Paul Jennings Memoir



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Paul Jennings (1799–1874) was an American private servant, as a younger enslaved man, to President James Madison throughout and after his White House years. After shopping for his freedom in 1845 from Daniel Webster, Jennings is famous for publishing in 1865 the primary White House memoir.[1] His e-book was A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison, described as “a singular doc within the historical past of slavery and the early American republic.”[2]

In 1848, Jennings helped plan a mass escape of 77 enslaved folks from Washington, DC on the schooner Pearl. It was the most important escape try by enslaved folks in US historical past.[6][8][10] In an effort funded by white abolitionists William L. Chaplin and Gerrit Smith, the free black group of Washington enlarged the escape, gathering tens of enslaved folks keen to danger the 225-mile crusing journey to freedom within the North.

  1. Paul Jennings' memoir contains an incredible amount of information about his life as an enslaved African American at Montpelier and the White House. You can read the entire memoir on Montpelier's Digital Doorway website, including annotations from historians and scholars that provide context for Jennings' account: Read Paul Jennings' Memoir.
  2. Paul Jennings is a well known childrens author so it was very interesting to read HIS story. This was a beautifully written memoir of his life with each chapter starting with a picture or photo with a few short paragraphs on the opposite page that intrigued the reader into thinking 'how does this fit.
  3. “A detailed picture of the lives of Virgnia slaves and their interactions with their owners, each other, and the wider community.” ―Asbury Park Press “Thanks to Elizabeth Dowling Taylor's enterprise and craftsmanship in rescuing and reanimating this significant and remarkable, but nearly forgotten, American personality, A Slave in the White House is a gift to the early history of the.

Fearing for his future, Jennings tried to rearrange a purchase order worth with Madison, however she bought him to an insurance coverage agent for $200 in 1846. Six months later, Senator Daniel Webster intervened to purchase him from the brand new proprietor for $120 and gave Jennings his freedom, for which he paid the senator in work.[8][10] He entered the massive free black group of Washington, which outnumbered enslaved folks by three to 1 on the time.[11]

Paul Jennings Memoir

Paul Jennings was a slave who worked for President James Madison. Jennings would eventually win his freedom and is best known for writing one of the first memoirs regarding life in the White House. Although he lived well past the Civil War, Paul’s firsthand account of the Madison Presidency gets him his day as a Founder.

Struggling financially, in 1844 Dolley Madison bought Montpelier and all its property, together with its slaves, to boost cash to dwell on.[7] That yr Fanny, Jennings’ spouse, died in Virginia. The following yr, Dolley Madison employed out Jennings to President James Polk in Washington. Often slaves who have been employed out acquired to maintain a portion of their earnings, however she stored all of it, as she was impoverished.[8]

In 1837, the widow Dolley Madison took Jennings along with her when she returned to Washington, DC to dwell within the winter seasons.[7][8] He was compelled to go away his household behind however was permitted to go to them sometimes. In 1841, she wrote her will, which might free Jennings after her dying, the one slave whom she freed in her will.[8] In Washington as an grownup, Jennings noticed a wider group. Among its many free blacks on the time have been descendants of slaves of the previous presidents Washington, Jefferson, and Madison.[9]

After the president ended his second time period, the Madisons returned to Montpelier in 1817, bringing Jennings with them.[7] He was 18 years previous and continued to serve Madison as his valet for the remainder of the president’s life. Jennings married Fanny, an enslaved lady held on one other plantation, and so they had 5 youngsters, who lived with their mom.[8] Jennings was with Madison when he died in 1836.[3]:18–19

In 1814 in the course of the Burning of Washington, as British troops have been approaching the White House, Jennings at age 15, with two different males, reportedly helped save the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington often called the Lansdowne portrait. Other White House slaves helped save such valuables as silver. (The portrait was returned to the White House, the place it’s the solely surviving merchandise from earlier than the War of 1812.) Legend has it that he assisted First Lady Dolley Madison on this effort. In his memoir, Jennings wrote {that a} French cook dinner and one different individual did the bodily work of taking down the portray.[3]:12–13[6]

