committee were jumping off. they show during a time of complex urban crisis, attractive surroundings can exist, bringing joy and new opportunities to city dwellers. ♪ >> interested in american history tv? visit our website c-span.org/history to see our upcoming schedule or watch a recent program, american artifacts, wrote to the white house, lectures and series and more. presidency,n the , and parry african-american studies professor at california state university, fullerton talks about the american presidents

that dealt directly with slavery. 12 presidents were slave owners and eight owned slaves while in office. thesesor parry discusses cases and the broader discussion of racism in the states. now, let's get to today's topic, which i am glad we did because it seems to have struck a chord. u.s. presidents who owned slaves while we're creating this instrument and democracy, they were leaders who had people enslaved, and we are honored to nave dr. tyler parry, with an "a." rry received his bachelor's of arts from the university of nevada and 2008

and earned his master's degree in 2011 and his phd in 2014 in history from the university of south carolina. he is currently revising his manuscript entitled "love and marriage, domestic relations and matrimonial strategies among the slaves and atlantic world." that intrigues me to no end. his research examines the degree diaspora africans and their american-born dissidence re-created their marital rights in the americas. utilizing methods from legal, political and cultural history, he began his analysis in atlantic africa and traces the struggle of african descended people throughout the british, west indies, bermuda in north

america for fighting for marital equality. his research has taken him , orughout black atlanta munich, jamaica, england, scotland, lucky guy. he has received crucial funding from various institutions including harvard, duke, university of south carolina, florida international university. he has published articles and book chapters on its slave marriage rituals and african-american popular culture. manuscript to his revision, he is concurrently writing a book length treatment of the unique wedding ritual, jumping the broom. this has taken popularity slaves.north american he teaches classes on african-american history, the history of racism and the african diaspora. we are honored to have him with us this afternoon and thank you

so much. . bring to you dr. tyler parry [applause] professor parry: how is everybody? there he good. thank you so much for coming. it means the world to me to see a good-sized crowd on a topic of history. as a history professor of african american studies, it is always nice to see engage people interested in such an important and compelling topic. --she suggested, i want to thank the african-american museum for asking me to get this series of lectures for black history month, and as was suggested, i am largely interested in enslaved people, but particularly how they

thought, fought, loved and other types of questions. when i was asked to give a talk on the slave owners, particularly the presidents, i had to reorient my thinking on how i approached the research. i have a variety of methods in which i am going to do this. take a step back from history and try to propose how it is possible that you have a group of elite, white men talking about liberty and freedom but only meaning it for a select group of people. polls closed on november 2008, barack obama knew he was entering history. he understood the formative moments of the occasion. born of a white mother and kenyan father, he followed a

legacy as a black americans from slavery to freedom pursued civil rights on the cotton plantations of the mississippi, the rice swamps of south carolina, the lunch counters of nashville and the registration desks of state universities throughout the country. not the ultimate solution to racism or racial advancement, obama's election through the electoral and popular vote represents a crowning achievement of those who marched throughout the south, proposing that human dignity was not determined by skin color. the significance of this event was not lost and his wife, michelle either, a descendent of south carolina slaves whose people fled to chicago, illinois to escape jim crow segregation. what would they have thought? one wonders, that future generations would be removed from their realities of racial oppression in the united states when entered the highest office in the nation through an

election that garnered a revolutionary fervor not displayed in national elections for multiple decades. with their children, melia and sasha, barack and michelle obama showed the diversity of the black experience in the united states, the complexity of the african diaspora and the possibilities for a nation whose legacy of slavery is manifest on the very building that symbolizes its complicated past of liberty and oppression. , the white house. while i was asked to speak on u.s. presidents who owned slaves, my brief tangent provides important context for the subject. the violence of slavery permeates the fabric of the united states and convinced many americans that coexistence between black and white people was an unrealistic expectation. a fantasy for a few delusional abolitionist who saw the end of legalized enslavement and enfranchisement of black

citizens, should the day ever come. for most americans, the expansion of u.s. slavery is relatively well-known. a few black people walked the landscape of the country that would become the united states prior to british expiration, the climactic u.s. slavery came in virginia. englishpoint, the colonial experiment was not guaranteed, and the crown understood that controlling the north american mainland was critical to preserving british interest in the americans. iberian maritime powers had already achieved vast amounts of land, tapping into an expanding trade of african peoples who were forced to work in spanish and portuguese controlled areas that expand from mexico city to brazil. though the british were relatively late, colonizers

quickly reoriented the priorities toward expanding the system of forced bondage. indigenous african slaves alongside white indentured servants were the backbone of the early colonial process. however, indigenous peoples resisted slavery by fleeing to their homes or simply perish by european diseases and white indentured servants became freed, return to europe and eventually became too costly to import into the colony. intoest shipped -- shifted anti-black racial philosophies, determining the black skin was equal to racial inferiority. historians argue whether racism or slavery came first. did their racial philosophies organically emerge out of the expanding trade in african peoples through multiple sentries?

