The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House

195 Pages·2016·3.28 MB·English

by  Jesse J. Holland

THE INVISIBLES
The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White
House
JESSE J. HOLLAND
Guilford, Connecticut
An imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK
NETWORK
Copyright © 2016 by Jesse J. Holland All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission
from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of
Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
ISBN 978-1-4930-0846-9
ISBN 978-1-4930-2419-3 (e-book) The paper used in this publication meets
the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992.
For Carol, Rita, and Jamie, who make it all worth it to me.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Foreword
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
CHAPTER 2: William Lee and New York City
CHAPTER 3: The Beginning of African Slavery in the United States
CHAPTER 4: Oney Judge and Philadelphia
CHAPTER 5: Slavery and the Construction of the White House
CHAPTER 6: Thomas Jefferson and the First White House Slaves
CHAPTER 7: The Great American Melting Pot
CHAPTER 8: Paul Jennings and the Burning of the White House
CHAPTER 9: Slavery, Indentured Servitude, and the Law
CHAPTER 10: Andrew Jackson’s Stables
CHAPTER 11: The Rest
CHAPTER 12: Conclusion
Bibliography
About the Author
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS FIVE-YEAR PROJECT IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED TO MY WIFE AND children, who
had to put up with me skipping bicycle rides, story times, violin practice, date
night, and other assorted activities so I could huddle downstairs in the basement
office with my computer and music composing these words. Without Carol June,
Rita Elaine, and Jesse James III, none of this would have been worth doing. You
three are why I do what I do, and I hope you know how much I love you.
Special thanks go to my parents, Jesse and Yvonne Holland. My father—the
first Jesse J. Holland—read an earlier version of this work a couple of years ago
and said simply, “It’s good.” I can feel the smile spreading over my face now as
I remember that seemingly offhand comment from him as we sat chatting late
one night when I was visiting my childhood home in Mississippi. I don’t think
I’ve received a higher compliment in my life. And Mom, you know all of this is
you, right? Your curiosity, your determination, your single-mindedness, and
your creativity are all reflected in everything I do. The world lost a great writer
when you selflessly decided to spend your career teaching English instead of
finishing up your own work. And I still think the world deserves to read “The
Backwoods of Benton County.” We’re going to have to do something about that.
I also have to thank my family in Mississippi: My sisters and brother, Twyla,
Candace, and Fred, kept me sane and grounded when I felt like banging my head
against a wall, and kept pushing when I felt like giving up; my nieces and
nephew—Alexandria, Samantha, Fred Jr., Aida, and Annie—I look forward to
the next time I’m at home and we get to spend some serious quality time
together; and all of my cousins, uncles, aunts, and other relatives who make up
the extended Holland and Boga families. You’re all the best and I’ll see you
Thanksgiving and/or at the next reunion.
Dr. Rita Womack is deserving of a special thanks on this page for being
there whenever she was needed in any capacity that was required at that
moment. I wouldn’t get out the door every morning without her help, and so,
moment. I wouldn’t get out the door every morning without her help, and so,
thank you from the bottom of my heart. My in-laws, Mark and Leslie, also
deserve mention here because they always take on some of my burdens when
they’re here so I can write.
There are so many other people who helped me get to this point: the entire
Goucher College community but especially Patsy Sims, the former director of
the Creative Nonfiction Master of Fine Arts program, where parts of this work
were first refined as an idea and then as my MFA thesis. And then there were my
Goucher mentors, each of whom contributed greatly to this project: Jacob
Levenson, who came up with the name for this project, a version of which
currently adorns the cover; Laura Wexler, who gave me the confidence that you
could be a journalist and a long-form storyteller all at the same time (and whose
advice on looking at your own family for great story potential I plan to use in my
next project); my dearest Diana Hume George, who was always there with a
word of wisdom when I most desperately needed to hear it and someone who
gives me hope that someday when I grow up I can be a real writer; and Leslie
Rubinkowski, the new director of the Goucher Creative Nonfiction Master of
Fine Arts program, who got me across the finish line with the inimitable style
and grace she brings to everything. And a big thank you goes to my fellow
