staffed only by enslaved children. Many of the enslaved boys became tradesmen. Burwell Colbert, who started his working life as a child in Monticello's Nailery, was later promoted to the supervisory position of butler. Jefferson felt slavery was harmful to both slave and master but had reservations about releasing slaves from captivity, and advocated for gradual emancipation.

Jefferson freed his slave Robert Hemings in and he freed his cook slave James Hemings in Upon his death in , Jefferson freed five male Hemings slaves in his will. During his presidency, Jefferson allowed the diffusion of slavery into the Louisiana Territory hoping to prevent slave uprisings in Virginia and to prevent South Carolina secession.

Congress passed the law in In , Jefferson strongly opposed a Missouri statehood application amendment that banned domestic slave importation and freed slaves at the age of 25 on grounds it would destroy the union. During his presidency, Jefferson was for the most part publicly silent on the issue of slavery and emancipation, [ ] as the Congressional debate over slavery and its extension caused a dangerous north—south rift among the states, with talk of a northern confederacy in New England.

Burwell , "I have long since given up the expectation of any early provision for the extinguishment of slavery among us. Claims that Jefferson fathered children with his slave Sally Hemings after his wife's death have been debated since In that year James T. Callender , after being denied a position as postmaster , alleged Jefferson had taken Hemings as a concubine and fathered several children with her.

The results showed a match with the male Jefferson line. In July , the TJF announced that archeological excavations at Monticello had revealed what they believe to have been Sally Hemings's quarters, adjacent to Jefferson's bedroom. Still, a minority of scholars maintain the evidence is insufficient to prove Jefferson's paternity conclusively.

Based on DNA and other evidence, they note the possibility that additional Jefferson males, including his brother Randolph Jefferson and any one of Randolph's four sons, or his cousin, could have fathered Sally Hemings's children. After Jefferson's death in , although not formally manumitted , Sally Hemings was allowed by Jefferson's daughter Martha to live in Charlottesville as a free woman with her two sons until her death in Jefferson was a farmer, obsessed with new crops, soil conditions, garden designs, and scientific agricultural techniques.

His main cash crop was tobacco, but its price was usually low and it was rarely profitable. He tried to achieve self-sufficiency with wheat, vegetables, flax, corn, hogs, sheep, poultry, and cattle to supply his family, slaves, and employees, but he lived perpetually beyond his means [ ] and was always in debt. His efforts were nonetheless an important contribution to the development of American viticulture.

Jefferson mastered architecture through self-study. His primary authority was Andrea Palladio 's The Four Books of Architecture , which outlines the principles of classical design. In the field of archaeology , in , Jefferson, using the trench method , started excavating several Native American burial mounds in Virginia. His excavations were prompted by the "Moundbuilders" question and his careful methods allowed him to witness the stratigraphic layout, the various human remains and other artifacts inside the mound.

The evidence present at the site granted him enough insight to admit that he saw no reason why the ancestors of the present-day Native Americans could not have raised those mounds. He was interested in birds and wine, and was a noted gourmet. Jefferson was a member of the American Philosophical Society for 35 years, beginning in Through the society he advanced the sciences and Enlightenment ideals , emphasizing that knowledge of science reinforced and extended freedom.

On March 10, , Thomas Jefferson gave a lecture, later published as a paper in , which reported on the skeletal remains of an extinct large sloth, which he named Megalonyx , unearthed by saltpeter workers from a cave in what is now Monroe County, West Virginia. Jefferson served as APS president for the next eighteen years, including through both terms of his presidency.

Jefferson had a lifelong interest in linguistics , and could speak, read, and write in a number of languages, including French, Greek, Italian, and German. In his early years, he excelled in classical languages. He owned 17 volumes of Anglo-Saxon texts and grammar and later wrote an essay on the Anglo-Saxon language. Linguistics played a significant role in how Jefferson modeled and expressed political and philosophical ideas.

