co-owned the national hotel, william h. williams, the notorious slave trader and jailer i mentioned earlier and j. pendleton were brought to court to testify. william kennedy believed he was going to be wrongfully sold down south. pendleton hired him out to work at the national -- william gadsby accused him of thievery and had him thrown in jail. unfortunately we don't know the case's resolution and the ultimate fate of kennedy williams. another piece of the puzzle can be found in the antislavery tract, the fifth annual report of the new york community of villains in 1842. a young man recounts his tale of working at the national hotel as carriage driver. he does not state which gadsby sold him, but it was most likely william. they were sold to work in the cotton fields. fortunately he was able to escape and find help in the district where he was very well

known. he fled into new york on horseback and was able to speak to an antislavery group there who published this account of his harrowing account. finally we come to the fantastic and lurid story of daniel webster's alleged illegitimate son benjamin webster. according to an 1878 atlanta paper called the commercial daily, benjamin claimed daniel was his father and mother charlotte gooding, one of john gadsby's servants. he was sold to help settle a card game in which gadsby lost gold. this shows his willingness to sell people to pay debts. helped explain the involvement in the slave trade prior to the

arrival at decatur house. of poor souls destined to be sold down south echo from decatur house. evidence lends itself to john and william quietly selling slaves out of their house. using them as a facade for an ugly enterprise. evidence has not been found to suggest he was selling out of decatur house. whether his own enslaved people or not, they would have been publicly aghast at the horrors of the slave trade. given the trade's high visibility, a public sale would have had john gadsby held accountable by a strong and vocal anti-slavery and abolitionist contingent. gadsby would not risk his public reputation by selling up shop in

the celebrated decatur house. he prided himself on the image of a self made man who enjoyed the fruits of his labor in his luxurious new home. there's more about the enslaved people. another question is why the reputations of john and william differed so greatly. nonetheless it is clear that john gadsby's role in the slave trade is a complex one. it challenges our ideas of who slave traders were, how they operated and how insidious the commerce was in antebellum society. thank you all so much. [ applause ] now, alexandria, now we move across the square tore decatur house. beth taylor has done a wonderful

job of piecing together a story that starts in the president's house. moves well into the 19th century as well as into the nearby neighborhoods. her work on paul jennings was spurred by her time at madison's montpellier home where she was director of education. the topic in general by her prior work at monticello as director of interpretation. her new book, enslaved in the white house, paul jennings and the madisons is receiving great acclaim. most impressively beth has stared down jon stewart on "the daily show" with an irony-free performance. please join me in welcoming elizabeth dowling taylor. [ applause ]

>> paul jennings knew lafayette square like the back of his hand. he lived in the white house when it was the only structure facing the square, then known as president's square. born on james madison's virginia plantation, he served as a footman during the madison administration. during the war of 1812 helps dolly madison rescue the iconic portrait from british forces. after 20 years back on the plantation where he was body servant to the ex-president, jennings returned to the square with the widow dolly madison show had a square on the northeast corner where she would live out her widow hood like a queen presiding over a secondary court to the white house. jennings, her butler and couch man would have a second white

house experience beginning in 1845. when his mistress hired him out to president james polk. when dolly madison died in 1849, jennings had spent just the last two of his 50 years as a free man, little thanks to her. she had offered him for sale for $200. jennings knew people in high places and he had gotten daniel webster, formerly a neighbor on the square to advance him his purchase price. he was working for webster paying off his debt when his former mistress died. she was given the grand estate funeral to date regarded as she was as one of the last relics of the founding generation. it took place right here at st. john's church. but now i have gotten ahead of myself, so let me back up.