Jennings was enslaved at delivery at Montpelier in 1799; his mom, who was African-Native American, was enslaved by the Madisons.[3] She instructed the boy his father was Benjamin Jennings, an English dealer.[3] The mixed-race Jennings, as an enslaved baby, was a companion to Dolley’s son Payne Todd.[4] He started to serve James Madison as his footman and later was educated as his “physique servant”.[3] At the age of 10, Jennings accompanied Madison and his household to the White House after the statesman’s election as president.[5] In his 1865 memoir, he famous that the East Room was but unfinished from the primary building, a lot of the Washington streets have been unpaved, and the town was “a dreary place” in these years.[3]

In 2009 his descendants have been honored at Montpelier following a lecture on Jennings. They have been additionally invited to a personal viewing on the White House of the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington, which Jennings helped save in the course of the War of 1812 and the British burning of the Capitol.

Living in Washington, DC from 1837 on, Jennings made many helpful connections and was aided by the northern Republican Senator Daniel Webster in gaining freedom. In the 1850s, Jennings traveled to Virginia, the place he tracked down his youngsters, who had grown up on a neighboring plantation together with his late spouse Fanny, who was additionally enslaved. His family members on his mom’s facet have been bought by the widow Dolley Madison with Montpelier in 1844. His three sons joined the Union trigger in the course of the American Civil War.

1874 (aged 75)1874 (aged 75)
Washington, D.C.

#Paul #Jennings #slave

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Paul Jennings is the author of A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison (1865), the first memoir of a servant’s life in the White House.

Paul Jennings Memoir Movie

Born enslaved, Jennings was owned by the Madisons, and traveled with them to Washington while still a young boy, to serve in the White House when James Madison was elected fourth U.S. President. His mother was another Madison slave, and his father was reported to have been a white man named Benjamin Jennings, an English trader living in Chesterfield, Virginia. While living in the White House, Jennings witnessed the British occupation of DC in 1814 (during the War of 1812). He returned to Virginia with his master at the end of his term of office, and was present at James Madison‘s death in 1836.

Jennings moved back to DC with Dolley Madison, living with her in Lafayette Square. When she became impoverished, she sold off her remaining slaves, including Jennings, who was sold first to an insurance agent, Pollard Webb, in September 1846, then ten months later to Senator Daniel Webster, who freed Jennings, but made him continue to work for him to pay off his freedom at the rate of $8 a month. In a remarkable act of charity, Jennings later contributed funds toward Dolley Madison‘s support.

Jennings was an activist for the abolition of slavery. In 1848, Jennings helped plan a major escape of 77 slaves on the schooner Pearl, a plot that was ultimately unsuccessful. Jennings later worked for approximately 15 years as a laborer at the Pension Office of the U.S. Department of the Interior. He married three times, and three of his sons fought for the Union in the Civil War. He died in the home he owned at 1804 L St. NW (now razed, in the Farragut Square neighborhood) at age 75.

The Homes

721 Madison Pl. NW, Washington, DC (Cutts-Madison House)

This house was commissioned by Richard Cutts and his wife Anna, who was Dolley Madison’s sister. The Madisons took possession of the house in 1828, and the First Lady lived here from 1837 until her death in 1849. Now part of the National Courts building. A National Historic landmark.

Also home to: Robert Lowell

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC (The White House)

Madison Jennings

Built of Aquia Creek sandstone, this 130-room Neoclassical mansion was largely destroyed by arson during the War of 1812, and reconstructed in 1817. Additions include the South Portico (1824), the North Portico (1829), the West Wing (1901), and the Oval Office (1909). In 1949, the inside was completely gutted to stabilize the building with steel framing. The grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. in 1935. The mansion was named a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

Paul Jennings Memoir Summary

Also home to: Rose Elizabeth ClevelandUlysses S. GrantJohn HayHerbert HooverJohn F. KennedyEleanor RooseveltAnna Roosevelt HalstedJames Roosevelt IITheodore RooseveltHelen Herron TaftMargaret TrumanEdith Bolling Galt WilsonAlice Roosevelt LongworthElliott Roosevelt

Paul Jennings

Paul Jennings Memoir Books

721 Madison Pl. NW, Washington, DC
Located in Lafayette Square neighborhood, Northwest - East of Rock Creek

Paul Jennings

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Located in Lafayette Square neighborhood, Northwest - East of Rock Creek