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Summary
Summary
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.
Author Notes
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.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The complex relationship between a president and his bondman abounds in ironies in this revealing study. Historian Taylor reconstructs the life of Jennings, a slave belonging to President James Madison who became his valet, barber and major-domo, bought his freedom from Madison's widow Dolly, and published admiring reminiscences of the couple. Taylor fleshes out slender sources into a convincing recreation of Jennings's relatively privileged but precarious existence, setting it against a vivid portrait of the deeply conflicted Madison, a theorist of liberty who lived off of slave labor and a master who prided himself on his paternalism yet broke his vow never to sell his "charges." At the heart of the story is the tension between the warm human relationship between Madison and Jennings and the remorseless inhumanity of slavery as an institution and ideology; in one tragicomic vignette, Madison declaims into a guest's ear trumpet about slaves' unfitness to live free among whites-while his servants studiously pretend not to hear him. Taylor paints a fascinating portrait of slavery, hypocrisy, and one man's quiet struggle to overcome its injustices. Photos. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison, which originally appeared in 1863. Throughout, Taylor reminds us of the moral failures of the Founding Fathers, especially their unwillingness to accept the notion that black people should enjoy the benefits of freedom so eloquently expressed in the nation's founding documents. Although Jennings testified to the kindness of Madison, he was still willing to buy and sell human beings. Dolley Madison does not come off so well. We hear about her petulance, excessive spending (she died in near poverty) and wastrel son from her first marriage. One admirable white man does emerge: Daniel Webster, who loaned Jennings the money to purchase his freedom (after Madison died), allowing him to work off the debt. But this is Jennings' story, and the author admirably keeps the focus on him--though there are occasional detours to explore context and speculate. Born in 1799, Jennings somehow learned to read and write and gradually assumed enormous importance in the Madisons' lives--both in Virginia and at the White House, where he was instrumental in saving a portrait of George Washington from the 1814 British assault. In 2009 his descendants met at the White House to honor their ancestor. An important story of human struggle, determination and triumph.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Paul Jennings (1799-1874) was a trusted and resourceful White House slave and valet to James Madison, on whose Virginia plantation he'd been born. After Madison died, Dolley Madison sold Jennings, who purchased his freedom from Daniel Webster in 1847 and became a successful and active member of the African American community in Washington. With evidence painstakingly pieced together from primary and secondary sources, Taylor, who held interpretation and education positions at both Madison's and Jefferson's Virginia estates, chronicles Jennings's life, offering detailed insight into the daily responsibilities, family life, and living conditions of household slaves on Virginia plantations, as well as the challenges faced by enslaved and free blacks in Washington. She also discusses Madison's (and Jefferson's) contradictory and hypocritical beliefs about human freedom, emancipation, abolition, and the colonization of freed blacks. Taylor includes (understandably) speculation about Jennings's actual experiences, but her rich documentation leaves little doubt that Jennings absorbed and was motivated by the discussions of politics and philosophy that he witnessed. Included is a foreword by Annette Gordon-Reed and Jennings's own A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison (1863), the first White House memoir. VERDICT A valuable and illuminating read at all levels; recommended.-Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.