cogent arguments are presented on both sides, but it is clear , a few the 18th century decades before the declaration of independence, the juxtaposition between white and black symbolized the clear divisions between freedom and slavery in the new nation. this intellectual development would develop into the 1760's and provide an awkward counterpoint for a nation founded on the principles of freedom and democracy and the pursuit of happiness. permeated through all of the colonies, southern soil, climate in agricultural prolifically expanded the institution of slavery by the mid-1700s. most slaves in the north worked on smaller farms, shipyards or urban centers, southern slaves cultivated the cash crops that made a few white men rich, exploiting their labor on

tobacco farms, rice farms and later, the cotton plantations that stretch from the upper south to use taxes alongside the sugar plantations of the louisiana. investment in slaves was a social status and once claim to elite whiteness rested on the ownership of people. it comes as no surprise that 12 united states presidents owned slaves, and eight of them while in office. symbols of an enslaved has to dominate the landscape and symbols throughout america. we find slave owners on currency , their statues on universities, and to celebrate individuals who were literally involved in human trafficking. terminology matters in this context. is slavery, as foreign as it , for some reason seems easier for people to digest when thinking about the past. many tend to excuse the institution or perhaps overlook it as a black eye of american history that many prefer to

forget, but in using the modern phrase "human trafficking." this places jefferson, washington and others into a more uncomfortable memory. for many people, human traffickers are the modern vagrants who sell women and children, were dominantly young girls in eastern europe, the middle east or africa. the movement of black bodies for --tes, s consumption capitalist consumption was rebelled. with subtleties, other times deliberately, by those who drafted the country's founding documents. geographers may have one believe that the founding fathers accomplishments overshadow any blame they deserve for investing in the system. they were simply products other time, some may say.

the great irony of america's historical memory is a simultaneous combination of , criticizing isis, but memorializing george washington, a man who owned hundreds of slaves and while discussing principles of freedom and liberty, he signed the fugitive slavelaw of 1793 and sent go aftero attack -- his slaves. witten, theoseph collector of customs in portsmouth, new hampshire, washington condemned these ontions, exclaiming, "the gratitude of that girl." and mrs. washington's desire to recover may not escape with

impunity if it could be avoided." this notion of benign slaveholding, in which slave owners saw themselves as benevolent, eternal figures will give attention at the end of this presentation. national memories viewed slavery as a secondary component of the founding fathers achievements. thus, while washington and jefferson claimed discuss toward must realizeon, we they were prolific slaveowners and invested in a system that condoned and expanded the despicable practice of human trafficking. one must remember the transatlantic slave trade was not closed to u.s. port cities until 25 years after the revolution. the slaves these founders held were products of human traffickers, ripped from their homelands, deposited into circumstances, stripped of human dignity and a raised ancestral

memories. -- erased ancestral memories. neglected into popular history of american history, the slave hands built the nation's capital and presidential residence. their families were severed and sold to the deep south to one of the largest slave markets in north america. from a numerical standpoint, the domestic slave trade from the eastern seaboard into the old southwest worked through the predecessors. arped through the predecessors. trademestic slave uprooted one million people, severing husbands from wives, mothers from children, causing enslaved people like hannah blair to write the following letter.

husband, we received a letter that your master so kindly wrote to us, and you cannot even think how glad we were to hear from you and jake. i had almost given up the thought of ever hearing from you again. i was certain much surprised when mrs. gallagher sent for me to come up and here's the letter read. i went right off to hear it, for i did want to hear from you so much, we do not even know in what part of the field you were in. so you may know, i was glad to hear that you and jake were together. i hope that you all will be good men so your master will be kind to you. we are doing tolerably well. our boy grows fondly. i wish you could see him, but as i cannot be, i will learn him to always remember you. he has not forgotten you, yet.

