we know george washington and custis becomes involved in the american colonizing society.hey are emancipated so it's almost like a different story that we move into in the 19th century that captures this transition between the 18th and 19th century. i found a record and she didn't mention the possibility of an attempted capture by any of the grandchildren so that is an important point, but she was persecuted for at least three years. we know from the moment she runs away until the death of george washington she is pursued. so one of the things i think we have to remember is although there wasn't a sort of physical attempt to capture she knew she was still their property and as long as it existed in the united states, she was always at risk. so i do think it's important to note that the grandchildren did not appear to go after her. maybe a document will fall out of a desk somewhere and tell me a different story and if that happens, i'm excited, not worried but she clearly always knew she was a fugitive and that was a fear that ran true to her and her children. >> really goo

so george washington parke custis is his step grandson. thanks to him the diary that he kept and the observations that he made we get a sense of hercules personality and what he have going on in the kitchen. he have a biracial staff. there were indentured whites that worked in the kitchen. they were all in the kitchen together. obviously hercules was quite temperamental. they talk about fine at the instructions. a person seem equipped to talk about james before we can talk about laura. >> one is james hemmings. >> the chef before he becomes president. when james was 19. he actually takes it over to france. they have them trained as a classical chef. he didn't play him before. after he finishes the training. he installs him as the chef. he is here in philadelphia. as you know in the mid- 1790s he says i want to be free. if to teach one of the other enslaved people. what you see reuter here that is written in hemmings on hand. that's at the library of congress if you ever want to see it. he did study it when he got there. one of the cofounde

. >> washington george park custis admires washington and use the step grandson.we get a sense that of hercules personality and what he had going on in the two. one thing to know is that he had a biracial staff. he had enslaved african americans from mount vernon and they were indentured whites that worked in the kitchen and then his boss was a biracial man named samuel. evidently, hercules was quite temperamental as a chef. he would he would feel a kinship with gordon ramsay. >> yeah. [laughter] >> he talks about them flying at his instructions and how he if they messed up, he got mad at them wait wait wait. >> we've got a talk about james before we talk about. [laughter] >> he's not really, james henning. >> he does cook for a president. he is thomas jefferson's chef before he becomes president. he cooks for jefferson for that 1801 in monticello. >> right. right. it was sally having his older brother and james was 19 and jefferson got appointed to become minister of france, he takes hemmings over to france with him and for three years has him trained as a classi