in my book released last month, "a slave in the white house: paul jennings and the madisons," i tell the story of jennings's one-of-a-kind journey from slavery to freedom which played out in the highest circles of ideas and power, the white house, james madison's study. in freedom, jennings worked with northern abolitionists in an underground railroad operation known as the pearl incident, the largest scale attempted slave escape in american history and he authored the first white house memoir as decreed by the white house historical association. the full text is an appendix in the book. it was in 1865 that jennings' memoir was published. so again, i have gotten ahead of myself. let me rewind to 1837. in the book, i start each chapter with what we might call

a vignette or scene. the one i would like to read for you opens chapter 5 and finds jennings back in washington after two decades in virginia. it is february 1837 and he is preparing the widow dolly madison's city house for her return to president's square. in the third week of february, judith reeves, the madison's virginia neighbor in washington because of her husband's senate career wrote a letter to dolly madison at montpelier. i took the liberty of going to your house a few weeks ago and walking all about it. on asking a little girl who came to the door if there was anyone there, she said there was a gentleman. then she told me it was only a colored gentleman. good uncle paul stepped forth and quite justified her appalachian by inviting me in and escorting me about in the most gentleman-like manner.

paul jennings, nearly 38, had returned to president's square for the first time in 20 years. the previous summer james madison had died and change had been the watch word ever since. mistress dolly decided she would make use of city house on president square and sent jennings ahead ready the dwelling. the town noise was humming in anticipation of the new martin van buren administration. the atmosphere must have reminded jennings of james madison's inauguration 28 years earlier. as president andrew jackson prepared to close shop at the white house up the street, jennings took stock of a president's square much altered, starting with the name. the marquis de lafayette's return to america as the

nation's guest in 1824 had occasioned the name shift in his honor, though the lafayette square designation took only slowly. dolly, for example, continued to use president's square on her letters. the comment itself was no longer an abandoned apple orchard but had been landscaped in advance of lafayette's visit. the restored white house sported porticos at both the north and south fronts. half the building's walls had been rebuilt. they dug out the dinner display the day the british torched the mansion in august 1814. the george washington portrait had long ago been retrieved from the maryland farmhouse where it rested in safety for several weeks after the fire and returned to dolly madison who made sure it was hung in the monroe white house. not until the last years of the madison administration had the square begun to buzz with construction. even as the white house was being repaired, the cornerstone was laid for st. john's church on the opposite edge of the common.

the first episcopal service was celebrated there six months before the madison household returns to virginia. on jennings' return to washington, he counted about half a dozen homes facing the square, to one to which he attended was a colonial-style dwelling. two stories plus a cellular below. sitting on the square's northeast angle catty-corner to the church, the house was originally built for dolly's sister's family in 1820. dolly never had the opportunity to visit over the 20 years she was back in virginia. as much as she would have liked to, musing how happy i should be if montpelier joined washington. now she would alternate her living arrangements by season. winners the city house and summers at montpelier. as for jennings himself, his young manhood was behind him and he was still a slave. nevertheless, he applied his

intelligence, experience and motivation over the intervening years, taking advantage of opportunities to pursue that most american of promises, the right to rise. the contrast with dolly's son is striking. pain todd now 45 was hopelessly alcohol and with neither occupation nor spouse seemed to lack purpose altogether. one could say pain took advantage of his situation, too. he certainly had taken advantage of his mother and stepfather time and again, slowly draining their finances and good will. the little girl in judith reeves letter identified jennings as only a colored gentleman. jennings' rise would always require unremitting resistance against legal, social and psychological impediments. by the early 1840s, the social and political elite of the capital were being wined and

dined on lafayette square at madison's house, gadsby's house, daniel webster's house and benjamin taylor's house. webster was secretary of state at this time and owned the house just a few doors west of here, the site of the chamber of commerce building today. the they lowe's lived on the same lane as dolly and july they low would occasionally forward notes to dolly asking if he might borrow paul for her dinner parties. the soirees at all of these fine homes could not have been grander thanks to household staff like paul jennings, nancy syfax, and at webster's, cook monica mccarty. all three of these individuals were about the same age. jennings and syphax each had a connection to a president and his virginia plantation. nancy syphax, like her mother before her, having been born at mt. vernon.

