Paul Jennings was born into slavery on the plantation of James and Dolley Madison in Virginia, later becoming part of the Madison household staff at the White House. Once finally emancipated by Senator Daniel Webster later in life, he would give an aged and impoverished Dolley Madison, his former owner, money from his own pocket, write the first White House memoir, and see his sons fight with the Union Army in the Civil War. He died a free man in northwest Washington at 75. Based on correspondence, legal documents, and journal entries rarely seen before, this amazing portrait of the times reveals the mores and attitudes toward slavery of the nineteenth century, and sheds new light on famous characters such as James Madison, who believed the white and black populations could not coexist as equals; French General Lafayette who was appalled by this idea; Dolley Madison, who ruthlessly sold Paul after her husband's death; and many other since forgotten slaves, abolitionists, and civil right activists.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
'[Paul Jennings's] remarkable life sheds new light on the central themes of American history during his lifetime and beyond. Taylor's sensitive reconstruction of one man and his family's experiences yields fresh perspectives on a wide range of subjects, including but hardly limited to James and Dolley Madison, the Montpelier plantation that was their and Jennings's home, the African-American experience under slavery, the world of free blacks in Washington City during the late antebellum era, and the Civil War and its legacy.Scholars and general readers alike will not be able to put this remarkable book down.' - Drew McCoy, history professor at ClarkUniversity and author of The Lastof the Fathers 'Elizabeth Dowling Taylor has presented us with the gift of a new American hero.With precision and compassion, Taylor deftly brings Paul Jennings out of the shadows of history. Writer, property-owner, freedom fighter, husband, and father - Jennings's life reveals the complicated humanity behind the designation 'slave.'This story will humble and inspire all who believe in the American Dream.' - Catherine Allgor, Professor of History at the University of California at Riverside, UC Presidential Chair
Sprache
Verlagsort
Basingstoke
Großbritannien
Zielgruppe
Für Beruf und Forschung
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Illustrationen
Maße
Höhe: 242 mm
Breite: 165 mm
Dicke: 26 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-230-10893-6 (9780230108936)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Elizabeth Dowling Taylor received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Over a 22-year career in museum education and historical research, she was Director of Interpretation at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and Director of Education at James Madison's Montpelier. Most recently a Fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Taylor is now an independent scholar and lecturer. She lives in Barboursville, Virginia. Annette Gordon-Reed, historian and legal scholar, has a triple appointment at Harvard University, where she is Professor at the Law School, History Department, and Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. In 2009 she won the Pulitzer Prize in history for her book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.
Preface; A.Gordon-Reed Introduction Raised and Nurtured Presidential Household Enamoured with Freedom Not Even Paul Change of Mind His Own Free Hands First Families of Color The Right to Rise Appendix:A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
