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Ewell House
Newspaper advertisement placed by Thomas Ewell offering a reward for the return of runaway slave Daphne.
Credit: District of Columbia Public Library, Washingtoniana Collection
[CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE]
Though the people who enslaved African Americans on Lafayette Square were rich, powerful, and prominent, their slaves fought back against being held in bondage. One way they did so was by running away. On April 30, 1819 Thomas Ewell, a physician who built a house about where 734 and 736 Jackson Place are located today, placed an ad in the National Messenger looking for an enslaved woman named Daphne who had run away. The ad described Daphne as, "black, of middle height, rather corpulent – wife to a noted negro brickmaker called Bill Slaughter." Ewell's ad also stated that "for several days she has been sculking about Georgetown. . . I will pay five dollars and all necessary expenses incurred for her apprehension and delivery to me near the Presidents House."
Daphne was not the only person Ewell enslaved. In the 1820 census the Ewells' Lafayette Square household contained five enslaved African Americans, 2 males and 3 females all under the age of 14, and 11 white people.
Thomas Ewell not only owned slaves, but he also bought and sold enslaved people.
Though he viewed his slaves as property, Ewell did demonstrate some concern for what happened to the people he sold. On January 31, 1820, he placed this classified advertisement in the Daily National Intelligencer. It read, "The subscriber has for sale a negro woman, without any children, aged about 30 years; an excellent cook and washer. Also one of the most handy male servants in the country, used to waiting and driving carriage. Also, he will have, in a few days a woman with fine likely children of very promising qualities. Those servants will be sold for half the sum that was refused for them last year; and are only being sold to pay debts which cannot be postponed. A preference will be given to purchasers who will carry them westward, where the plenty of produce lessens the pains of slavery."
| Enslaved People |
| Title | Description |
|---|
| Andrew Jackson Statue, Lafayette Square | A slave helps craft this statue and the Capitol's statue of freedom... |
| The White House | From slavery to sit-ins.... |
| Dolley Madison's House | A former slave shows charity toward an impoverished First Lady. |
| St John's Church | Free and enslaved African Americans are married and baptized at the President's parish... |
| Weddings at St. John's Church | Selected entries from the St. John's Church marriage register. |
| Daniel Webster's House | A slave plans a daring escape, but has a change of heart... |
| Decatur House | Where Charlotte Dupuy takes a brave stand against slavery. |
| Charlotte Dupuy | Charlotte Dupuy, an enslaved woman who sued her owner Henry Clay for her freedom. |
| Lafayette Square | An enslaved woman buys her freedom and changes the nation's history.... |
| Elizabeth Keckly (1818-1907) | Elizabeth Keckly was born into slavery in 1818. She went on to purchase her own freedom and establish a successful dressmaking business. |
| Frederick Douglass | Revered African American leader. |
| Members of Gadsby's Enslaved Household | A list of their names and ages. |
| Paul Jennings | Paul Jennings |
| Tayloe House | Compensated emancipation, only in DC... |
| Decatur House Slave Quarters | Men, women, and children from two families living together in 900 square feet... |
| Emancipation in the President's Neighborhood, 1850 | Emancipation in the President's Neighborhood, 1850 |
| "Negro Life at the South" | A 1859 painting by Eastman Johnson depicting urban slavery. |
| "Mrs. Madison's Slaves Again" | 1848 Newspaper article about the Madison's slaves. |
| "The Negro Celebration in Washington" | 1866 article and engraving about Emancipation Celebration in Washington, DC and President Johnson's address. |
| President's House Carpenters' Roll from May 1795 | Payment record for carpenters,including five enslaved men, who constructed the President's House. |
| Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C. | Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C. |
| Bill of Sale for Charlotte Dupuy to Henry Clay | Bill of Sale for Charlotte Dupuy from James Condon to Henry Clay. |
| Bill of Sale for Paul Jennings from Dolley Madison to Pollard Webb | Document recording Dolley Madison's 1847 sale of Paul Jennings to Pollard Webb. |
| Charlotte Dupuy's Petition | Letter written by Robert Beale on behalf of Charlotte Dupuy petitioning the Judges to summon Henry Clay to court. |
| Decatur House Slave Quarters Floor Plans | Floorplans and architectural drawings of the Decatur House slave quarters. |
| Thomas Greene Bethune [Wiggins], 1849 -1908 | Photograph of blind piano prodigy Thomas Greene Bethune, the first African American artist to perform at the White House. |
| Emancipation in the District of Columbia - List of the Petitions Filed | Government document showing claims paid for emancipated slaves to the former owners. |
| First page of a letter from Henry Clay to his agent in Washington, Philip Fendall, regarding Charlotte Dupuy's petition for freedom | Letter written written by Henry Clay to his agent in Washington, Philip Fendall, regarding Charlotte Dupuy's bid for freedom. |
| Gadsby Slave Quarters at Decatur House ca.1937 | Photograph taken by Volkmar Wentzel in 1937 showing the H Street side of the slave quarters at Decatur House. |