i must close this but will write to you again as soon as i hear from you. from your loving wife, hannah. " similar to blair, some thoughts might resemble those avoiding butler during this process of forcible separation. he wrote to his wife in maryland, hoping his letter " will find you, my wedded wife as i left you. i will be glad if you let me know how you are as soon as possible. if ibound to be yours, and ever have the least idea of changing my present state, i will let you know, and do try to walk in the steps of a married woman." butlerblair and william are a few examples that symbolize the thousands of unknown voices whose painful memories died with them, hoping future generations would never

know the painful loss of kinship to satisfy the economic desires of slave owners like washington and jefferson. whoite the many presidents expressed their sentiments against the institution, as many of them claim to despise it, they're in action toward ending slavery makes them complicit in this exploitation. to fully understand the perceived inconsistencies between men who claim a heart while simultaneously allowing it perpetuation, we must understand how the revolution itself in the documents that follow it explicitly condone racially based indignation. historians argue the american revolution was at least partially connected to a decision in 1772 that occurred the -- across the atlantic ocean as an enslaved men, james

somerset, realizing london was deemed recently, walked away with intention to never return. he was eventually apprehended and his master intended to send him to jamaica, a sugar colony that served as a death warrant to many african-american people, unlucky enough to cultivate sugar. his case was taken up by a leading abolitionist in britain who had a successful track record in helping fugitive slaves gain their freedom. the lord chief justice of the king, you married -- william murray oversaw the case. after a series of difficult deliberations, he declared the following verdict "the state of thatry is of such a nature it is incapable of being introduced on any reason, moral

or political, but only by law which preserves its force long after the reasons occasion and time itself, once it was created was erased from memory. it is so odious that nothing can be supported under this law. " just when i read these types of tracks, i realize i was born in the right century. even though that was english, that is difficult to understand. in layperson's terms, mansfield believed there was something in english law that permitted slavery to exist, this was the argument. one can imagine, the some believe the writing was on the wall. slavery had been relatively uncontested as a revolutio-- institution for multiple centuries, at the notion that slavery could be successfully challenged in the court of law surely worried colonist who were

wholly invested into the system. " the ripple effect was immediate, trance atlantic jubilation, brought in swift. " he noticed some people escaped to great britain, hoping to obtain the same freedom granton to somerset -- granted to somerset, believing the british law would demand the same to them, colonies like virginia, north carolina, georgia had a heightened enthusiasm to sever the relationship with the british empire. such information is not to downplay the significance of the revolution's goals, freedom, liberty, the pursuit of happiness are worthy of praise but we must understand that i colonist claim they were breaking the yoke of their slavery to the british empire. slavery temperament of did not apply to those individuals literally enslaved

to the colonies. enslaved people of africa were considered racially subordinate in many white people may have accurate the poem by phyllis wheatley when she wrote "twas mercy that brought me from my understand, souls to there is a god and a savior, once redemption and neither side, renewed." while her poem is quite nuanced, many of her contemporary white americans believed that the notion of christian salvation was offered in exchange of enslavement and was a sufficient explanation for their apparent inconsistencies. their enslavement to the british empire was political and economic, which they believe was forcing free people to bow to the pressure of resources without sufficient compensation.

modern historians since see the hypocrisy of this viewpoint but earlier there was no conflict. developed toefully ensure individual liberties were protected from governmental threats. in another twist of irony, individual liberties, especially those related to property rights would have a devastating impact upon universal liberties that transcend racial boundaries. the declaration of independence arguably serves as the most powerful symbol for america's founded, crafted an elegant prose and unapologetically direct in its forcefulness, the document is celebrated by citizens throughout the country and sometimes internationally. like americans have held a complex relationship with the document, however as it reflects the deliberate hypocrisy of

freedom given to only a select portion of the population. virginia's declaration of rights a month before had already declared that slavery would be a protected institution while simultaneously proposing that "all men are equally free and independent." jefferson's declaration followed these popular sentiments. appending the document that granted liberty and freedom to the newly american citizens, jefferson was served his nightly tea by a house slave named richard. the tea served by an enslaved hand like the aided jefferson's concentration on his crowning achievement. while we do not have testimonials from either of the two men about this bizarre a historian proposes that "perhaps, the irony is not lost on either of the two."

only mentioning slavery as a way to incite the fear of flight: s, the document -- fear of white shows as, the document hunger for expansion freedom and slavery. it is no wonder that many decades later, frederick douglass, the foremost abolitionist in the united states, declared what to the slave is the fourth of july? obviously, there is a contradiction. as the country moved through warfare and work to establish governing principles, various principles were held to the public. the articles of the confederation, hopelessly succumbed to slave owning interests, renouncing the somerset decision and foreshadowed the fugitive slave act by declaring the government held responsibility for returning any runaway slave to its owner. the articles also initiated vigorous discussions over state

sovereignty, a debate that continues today. it is election season and we care about state's writes all the time. unsurprisingly, southern states lobbied for state rights. a not-so-subtle method for protecting these slaveholders interest in ensuring other states could not infringe on the racial practices. while slavery was gradually dying in the north, especially after the war's conclusion in the late 18th century, the southern states showed few signs to downsizing their investments. i would like to discuss the constitution is little bit. when i listen to radio programs and i sometimes hear conservative hosts talk about how americans do not know what the constitution really says, cure is what the constitution really says. "taxes one, section two should be enforced among several

