engaging our partners as well as our hers in bringing to the f e forethe the history to monticello.s not only been a best-selling author of "con fed rafederates in the " his newest, "midnight rising" which is about john brown and events that changed the course of american history forever. he worked for many years for "the wall street journal" and "the new york times." he's a swre, very dear friend. one of the things i want to tell you about tony, he really and truly has a notion we like the say that we put people in the boots of those that went before us in order for them to know as david mccullough told us years ago, those people who lived long you a go didn't know they were living long ago. tony one-ups it. not only do our programs try to put students and visitors and teachers into the boots of those long ago, tony wants to get not into their boots but into their minds. and he has done that every book he has written. we are here today. a conversation and then we are going to open the floor to your questions to this amazing man. because you are our friend we can say you are an amaz

well as our authors in bringing to the fore the history in the swath of land from gettysburg to monticello. we could not be more thrilled than to have tony with us who has not only been the best-selling author of "confederates in the attic," "voyages long and strange," as well as the chronicle of captain cook's navigation of the globe three times, which he did personally as well. >> not three times. >> not three times. and, of course, his newest "midnight rising," which is about john brown and the events that changed the course of american history forever. tony is also a pulitzer prizewinning journalist. he worked for many years for the "wall street journal" and "the new york times." but one of the things i want to tell you about tony is he really want to tell you he is a very, very dear friend. one of the things about tony is he really and truly has a notion that we at the journey like to say that we put people in the boots of those who went before us, in order for them to know, as david mccullough told us years ago, those people who lived long ago didn't know they were living long ago. t

we had gone to monticello and new were lands but really never thought about a completely different kind of america. everybody by a new it was a few generations and very different ratio politics. i spent several summers in the south and after a graduated college and thought of loathsome thing i discovered is rethinking of jim crow at the southern experience. if you understand it was the whole nation. certain forms of state mandated acts a lot of the more private economic forms and that is why we have not gone as far because we define the problem that was a national problem if read have not actually figured out the rest of it. >> host: why called "the lost promise of civil rights"? >> lawyers have a sense what it could take to underline to grow lucrative had the interpretation of the constitution that would have bet more underwriting all of these parts but one was called a victory. brown was a victory we don't want to go back to say there is this other stuff. it is much harder. they want to build on those but we left a lot on the table. that photograph from the 1940's, african-american fa

blacksmith is freed and jefferson says in his will that the blacksmith cannot only be free but live on monticello and have his blacksmith's tools and live in his cabin with his family. only thing is jefferson forgot to free his family. so the day he got free he saw his family, his wife and children auctioned off to a number of different buyers. that's the end point of settling the estate. but the middle point from the death of the master to the settling of the estate, the executor has to do something with slaves. and often the easiest thing to do is to rent them out to other people. so that a man dies, leaving 15 slaves, his widow will eventually get a use of some of these slaves. his children will eventually get the slaves. while they're sorting this out, the executor comes in and says, you know, i'm just going to take these slaves and rent them out and have a steady cash flow. so what we find is almost every american slave, or a vast majority of them at some point in their life are rented out to someone else. now, here's where it gets intere interesting. we're in the middle of the sesquicentenn

she has been the director of interpretation at monticello, thomas jefferson, the director of education at montpellier, james madison's house and a fellow at the virginia foundation for the humanities and now she is the author of this book, "a slave in the white house" paul jennings and the madisons. and i might add she has also appeared on "the daily show" which you may be interested in seeing. i met death when she came with the manuscript here the library and in the reading room she realized that the library's collections of papers of leading colonial national figures contained papers and information about people who are not those people that other people, the people who surrounded them and very often those people were slaves. that information takes the form of mentions and letters journals and records but sometimes they consist of letters written by the slaves themselves. this is a case of paul jennings, the paul jennings letters that beth found in the dolley madison papers. often, it's interesting to revise documents like these survived often because they were swept up into the pape

home, national building museum where we are live it includes wonderful models iconic homes like monticello, how to come out and see this exhibit, we will talk live later [ man ] did we getet anything good? sweetie i think you need a little extra f fiber in your di. fiber makes me sad. oh common. i dare you to taste one hint of fiber in fiber one. oh, i'd be able to tell. why don't i just eat this bag? and how can you talk to me about fiber when you are eating a candybar. you enjoy that. i am. [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios tv, internet and phone for just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement. act now and we'll add a special bonus: $250 back. but hurry, this offer ends june 2nd. unlike cable, fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers america's fastest, most consistent, most reliable internet plus the best tv picture quality. why keep paying so much for cable? switch to fios for just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement -

director of the interpretation act monticello and not the year and the virginia foundation. now the author of the book "a slave in the white house" i might add she has appeared on "the daily show". [laughter] i met her when she came to the manuscript division. she realized the collection of leading colonial figures contained papers of those who surrounded them and very often they were slaves. sometimes farmers but also the slaves. that is the case of the paul jennings letters. documents still serve five often because they were swept up into the papers of prominent people sometimes it is the zero leave recorded evidence of their lives. she could excavate the story and now i am proud to introduce beth tailoress. [applause] >> thank you for having me today. a slave -- "a slave in the white house" of great labor of love three years researching and one year by teeing it. i have on this -- fondness for pieces and i enjoy when they become with anecdotal the. i adapted that approach the chapter starts with they've been yet. if i give the weather is documented by say the overcoat is