The Complexities of Slavery in the Nation's Capital
For the first seventy-two years of its existence, the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., harbored one of America’s most...
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The Enslaved Household of President James Madison
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Benjamin Banneker
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The Slave Quarters at Decatur House
Nestled in the heart of Washington, D.C., Lafayette Park attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. From school...
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Before the White House
On May 14, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford announced that construction of a new outdoor swimming pool on the White House South...
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The Remarkable Story of Ona Judge
In April 1774, one of Martha Washington’s enslaved housemaids, Betty, gave birth at Mount Vernon to a daughter named Ona Ju...
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The Enslaved Household of President Thomas Jefferson
These powerful words open the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, the document by which the Second Continental Congress announced...
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John Gadsby: Hotelier and Slave Owner in the President's Neighborhood
For nearly four decades until 1836, John Gadsby was the premier hotelier of Alexandria, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. He leased...
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The Enslaved Households of President Martin Van Buren
While many tend to think that slavery was strictly a “southern” issue, this system of racial captivity and exploitation existed acro...
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Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Washington's Most Notorious Slave Pen
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Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln
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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...