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White Negroes concerned Thomas Jefferson.
Near Christmas of 1783, he sent letters of inquiry to owners of other Virginian estates
to ask about the presence of any slaves with unusually white skin.
Jefferson received accounts of slaves with skin drained of melanin,
more than likely the result of albinism or vitiligo.
Judging from the responses, he solicited intelligence on the quality of the white color,
its manifestation, the effect of whiteness on other faculties, the color of the parents,
and most important, the ability of the whitened slave to produce children.