states that can be included within this union accorded to their respective numbers which can be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound of service for a term of years and excluding 3/5 of all other persons." this is where the 3/5 compromise language.f its " tole one, section nine, provide for the repel of invasions, many have suggested that the suppressions meant a pressing slaves. " article one, section nine "the migration of such persons by any of the states existing shopping proper to admit, shell not be

prohibited by the congress prior 1808 but a tax may persons." on such this expanded the years of the transatlantic slave trade. they were still allowing some leeway to slaveowning interests. sorry, the constitution is a lot longer than many may think, so i am trying to move through here. "the united states shop protect each of them against invasion and an application of the when the legislature cannot be convened against the mystic violence>." all right. so, essentially the importance of understanding what the constitution says and the bazaar

bizzare you -- believe that you cannot change the writing, means some people think these were progressive things stated. ce,le amendments are ni the fact that the original document still says these things, disenfranchises part of the population, and people wonder why individuals are frustrated in their current circumstances when not even the founding document of their history suggests they are even citizens. black americans have always had a complex relationship with these founding documents. those like martin luther king jr. and barack obama have invoked the declaration of independence and the constitution to discuss the inherent

those like former secretary of state condoleezza rice their largely traditional republican party still asserts when the founding fathers said we the people that did not mean us. in many respects the continuous issues with surrounding equality in the nations founding manifested deep contradictions in the american republic. contextualizing the founders possible motives certainly remains a challenge for the modern philosophy. i will propose a few ideas. us to thext leads pertinent question of presidents who owned slaves. they could justify owning people. we should understand the founding fathers anticipated that slavery would die a natural death. but this did not mean black and white coexistence.

confusion that many people make is the opposition to slavery and the idea of race. to the anti-slavery did not mean to be pro-black. so we're clear on that. the founding fathers envisioned america as a reflection of european american achievement. eliminating the african-american population from the national imagery. ensuele proposals would but many like james madison a slave owner himself believed that relocation was the best develop theelped american colonization society. an organization that relocated black people to win the west african country of liberia. he says the two races cannot coexist both being free and equal.

encapsulating the original sentiments of racial strife that continues to plague many parts of the nation. despite their optimism for emancipation slavery expanded rapidly. forcing many to question how a country could be sustained when overs so deeply divided its primary economic institutions. for george washington, slavery was a normal part of his life. at the age of 11 his dying father bequeathed his large virginia plantation to the young washington. which included the inheritance of 10 slaves. he ambitiously expanded his holdings and purchased around eight more slaves as a young adult. he knew that marriage was a key factor. mary and martha custis

dramatically expanded his holdings in human property. by the time of his death, more than 300 slaves were at mount vernon. washington fancied himself a kind slave owner. expressing shock and dismay when a favorite slave rebels against bondage. accounts differ on whether he was a benevolent slave owner or not. some neighbors believe he was excessively stern. others suggested he had a gentle approach. it was washington's relationship with a few slaves that provides significant insight. i have already mentioned the ordeal of those who fled bondage to be recaptured. and placed in perpetual slavery. other slaves were more successful. in a twist of fate one enslaved man named kerry washington ran away to the british army.

despite the promises of liberty and freedom promoted by the declaration of independence this was not for him. prior to sailing to the british colony of sierra leone. he would be exiled by british authorities for his participation in an uprising against colonial administrators. his revolutionary spirit was manifested on both sides of the atlantic. the situation simultaneously revealed that racial inequality and unjust governance was a transatlantic issue. arguably the most unique figure among washington's slave population was his world-renowned chef. an individual washington expressed a certain connection toward. scholars suggest that providing laid on thehercules

sadistic emotions of slave masters. as they allotted the names of greek heroes and champions to individuals who legally held no agency bodies. hercules at least from a comparative perspective gained a certain amount of autonomy as washington's slave and to an additional income. a sum that is likely than many free white people are. andules dressed lavishly traveled with washington. his culinary skills were celebrated outside the confines of washington's home. despite his more benign experiences, freedom back and hercules. departed1797 he washington's home while they were residing in philadelphia.

his exact motivations were difficult to decipher. it seems hercules went reasonably well as a slave to the most powerful man in the united states but nothing could replace ownership over his own person. this is a trend subsequent slaves would take throughout the 19th century. much to the chagrin of the masters. washington would request his slaves be liberated at the time of his death. many of them were. he firmly believed that freedom provided few benefits to black people. it was common among white colonists and early americans to conclude that black people held intellectual deficiencies and lack industry to advance the positions and freedom. in a unique turn of events, washington also helped correspond with the aforementioned phillis wheatley.