monica mccarty had been offered for sale years before to daniel webster. she was a very talented cook. but webster replied that he could never own a slave, but he would pay mccarty's purchase price and have her work it off as his employee. one imagines the friendship, the alternate culture going on among jennings, syphax, mccarty and other african-americans in the neighborhood. when dolly madison sold her virginia plantation for good in 1844, that meant jennings was altogether separated from his wife and children who belonged to a different owner back in virginia. this same year his wife died. so now those children were motherless. in 1845 dolly madison and

president polk allowed jennings to visit his children in virginia. but when he stayed longer than allowed, dolly wrote her son payne that paul will lose the best place, and his mistress's convenient resources. jennings determined to buy his freedom, dolly set the price at $200, a sum that was beyond him. that is when knowing monica mccarty's story, jennings went to daniel webster for help. and webster arranged for the advance of jennings's purchase price. it was during his first full year of freedom in 1848 that jennings acted as an operative in the pearl escape attempt. one of the 77 slaves who boarded the schooner that night and hid themselves below decks was dolly madison's slave ellen stewart. she was the 15-year-old daughter of paul's great friend suki,

dolly's ladies maid. it may well have been ellen's desperate need for escape that precipitated jennings' involvement in the pearl affair. you see, six months earlier, dolly determined that she was going to sell ellen to the georgians as the african-americans of the time referred to the traders whereby slaves would be resold to the deep south. the trader was at dolly madison's house across the way and had called ellen in, nominally for bringing in a glass of water. but really so she could show her to the trader. ellen was excused, and there was a deal between dolly and the trader that, at a prearranged time, dolly would send ellen to

fetch water at the public square right here on the lafayette square common. but that really this would be the opportunity for the slave trader to pounce on her. but in the end, ellen got wind of the maneuver and she dashed across lafayette square into the bustle of the city and i think to the protection of paul jennings. of course, as most of you probably know, in the end the pearl schooner did not make it as planned to freedom in the north. winds too light on the potomac followed by winds too rough to enter the chesapeake bay. plus there was an informant back in washington who put the white owners on the trail of the 77 slaves sooner instead of later. the pearl was hauled back in to washington and those slaves on board faced the fate they most

dreaded, sale to the deep south and permanent separation from home and family. in our consideration today of prominent african-americans associated with this area, i would like to include the freeman family especially since i believe we have descendants present. john freeman, once he obtained his freedom, worked as a waiter at gadsby's hotel. earlier freeman had been a slave belonging to thomas jefferson who sold him to james madison. he worked in the madison white house with jennings as did his wife, melinda colbert freeman. she a free person, formerly enslaved by thomas jefferson, melinda was a member of the well known hemings family of monticello. the freemans were founders of the neighborhood where jennings purchased the house in 1854, just a 15 to 20-minute walk

northwest of lafayette square. the freemans and jennings were eventually joined by other families of ex-slaves of presidents in this neighborhood including three syphax brothers, charles ii, william and colbert, sons of maria carter custis and charles s. syphax senior and nephews of nancy syphax who worked with jennings earlier on lafayette square. now in the 1850s, jennings and charles syphax, ii worked together in the pension office under the department of the interior. charles's brother, william syphax was also employed in the interior department rising from messenger to clerk and he was a leader in public education for african-americans in washington. back to lafayette square proper, i want to tell you the story of jennings interactions with dolly madison in her old age. she was suffering financially all through her widowhood and

things got worse and worse until in her last few years she wanted for the very necessities of life. necessities of life. webster would send jennings over to her house with basket fulls of provisions and jennings, as he writes in his memoir, would pull small sums of money out of his own pocket give to dolly madison. this is an ironic reversal of fortune, but it also indicates the great generosity of spirit that paul jennings displayed. i have a few illustrations to share with you in closing. i will be hanging in during the lunch break to sign book, which will be sold in the chair parish house. there are over 20 illustration, maps and graphics in this book. those that could not be included are posted on my website that's

paul jennings.info. this, according to experts, is from the late 1840s. so this would have been soon after he obtained his freedom and he must have marched himself to the photographer's studio to sit for his likeness. notice he's hold his prop of choice and this must mean that he is proud of his literacy and we know that he learned to read and write as a slave because there are letters. i learned how he came to be able to read and write through the jennings family oral tradition. most notably through the family historian whom i had the pleasure of knowing for the last year and a half of her life. and that would be sylvia jennings alexander. she was paul jennings' great granddaughter.