Goucher MFAers (next study hall’s on me!), but especially Stef Loh, Becky
Lerner, Annmarie Chiarini, Lisa Whipple, Earl Swift, Mike Capuzzo, Fanny
Brewster, Becky Lerner, Nena Baker, Magin Lasov Gregg, Lyra Hilliard, Mora
Lee, Robyn Barberry, Meredith May, Ann Stader, Mike Freeman, Holly
Sneeringer, Lauren Sallinger, and Julie Strauss Bettinger, who all read pieces of
this during our two years together at Goucher.
Thank you to everyone at the Carol Mann Literary Agency, but especially to
my agent, Joanne Wyckoff. In addition to being my agent, Joanne helped craft
the proposal used to sell The Invisibles as one of my instructors at Goucher. Her
deft touch can be seen throughout this book, and writers, if you get a chance to
work with her on a proposal? Take it. She knows what she’s doing.
There are so many people who took time out of their day to answer questions
and direct me on how to find needed information who need to be mentioned
here: the library staff at the Thurgood Marshall Library at Bowie State
University for allowing me to use their facilities during my research and writing
phases; the now-retired Yvonne Lev at Goucher College for her fabulous
researching skills; the library staff at the Bowie branches of the Prince George’s
County Library; the library staff in the Sojourner Truth room at the Oxon Hill
branch of the Prince George’s County Library; the library staff at the University
of Maryland’s Theodore McKeldin Library; the staff at the Library of Congress
and the National Archives in Washington, DC, who are probably tired of seeing
and the National Archives in Washington, DC, who are probably tired of seeing
me by now; and the employees at Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, The
Hermitage, Ash Lawn–Highland, Sherwood Forest, and the Spring-field
plantations. I was always fearful that people whose jobs depend on making early
presidents’ lives look good would not be willing to talk about their slaves but
everyone—and I mean everyone—was not only willing but eager to help. A
special thanks goes to Marsha Mullin at The Hermitage, Beth Taylor at
Montpelier, and Nancy Stetz at Ash Lawn–Highland, whose help I’ll always
appreciate. Thank you to all of those researchers and writers whose work paved
the way for this book: Annette Gordon-Reed, Wil Heygood, Clarence Lusane,
Garry Wills, Tingba Apidta, Lucia Stanton, Mary V. Thompson, Kenneth T.
Walsh, Bob Arnebeck, Sandra Fitzpatrick, Maria R. Goodwin, Dorothy Price-
Haskins, William Seale, and William Bushong; Alexandra Lane and everyone
else at the White House Historical Association; Richard Baker and Donald
Ritchie in the US Senate; and everyone else who has written or helped research
slavery in Washington, DC. A special thanks goes to Arthur Johnson, a historical
interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, who helped start me down this road years
ago (I couldn’t remember his name after I met him the first time, but we
reconnected on a second trip to Colonial Williamsburg and I told him I would
thank him properly in my second book!).
An extra big thank you goes to everyone at The Associated Press, but
especially my three bureau chiefs in Washington, DC: Sandy Johnson, Ron
Fournier, and Sally Buzbee. I also want to acknowledge my editors who helped
me through working on all of this while also doing my reporting job during
daylight hours: Matt Yancey, John Henry, Jim Drinkard, Mike Sniffen, and
Sonya Ross. Also deserving thanks here is Mark Sherman, my writing partner at
the Supreme Court, who shouldered so much of the burden there while I was
working on my Goucher thesis. Sonya Ross is the only person who gets thanks
here twice, because in addition to being my editor she is also a good friend and
mentor. On my list of mentors also deserving acknowledgment here are Robert
Naylor, Will Norton, Gloria J. Brown Marshall (I’m going to use the spinach-
filled Ho-Ho idea in print one day!), and Rod Hicks. And I can’t forget all of my
writer and creative friends, whose careers make me soooo jealous: Amy Vincent,
David Hitt, April Ryan, Del Wilber, Nancy Sharp, Thom Keller, Rene Pedraza
del Prado, Lee Eric Smith, and Tim Ivy.
I also would like to thank all of my friends at the National Association of
Black Journalists and my brothers of the Eta Zeta chapter of Omega Psi Phi
Fraternity, Inc., and my fraternity brother from another mother, Mark Stephens.
We’ll be hitting the big 5-0 soon, and it’ll be time to set it out!
One person I need to mention here at the end is Barry Hannah, the great
One person I need to mention here at the end is Barry Hannah, the great
author whom I had the pleasure of working under while at Ole Miss. Barry’s
gone now, but all of the advice and knowledge he passed on to me years and
years ago still rings true. And Barry, I haven’t forgotten your advice and I
promise you, I’m working on it.
Finally, there are so many people I need to thank that I’m sure I’m leaving
someone out but please, place the blame on my head and not my heart.