she sent washington f his appointment as commander-in-chief. a poem that loaded washington's place in history. chief with virtue on my side. by the reaction neglect the goddess guide. mansion and a throne that shines with gold unfading. washington be thine. washington eventually received wheatley at his home in 1776. switching gears, thomas jefferson the nation's third president and arguably the most polarizing figure in the .iscussion so progressive in many respects, jefferson not only held many toves but he subscribed

extreme forms of racism. that analyzed black people as a subspecies of the human family. for historians is most offensive statements emerged from his work notes on the state of virginia. he discussed the habits and customs of the area's inhabitants. from what was supposedly first-hand observation. hee most of his work, explore the concepts of romance and love among african descended people. he specifically targeted black men. they appeared argent after their female but loves seem with them more in either desire and attend her delicate mixture of sentiment and sensation. for jefferson, the overtly sexualized and passionate african actions demonstrated genuine concern for women.

but they lacked the ability to love as white people did. jefferson was also privy to the rather bizarre discussion but sexually connected africans with orangutans. hypothesis of the jamaican planter, jefferson surmised that africans desired white mates in the same manner as the orangutan demonstrated a preference for black women over those of his own species. yeah. [laughter] was one of the more bizarre intellectual currents produced. some writers even believed that orangutans could be performed to perform similar tasks in similar ways as africans. the notion that further stabilized to the position of european superiority over the analyzed slaves of african descent. i removed watching 12 years a slave and they were building a

shed in the slave owner claimed that he saw entering tang perform down in new orleans and the same intelligence is the slaves. this was something that it wasn't just what jefferson thought. a lot of people actually subscribe to this. this theory of interspecies copulation between africans and primates again with the slave traders on the african coast who claims to witness these interactions. such notions became embedded in the development of scientific racism in the 18th century. images taking orangutans carrying off african women became upset that is legitimate. is tempting to dismiss jefferson's statement as those of an elite planter. ideas showof these the gullibility that many: o'neill americans likely possessed when confronted with

stereotypes of africa sexual practices no matter how bizarre they appear. jefferson also approached slavery from economic perspective. determining the advantages of slavery over importation. considered then labor of the breeding woman is no object. a child raised every two years is of more profit than the crop of the best laboring man. with respect therefore to our women and their children i must pray you inculcate upon our overseers that is not their labor but their increase which is first consideration. that, the practice became a primary economic incentive for slaveowners there. violences these were

psychologically as well as physically. slaves were forced to copulate with one another. it was not so much the marital right there was the primary issue but the assurance of a natural increase to numerically bolster the slave population. as many know, jefferson's interests and slave sexual encounters were also cross racial. remiss if i did not mention sally hemmings. while i have no new research to contribute, it is a relationship will never cease to be fascinating. for those of you who watch scandal there is a great episode where olivia gets mary met it fits for pursuing her. she says something to the effect of feeling like sally hemmings. which angers the very powerful white president. sally hemmings is still very much a part of popular culture. it also subject of debate.

to deny this dna evidence and say was disproved by other things. storyy ways jefferson's remains unresolved in this case. invention of the late 20th century as far as accusing jefferson of sleeping with this woman or maybe forcing her to lie with him. this is something that people and contemporaries accused him of doing. this is not something that was a secret. propagandaolitical were accusing him of having relationships with sally hemmings. i don't think he was ever in that it he did take her with him to france and he seemed somewhat open with the relationship. i usually tell my students to garner their interest in why history matters. opera,want a true soap scholars propose that sally hemmings was actually the

half-sister of jefferson's own wife. if you want a very scandalous relationship, that is one of them to tell. we must reckon with reality that the designer of the declaration of independence held hundreds of people as slaves. most of home he never free. the vast majority of whom he never free. hopefully historians will continue to interrogate the intellectual history of jefferson and perhaps continue to take opportunity to intersect the historical reality with the public memory. the washington and jefferson are the two most prominent examples of slaveowning presidents it is worth highlighting key facets of other successors will slaves. especially those who did so while they occupied the white house. james madison who followed jefferson is the fourth president of the united states owned more than 100 slaves holding a large percentage while he occupied the white house. for proposingble

and expanding the 3/5 compromise the guaranteed the south disproportionate influence in congress to preserve and uphold slavery. slaves, pauln jennings, published a memoir of his experiences as a slave to the president. nature, it casually inserts his deepest criticisms toward dolly madison. one of his grievances surrounded her reluctance to deliver payments owed to him as she kept quote the last red santa" forcing him to seek additional employment to pay for his wardrobe and his laundry. he was also forced to live away from his wife. she lived on another virginia plantation. slaves referred to these relationships as a broad marriages. engaged in abands

practice called night walking. sometimes dodging the attentions of slave patrols to visit their wives one or two nights out of the week. uncovered thee jennings actively resisted the system even after he was free. purchasing his freedom through heotiation in 1847, participated in an attempted escape of enslaved people in 1848 that rocked washington dc. jennings would assist dolly madison during the duration of her life his forgiveness was especially compelling when one considers the james madison did not free any of the slaves. a president like james monroe help 75 slaves during his life. he followed in the strange contribution diction of his counterparts. expressing a disdain for slavery while owning slaves himself. this was common.