he was born in 1799 and she just that few generations later was still going strong at age 93, sharp as a tack and very devoted to family history. and she both informed my story and enriched my life, as did many of the other jennings descendants. here is an image of montpelier pittsburgh paul's day and one of the early presidents square. you see our location, st. john's church. and you see the dolly madison house. one reason i wanted to show you these two images is because they were both water colors made by madame denuville. henry clay, martin van puren

were some of the notables before john gatsby purchased it. these were some of the many people, many notable people, parsonages, if you will, personages, whom jennings got to know. and if even a slave, it helps to know people in high places. he was well connected. he was what we call a networker. and he took appropriate advantage of these connections in his pursuit of the right to rise. and here's a photo of dolly madison's house. you see the cellar windows where jennings quarters would be. and also i feel obliged to say that the door moved all over the place. it was first in front and then moved to the side where you see

in this photograph. later that door was made a window and today it's further down on h street. this is one of the earliest photographs of the white house on the south portico, you see president polk and you can believe that dolly kept all the earnings. dolly is to the right of polk as you're looking at the photograph. and here is the la fayette square gates. oops that one didn't get in there. here's the la fayette square gates. and this just gives you a period sense of just how close la fayette square is to the white house. and here is franklin jennings. this is paul jennings' son, one of three. and they all served the union cause during the civil war.

and franklin is in that northwest neighborhood that i was referring to earlier. and here is franklin's grandson, henry early. he's the young man on the left shown with his buddy while they were working at a resort. and when we have our panel of descendants of notable african americans associated with la fayette square this afternoon after lunch, angela hayes tolliver who is a granddaughter of henry early will be representing the jennings family. i'm pleased to say that two of her cousins are here today, as well. another one of henry's granddaughters, barbara early allen, and one of henry's great granddaughters, fawn jordan. these are three of paul jennings' many living descendants, his living legacy.

he has an important legacy. he was an intrepid anti-slavery activist who secured his own freedom and his family's future. he acted as an operative in major attempted slave escape. he forged passes and freed papers for slaves with his literacy skills. he raised funds for slaves in peril purchased from their masters. his is a unique story. but it must also be appreciated that at the same time, he represents many african-americans of his time whose stories may never be known, but who, like him, overcame a barrage of obstacles

in pursuit of the right to rise. as has been said, will is one hinge that is truly new in this word, and that is the history that we have yet to learn. thank you so much. [ applause ] coming up, a program on african-american work and life in washington, d.c., especially in the area around the white house known as presidents park. we'll hear about the rise of a free black family residing near presidents park and about -- it was the first time an african american was a guest at the white house since teddy roosevelt hosted booker t. washington nearly 30 years earlier. welcome back from lunch, everyone. we're going to continue the exploration of american -- african-american life and labor on la fayette square.

as we've learned this morning, many workers did not enter this country or service at the white house or la fayette square voluntarily. most of our southern presidents who held office before 1860, including thomas jefferson, james madison, james monroe, andrew jackson, john tyler, james polk, owned slaves and brought them to the white house from their plantations in the south. until 1862 when slavery was abolished, slaved worked alongside paid black freemen and european servants. for most of the 19th century, the structure of the white house staff remained generally the same. at the top was a steward, a federal employee, who was bonded. the congress created this position to safe guard the silver and furnishings in the white house. the steward was on the government payroll. he functioned as a manager of the house. the job required patience,

administrative ability, shrewdness as a purchasing agent and a deep sense of discretion. beneath him were the maids, foot footmen, cooks, laborers and about one third of the servants of the white house actually lived there in the basements. some in a dorm story style, some in private rooms. the steward, a number of times, as an african-american, dealt directly with each employee and there was no specific hierarchy. most were southern blacks who had entered the president's service after a similar experience in a hotel or private residence or through a family connection, a brother, a sister, a parent, an aunt, who was already working there. the tone of the house was distinctly southern, the pace slow, and the social life was characterized by a comfortable elegance.