Collection 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,...
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Paul Jennings was a slave of President James Madison, but he is known more for his seminal work, “A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison” than for his time as a slave. The book, published in 1865, is considered the first White House memoir and a valuable tome on what life was like during those early days of the United States. For example, when President Madison brought him to the White House, “the east room was not finished, and Pennsylvania Avenue was not paved, but was always in an awful condition from either mud or dust. The city was a dreary place.”
In 1821-1822, Susan Decatur requested the construction of a service wing. The first floor featured a large kitchen, dining room,...
First Lady Lou Hoover's invitation to Jessie L. DePriest to a White House tea party in 1929 created a storm of...
In 1816, Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr. and his wife Susan moved to the nascent capital city of Washington, D.C. With...
Elaine Rice Bachmann
Decatur House 8:00-8:45am Light Breakfast 8:45-9:00am Transition to the Carriage House 9:00-9:15am Welcome Stewart McLaurin, President, The...
As a public and digital historian, my work explores how and why groups and individuals reimagine the spaces around them...
Construction on the President's House began in 1792 in Washington, D.C., a new capital situated in sparsely settled region far...
Asantewa Boakyewa currently serves as Associate Director of Collections & Exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Community Museum. has he...
JAMES ARCHER ABBOTT is the Executive Director of the Lewes Historical Society in Lewes, Delaware. His publications include JANSEN, JANSEN...
A master of the art of practical politics, Lyndon Johnson came into the White House after the tragedy of President...
The White House Historical Association, chartered in 1961, is a nonprofit historical and educational organization that plays a vital role in...
President Andrew Jackson was a slaveholder who brought a large household of slave domestics with him from Tennessee to the...