so that has been my effort, to read jefferson, to understand him. to understand that as he grew older he changed his opinions as we all do. and is he not receptive to be writing for posterity that we might understand that about him. if we choose to read him and care to read him. so it's reading jefferson's history that remains the foundation of what we do and we all do as historical interpreters here in colonial williamsburg. get the facts right. >> you've been doing this for over 20 years and did it before you came to colonial williamsburg. how often are you still to this day studying thomas jeffson erso get into character? >> almost every day. i was doing that today to prepare for being with you today. and so it is i wanted to make certain i was on the mark there for whatever question would be

put forth for me. >> well, we appreciate you taking the phone calls this morning from our viewers. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you, greta. yewe're going to continue o conversation here on c-span's american history tv. up next, we're going to hear from one of the african-american interpreters talking about what life would have been like for an enslaved person in colonial america, and this runs about ten minutes. when we come back, we'll take your phone calls and comments about this. my name is harold caldwell. we're here at the randolph house and talking about the daily life of enslaved people. and i'm actually working on a game board. a rot of people know of the game as menkaula. we're just carving these boards

here to show people that some of these enslaved people, even though they came here empty handed, they didn't come here empty-headed. those traditions came over here with them as traditions came over with the english, as traditions came over with the scotch-irish, so did the africans who came here as enslaved people. and we wanted to show that african people were trying to preserve their culture as best as they can. and by this time in 1775 that we're talking about, about 90% of your african-americans here in the americas are born in americas as enslaved people. so the african tradition begins to disappear. but you do find a handful of africans that are still here in virginia, in america that would remember that culture, and this might be one of the ways that they show that culture in making a game like this. we take most importantly of what this game means is that these

enslaved people took agency of their lives to say that all this that the master benefits from my skill and my knowledge, for a tu times in my life, i want to make that skill work for me, i want what i know something that's going to be special to me and my family. so it's like saying that the master's not going to take everything that is of me. and maybe this might be a way for them, for these enslaved africans to do such a thing, to have something have meaning to them. and so, you know, we're woodworking, the most common for enslaved people. much of this property, an enslaved person had a hand in constructing much of this household. so we're carving these game boards here, and basically we have just simple tools. right now what we're doing is we're just carving out the cups. and, as you see here, this is

what the game pretty much looks like in its finished state. and we're using acorns here from the tree, this water oak here to kind of use as the pieces, the seeds for this game here. so it's pretty much using your environment to make life work. now when you think about the daily life of enslaved people. it's busy, it's arduous and time-consuming. it's dirty. it's hot. it's sweaty. i mean, everything that you can think of when you talkingdrudge skullry or the kitchen. the drudgery of work that requires you to be out in the heat all day long. when you think about enslaved people on a property like this. for instance, when you think about the kitchen there, for the randolphs, a prominent family like this, just for the people

that live here, it's at least five dishes, if they're entertaining, ten dishes, 12 dishes, all that work went to plucking gutting, scaling, frying, dealing with the heat in the kitchen. it's a lot of work. all day long. hauling water. if you think about the wall, all the young children that were enslaved, hauling back and fo forth, buckets of water, 50, 60 buckets a day, just to cook, to clean, to wash. you have enslaved people who are also, the skullry maids who did all the laundry. you think about all the clothing for the randolphs the changing of clothing they would have had in the day. the changing of clothes of the people that were visiting with them. and the people doing that laundry, that was a busy skullery where they did the laundry. then you have dairy house where

the randolphs had four or five milking cows. the dairy maids had to milk the cows, make fresh farm cheese and butter. this is an every day event of activities going on on this property every day. they had a gardener, so the gardener is walking around the property, making sure everything is nice and cut. so there is not an idle hand on this property at all. the folks in the house, i think that's important, too, to get an idea of what they're dealing with. a lot of folks don't know that enslaved people, there would be some that would actually sleep in the house. oftentimes in the hallways. right outside the bed chamber, so though can be on call, and those were the enslaved people that took care of all the personal needs. so those enslaved people were just in the house, poised, proper, groomed, have a certain deportment, a certain way about them that made them perfect for

the house. ed kwated often so they can be able to communicate. and they were adapted to working in the house. silks, velvets davelvets damask. all the people in the house reflected the people that actually lived in the house, the free people, so they did everything that you can think of, having to do with a nice fine house, whether it was serving the meal, taking care of the personal needs of the owner like grooming them, dressing them, taking care of them when they were sick. and because they took care of their personal needs they had to be on call. so they slept in the house so they could be close by if they were needed anytime of the day or evening. we say that if the folks in the house had family out here, when they got to see them depended on the owner, depended on the master and when they wanted to allow them that time to see

them. so it could have been an hour a day. it could have been an hour a week. the masters decided when an enslaved person could leave. but in this domestic setting, enslaved people didn't get off in time to have a whole lot of time to themselves, because these owners still had to eat, they still had to be personally cared for. children had to be looked after. so enslaved people in a domestic setting didn't get a whole lot of time to themselves like field hands on plantations that maybe got sunday as a day of rest. but ear in this domestic setting it was whatever that master gave them that extra time to spend an hour or two with their family >> can you talk an a little bit about the experience leading up to the revolution, how that impacted the population? >> well, really the population will be impacted pretty much i'd say around 1774 into 1775 when the colonists are moving forward toward freedom and independence.

they're threatening the governor, lord dunmore. so the governor got threatened so much, he kind of wanted to get back at the kol nilss. he threatened to free enslaved people. and not only free them but to possibly arm them. so enslaved people got word of this, so before the governor issued the proclamation, many were running over to the governor offering their services and the governor sent them back to their masters, because he didn't issue any such proclamation. he was just threatening. so when revolution, even before the revolution began, there were already situations showing themselves that enslaved people were moving forward to be agents of their own change and try to, you know, change their lives and get that freedom by any means that they can get it. yeah. so the revolution did have an

impact onnen sla enslaved peopl lives, but they had to take that chance foshts most part on their own accord. >> and are they finding out about the politics and proclamations at the time? >> that's a good question. at this house, randolph, those folks in that dining room heard everything. and anything that they heard, they're going to share it with their family members and friends. next door neighbors, enslaved people, they're going to talk to them. folks across the street. by the time the day or two went by every enslaved person in this town knows what many, many people in the colony, many people in the 13 colonies are not privy too. the folks on this property, the randolphs, they heard everything. and so they, they had a good idea of what was going on. and if you're talking about the proclamation when lord dunmore eventually issues that probl proclamati