his most well-known for his support for the american colonization society and the modern capital monrovia bears his name. andrew jackson the seventh president owned many slaves. despised abolitionism. and gave permission for southern postmasters to detain abolitionist materials that dared to spread throughout the south. coupled with his forced removal of native americans and wars of them. on expansion, and have wondered why jackson's face remains on the $20 bill. martin van buren the eighth president owned one slave named im who skate nation routine but would later support the free soil party that opposed the expansion of slavery to the west. that does not necessarily mean he opposed the existence of slavery, just its expansion.

leave henry harrison owned 12 slaves. he unsuccessfully lobbied to legalize slavery in indiana which was opposed by thomas jefferson. virginian, a staunchly defended the preservation of slavery. he is oftentimes voted one of the worst presidents. james k. polk owned slaves in the white house, commissioning his wife to free their slaves after her death. the 13th amendment beat them to the punch. she did not die until the 1890's. zachary taylor owned many slaves. but generally advocated against the expansion of slavery. this was a surprising maneuver for taylor. which challenged the ire of proslavery ideologues. taylor died in 1850 during a heated debate over the expansion of slavery.

and ulysses s. grant, to post civil war presidents, also at one point owned slaves. the main point here despite a dearth of resources we find that each unique and interesting president was surrounded by interesting enslaved people. historians must continue to find the stories and secure their place in the canon of american historical figures. be moredividuals should than secondary figures in high school history textbook. you have they make about far. whatcauses me to wonder can we say about the american revolution? the ideas of freedom and democracy were compelling and revolutionary among themselves, some people compose the idea behind a revolution is that you can turn the house down and

build up to something new and better. c get rid of everything that was bad about it. the great irony of calling it an american revolution is that the most nefarious aspect of the colonies was glossed over and the interest of a few elite people who wanted to keep others in bondage. even though many of them knew that what they were doing was wrong. their chilly statements from these individuals that condemn slavery despite the fact that they continued to own slaves. end thisd like to presentation now with my own words but with somebody who i think could say it much better than i can. quote fromnd with a david walker's appeal as he eloquently takes on the blatant contradictions of the founding principles in the u.s. nation.

that the prove condition of the israelites was better under the egyptians. i call upon the professing christians and the philanthropists and the tyrant himself to show me a page of history either sacred or profane on which a verse can be found which maintains that the egyptians held the insupportable insult upon the children of israel are telling them that they were not of the human family. can the whites did i discharge? have they not after having reduced us to the horrible condition of slavery under their feet. a dissenting originally from tribe of monkeys or orangutans? every man i appeal to

a feeling. is this not insupportable? is it not keeping the most gross insult upon our miseries because they have got us under their feet and we cannot help ourselves. master.us, lord has mr. jefferson declared to the world that we are inferior to whites? both of the endowments of our bodies and our minds? it is indeed surprising that a man of such great learning combined with such excellent natural heart should speak so of .he sin of man in chain i don't know what to compare it to. unless by putting one wild deer in and cage work will be secure and hold another by the side of the same then let it go and expect the one in the cage to run as fast as the one in liberty. thank you. [applause]

let's give dr. perry another round of applause. [applause] >> what political price to these presidents who owned slaves while in office pay? perry: this is a good question.

indication that their politics or their influence suffered from these decisions. the 3/5largely because compromise insured that southern slaveholding interest dominated the politics of washington dc. even if youe owner claim to did to dislike it people may have been ambivalent about the idea that slave owning seemed this type of normalcy where it would not of been surprising for someone to own slaves while occupying the white house. even though we are talking about 12 u.s. presidents first this seems bizarre and strange. for an 18th or 19th century white to voting individual, this would've been normal for the day.

