“The Back Building”
Built in 1818-1819, Decatur House was designed by the English architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe for Commodore Stephen Decatur and Susan...
The Decatur House Slave Quarters
In 1821-1822, Susan Decatur requested the construction of a service wing. The first floor featured a large kitchen, dining room, and laundry; while the second floor contained four rooms designated as living quarters. By 1827, the service wing was being used as an urban slave quarters. Henry Clay brought enslaved individuals to Decatur House, starting a trend that was solidified by John Gadsby when he purchased the property in 1836. The Gadsby family owned the house for the next thirty-five years and brought many enslaved men, women, and children with them to the home. The harrowing burdens of slavery were certainly felt by all who lived here—but their stories of resistance and resiliency also demonstrate a profound resolve to be free.
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The Households of James Buchanan
James Buchanan is often regarded as one of the worst presidents in United States history.1 Many historians contend that Buchanan’s...
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Slavery and Strategy in Decatur House
On February 11, 1829, members of Congress convened to certify votes for President and Vice President of the United States as Andrew...
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Decatur House Silhouettes
Through research and analysis of written accounts, letters, newspapers, memoirs, census records, architecture, and oral histories, historians, museum professionals, and...
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From Slavery to the White House: The Extraordinary Life of Elizabeth Keckly
In 1868, Elizabeth (Lizzy) Hobbs Keckly (also spelled Keckley) published her memoir Behind the Scenes or Thirty Years a Slave, and...
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George DeBaptiste
President William Henry Harrison’s famously brief month-long tenure at the White House makes it difficult to research the inner wo...
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Enslaved Workers on the White House Grounds
Uncovering the lives of enslaved people poses many challenges. Because enslaved people were denied the right of literacy, as a...
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The Formerly Enslaved Household of the Grant Family
Women are often overlooked in history for their role in the institution of slavery. First Lady Julia Dent Grant, wife...
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Plantations & Politics
Speaking before the United States House of Representatives in 1825, congressman James K. Polk described American slavery as “a matter which re...
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The Williams Family
In 1818, John Gadsby was assessed and taxed for owning thirty-six enslaved individuals in Baltimore—including two young women named “Maria” and “K...
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An Early Black Family's Life in Lafayette Park
As we consider life in the President’s Neighborhood, the unusual story of the Wormley Hotel and its Black founder, Ja...
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The American Colonization Society
In the late eighteenth century, the original thirteen colonies dissolved and formed the United States. In 1787, delegates to the Constitutional...