Slavery's Mark on Lincoln's White House
On a bright March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States “entirely ignorant not only of the du...
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The Enslaved Households of President James Monroe
Considered the last “Founding Father” president, James Monroe was born in 1758 into an affluent, slave owning family in Westmoreland County, Virg...
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The Formerly Enslaved Households of President Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson’s close association with Abraham Lincoln, as both his vice president and his successor, often disguises Johnson’s own...
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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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William Costin
After Washington, D.C. was established as the nation’s capital, Black people found themselves in a precarious position. While so...
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The Enslaved Households of President Zachary Taylor
Born in 1784, Zachary Taylor grew up on a plantation in Virginia. His father, Richard Taylor, was an officer in the...
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Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818 along the Eastern Shore of Maryland. During his childhood, the wife of one...
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Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Washington's Most Notorious Slave Pen
In 1836, a striving, twenty-four-year-old New England shoemaker took an excursion southward to recuperate from a bout with ill health. By...
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Slavery and French Cuisine in Jefferson's Working White House
President Thomas Jefferson was widely recognized as a Francophile, embracing all things French including art, culture, and custom. While serving...
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Slavery, Freedom, and the Struggle to Keep a Family Together
Although President Thomas Jefferson owned hundreds of enslaved men, women, and children in his lifetime, he brought only a handful...