i don't think they pay any price. pays any price. my question is in relation to justice scalia. this notion of pure constructionism as you were , they really it didn't embrace the idea of slavery but practiced it. reallymendments didn't alter the philosophical premise of us being 3/5. is this conservative constructionist review of the constitution then problematic based on what you said? dr. perry: i think that

sometimes we have to try to understand how certain people perform in a way that is expected of them. in the 21st century there is a lot of discussion about capitalism versus socialism. me is ig that interests see a lot of very prominent wealthy people rail against capitalism. while making their money from capitalist ways. this is something i think about when i try to get into the minds of an 18th-century individuals. the idea that the founding fathers were banking on the possibility that slavery would die. and that they were simply just condescending the conditions of that time and in some ways was a method to downplay the

significance of what they were doing. if you are george washington and you are saying slavery is going to die anyway, that takes a psychological burden off him. he can see like a progressive individual because he hopes it will go away at some point. in some ways a lot of people living in the modern conditions say this all the time. you just have to play the game. get the job. then you can make a difference. the founding fathers, we have propped them up so much that there is this national memory to which everything they were doing infallible.fallibl but i think washington knew that what he was doing was wrong. >> if you are a strict constructionist than the decisions that he made are all

saying that in the light of current reality today we should thathange anything because was the foundation. perry: we hear a lot of discussion about the law of the land. legality does not necessarily mean morally right. centuryext of the 19th slavery was a legal institution but we would condemn it as an immoral practice. one of the problems i have with conservative supreme court is the unwillingness to believe that things change. and they change for the better.

there is not this linear way that we get to certain things. things changed a lot. some traditionalists refuse to see it that way. >> the letters that slaves exchange. i heard that slaves were killed if they were even thought to have reading ability. so where do these letters come from? perry: these letters were dictated by the enslaved people through the masters. for the woman her mistress wrote the letter as she spoke it.

for historian using certain methodological practices i have to be very careful in understanding there is a filter operating there. in what could actually be said. the same goes for the man william butler as well. his master wrote the letter. he does a footnote on the letter to says i wanted to do this prove it us louisiana slave owners aren't so bad at all. so there was an incentive for writing a letter for enslaved person to promote yourself up as a benevolent paternal slave owner. there are examples of enslaved people learning to read. douglass saidick that one of his mistresses taught him to read because she believes personally that was ok to educate some people. the vast majority of white slaves becoming literate because the make and read what the bible actually

said. we know many of the slave women were taken advantage of. our people hands down stories through each other so they going to talk. is there any record of how many presidents had children by slave of these slave women? perry: this follows up with thomas jefferson's very unique existence. the idea of oral traditions and whether or not it makes it into the canada history. scholars have found that jefferson's descendents have known for a while through family traditions that they were descendents of the third president. academic historians were reluctant to accept these oral

traditions. they were largely distrustful of these histories. with the advancement of dna evidence, they have been able to to those whoink claim to be descendents of thomas jefferson through sally hemmings. dna tove linked the same the individuals. ,ome people who deny this claim you can divide it all you want. it seems pretty definitive that not only did they think that jefferson was doing this while it has now been proven. he is the only one that i because heknow of was kind of an open book with his relationship. whether or not there were others i'm not entirely sure.

>> jay rodgers wrote the book and said that some of the presidents had black blood. that alexanderow hamilton was mixed race. he was born in the caribbean. i think to a mixed-race mother. quadroon.ve been a quiet i'm not sure about other presidents being of african descent. i think some of them were indigenous or american indian. prominent members were but they were able to pass. >> christianity in america.

how they reconcile owning slaves and also be christian? is thery: the question problem with saying you are a christian welding slaves.

how that reflects the current circumstance of the country. they would reconcile it the same way that many white southern slave owners were done so. the bible can be very dependingy utilized on what somebody wants to look on such with it. was a very nice revolutionary figure. peace and love. but there is a passage in the new testament in which paul says that slaveowning and christianity can coexist. paul himself was a product of the roman empire. it was a massive slaveowning society. the way that most

slave owners would say it just as paul did with rome as long as it was a legal institution you can legally owned slaves. you supposed to treat your slaves well. they would say we are following christian slaveowning. look at this elaborate wedding i just gave my favorite domestic slave. they would promote these proslavery apologetics to deem themselves the nine .aternalistic slaves were more like children than they were like laborers. simultaneously they were ripping apart millions of people from one another. like most slaveowning jefferson was dubious on the literal notion of the bible and being christian. jefferson was more of a deist.

he was not a true believer. even something like washington could read a biblical passage and see that slavery is endorsed in both the old and the new testament and declare that as long as the country allows slavery to exist you can be both a christian and a slave owner. but when the law of the land erases it is when you can no longer owned slaves. theying white supremacy could justify slavery. these aren't full people. they are closer to apes or baboons or whatever. i can own them and still talk about this democracy. dr. perry: become central

question of public versus private. the way you publicly act might not necessarily be the way privately think. one of the interesting things , there was ann individual named benjamin banneker. he was a prominent scientist to survey the land of washington dc. he was highly intelligent. publishing almanacs and scientific investigations. jefferson and said you cannot suggest that people of african descent are lower human beings. this is proof of the capabilities. jefferson wrote a very nice letter saying that sounds good. he corresponded with