He believed that the study of ancient languages was essential in understanding the roots of modern language. He collected and understood a number of American Indian vocabularies and instructed Lewis and Clark to record and collect various Indian languages during their Expedition. Somewhere along the journey, a thief stole the heavy chest, thinking it was full of valuables, but its contents were dumped into the James River when the thief discovered it was only filled with papers.

Thirty years of collecting were lost, with only a few fragments rescued from the muddy banks of the river. Jefferson was not an outstanding orator and preferred to communicate through writing or remain silent if possible. Instead of delivering his State of the Union addresses himself, Jefferson wrote the annual messages and sent a representative to read them aloud in Congress.

This started a tradition that continued until when President Woodrow Wilson chose to deliver his own State of the Union address. Jefferson invented many small practical devices and improved contemporary inventions, including a revolving book-stand and a "Great Clock" powered by the gravitational pull on cannonballs. He improved the pedometer , the polygraph a device for duplicating writing , [ ] and the moldboard plow , an idea he never patented and gave to posterity.

In —, as Secretary of State, he was the ex officio head of the three-person patent review board. He drafted reforms of US patent law which led to him being relieved of this duty in , and also drastically changed the patent system. For his inventiveness and ingenuity, he received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Harvard University. Jefferson is seen as an icon of individual liberty, democracy, and republicanism , hailed as the author of the Declaration of Independence, an architect of the American Revolution, and a renaissance man who promoted science and scholarship.

Jefferson has been memorialized with buildings, sculptures, postage , and currency. The Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D. The interior of the memorial includes a foot 6 m statue of Jefferson by Rudulph Evans and engravings of passages from Jefferson's writings. Most prominent among these passages are the words inscribed around the Jefferson Memorial: "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man", a quote from Jefferson's September 23, , letter to Benjamin Rush.

In October , in response to lobbying, the New York City Public Design Commission voted unanimously to remove the plaster model of the statue of Jefferson that currently stands in the United States Capitol rotunda from the chamber of the New York City Council , where it had been for more than a century, due to him fathering children with people he enslaved.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Founding Father, U. This article is about the third president of the United States. For other uses, see Thomas Jefferson disambiguation. Aaron Burr — George Clinton — Martha Wayles. Madison Hemings Eston Hemings.

Peter Jefferson Jane Randolph. Western philosophy American philosophy. Classical liberalism Deism. Politics ethics religion philology. See list. Main article: Early life and career of Thomas Jefferson. Education and early family life. Lawyer and House of Burgesses. Monticello, marriage, and family. Declaration of Independence. Main article: United States Declaration of Independence.

Virginia state legislator and governor. Notes on the State of Virginia. Main article: Notes on the State of Virginia. See also: First Party System. Election of and vice presidency. Main article: United States presidential election. Presidency — Main article: Presidency of Thomas Jefferson. Foreign affairs — Main article: First Barbary War. Main article: Louisiana Purchase.

Main article: Thomas Jefferson and Native Americans. Re-election in and second term. Further information: United States presidential election. Burr conspiracy and trial. Further information: Burr—Hamilton duel and Burr conspiracy. Wilkinson's misconduct. Attempted annexation of Florida. Chesapeake — Leopard affair. Main article: Chesapeake—Leopard affair.

Embargo — Further information: Embargo Act of Post-presidency — Further information: Thomas Jefferson and education. Main article: University of Virginia. Reconciliation with Adams. Greek War of Independence. Lafayette's visit. Final days, death, and burial. See also: Death of John Adams. Political, social, and religious views. Anti-monarchism Anti-corruption Civic virtue Civil society Consent of the governed Democracy Democratization Liberty as non-domination Mixed government Political representation Popular sovereignty Public participation Republic Res publica Rule of law Self-governance Separation of powers Social contract Social equality.

Theoretical works. My passion for photography was discovered my junior year at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. I also photographed for the school newspaper. Each of these positions provided me with knowledge of the art world, the media and public relations. The positions required excellent communication and social skills, as well as an eye for aesthetics.

After graduating from Loyola Marymount University with honors in , I have had a number of different internships and photography-related positions.