Paul Jennings
Paul Jennings was born in 1799 at Montpelier, the Virginia estate of James and Dolley Madison. His mother, an enslaved woman...
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Paul Jennings was born in 1799 at Montpelier, the Virginia estate of James and Dolley Madison. His mother, an enslaved woman...
“Would it be superstitious to presume, that the Sovereign Father of all nations, permitted the perpetration of this apparently execrable tr...
Speaking before the United States House of Representatives in 1825, congressman James K. Polk described American slavery as “a matter which re...
Considered the last “Founding Father” president, James Monroe was born in 1758 into an affluent, slave owning family in Westmoreland County, Virg...
Andrew Johnson’s close association with Abraham Lincoln, as both his vice president and his successor, often disguises Johnson’s own...
Uncovering the lives of enslaved people poses many challenges. Because enslaved people were denied the right of literacy, as a...
Women are often overlooked in history for their role in the institution of slavery. First Lady Julia Dent Grant, wife...
On April 16, 1862, Congress passed the Compensated Emancipation Act, ending slavery in the District of Columbia and delivering long-awaited freedom to...
In 1818, John Gadsby was assessed and taxed for owning thirty-six enslaved individuals in Baltimore—including two young women named “Maria” and “K...
As we consider life in the President’s Neighborhood, the unusual story of the Wormley Hotel and its Black founder, Ja...
In the late eighteenth century, the original thirteen colonies dissolved and formed the United States. In 1787, delegates to the Constitutional...
January 1, 1863 was a watershed moment in American history. That morning, President Abraham Lincoln hosted the annual New Year’s Day re...