somebody else distancing himself from what banneker did. when the founding fathers were challenged, they were willing to concede is in the back of their minds they didn't. they were not willing to the vast and powerful slaveowning interests. >> to say that i'm not a bad slave owner is like saying you're not a bad stormtrooper when you're off duty. slavery is not anything new in the world. there are many egyptian slaves. slavery in america was a different type of slavery. you could go back to wherever you are from. can you elaborate on how it was so much different from anywhere else in the world? dr. perry: this is a great

point. even when you look at the entire transatlantic era in which it was't just the british, it the spanish in the french and the portuguese in the danish and , multiple european countries were invested in slavery. some came with their own glossies of what it meant to be an enslaved person. did they have any legal rights? i think what i usually tell my why slavery here was a .ifferent institution people say rome had a lot of slaves. as a way to dismiss the significance of it. but usually say what happened

here is unprecedented in human history. islamic regimes in the middle east that a racialized form of slavery. this ideaned here was that because of one's skin color that person was considered human and theirr chattel descendents were also born to be slaves. he was much easier for your children to become free. . it was determined to ensure that a specific racial group would be slaves for as long as human history would continue. i'm glad you asked that question. slavery here was unprecedented and different.

>> how much of an impact was language within the documentation? a lot of people couldn't read. they would associate black to that it was assumed that these people were justified to be labeled 3/5 of a human being. dr. perry: the number of people work on this. the changing of names was deliberate.

you are now just african and a negro in the slaves. terminology does matter in this context. we'll call it that enough in the 18th century. just as we use language today to convey the intensity of certain points. , if you somebody's name todayeen roots, conducted contested the name and he was beaten into submission to accept the name. privately he still called himself that. there was a deliberate social conditioning to accept the names jefferson or johnson or these anglo names to forget the heritage.

former slaves would talk about africa they would largely modeled the beliefs of their white counterparts. this was something that was ingrained in people from multiple generations. garvey and black nationalism we are now starting to get out of that and seeing the connections to africa. howard has influenced the very unique development of african americans the names do matter. even if it is an idea of reinventing yourself. what is your view on the new tax for the same outcome as far as the government relationship with industry and modern-day

slavery in the form of mass incarceration? dr. perry: i wish michelle alexander was here. the new jim crow is a great book. what i usually tell my students evidence thats becomes very difficult to deny that there are not historical linkages of race. to those who say slavery happened 150 years ago, it is an annoying excuse in which the narrative goes like this. forenslave these people multiple generation. a civil war has to be for. ught. people are freed and given a few rights for maybe a decade. due to action and its

very shady presidential election in 1876 with rutherford b. hayes and jim crow is allowed to flourish. in the 1960's you have the civil rights movement the lots of andng rights act of people affirmative action policies. that largely benefit white women statistically. years everything is supposed to be ok. when we look at people fleeing the jim crow south to settle in urban centers in los angeles or chicago or new york all throughout the united states subprime loans are given to many of these individuals locking them into perpetual debt. the argument is that the racism now is much more subtle.

which many people say is the very dangerous form. if you are down to 1940's mississippi you at least know what you're going to get. now under the assumption of the post-racial nationstate we can racism by saying my son or daughter goes to school with all these various people. we can dismiss this idea that there's is not a deliberate attempt to incarcerate particularly large -- young black men. privilegedo than white males. statistics have borne this out. that much moreng qualified people have explored. you can look at the comparison who haveblack men crack against white men who have cocaine.

young black men with smaller amounts of crack received a much harsher sentences. there is an excellent you might need to watch and you have some alcohol available cold kits for sale. it essentially discusses how there were people who were literally invested in locking up people of african descent. it is harder to identify. unless you see those documentaries you simply don't know. you just assume that individuals are doing it to themselves. >> and thank you so much. we have one final lecture in the series. for black governors since reconstruction. i hope you'll come back. and spread the word.

thank you for spending your afternoon with us. [applause] if you don't have a membership to the museum may ask you to please consider getting a membership. you can do it online. know the great things we do here at the california african-american museum. thank you dr. perry. [applause] >> you are watching american history tv all weekend every weekend. join the conversation like us on facebook at c-span history. monday on the communicators.

wheeler of the federal communications commission. he talks about issues facing the fcc. including that neutrality. regulation of the internet and privacy. the spectrum incentive auction that is just beginning. how he views the future of telecom and the internet. he is joined by the technology reporter for the washington post. wheeler: i was able to be involved as they were bringing great change to the american economy and the way people live their lives. and that is what we're dealing with it the fcc. -- middlethe bidding of one of the great revolutions of all time. had we deal with the