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St John's Church
Pages from the St. John's Church Marriage Register showing African American couples.
Credit: St. John's Church
[CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE]
Every president since James Madison has attended services at St. John's Church. This distinctive yellow church was the second building to be constructed on Lafayette Square and has always been a symbolic and important house of worship in Washington, D.C.. Its original purpose was to serve as a place of worship for the inhabitants of the White House. Visitors to Lafayette Square can enter St. John's Church from the 16th Street entrance to see the sanctuary and the Presidents' Pews.
Reverend William Hawley, the second Rector of St. John's, baptized and married African Americans of all legal statuses when he led the Church from 1817 to 1845. Many of these marriages took place in the Rector's own home, adjacent to the Church, with his wife and family as witnesses. According to the marriage register of St. John's, Reverend Hawley performed weddings for 6 couples identified as "slaves," 38 identified as "colored," and 2 identified as "colored (free)." For example, on January 11, 1828, the Reverend Hawley married Emmeline Matthews, listed as "colored" to William Prates, listed as a slave. The very next marriage he performed was for John Quincy Adams' son John and his bride Mary Hellen. A selected transcription is available.
In 1865, the Rector of St. John's worked with a group of 28 African Americans to establish a new Episcopal church. A member of St. John's donated land in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington for the construction of a church building, which was named St. Mary's Chapel for Colored People in 1867. Six years later, St. Mary's hired its first African-American rector, Alexander Crummell. To find out more about St. John's response to its own segregation and the Civil Rights Movement click here.
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Ewell House | Buying, selling, and resisting. |
| 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. |