Paul Jennings

Title

Paul Jennings

Description

Paul Jennings was an enslaved man owned by James Madison who lived in the White House during the Madison presidency. He was 15 years old in 1814 when the British invaded Washington, DC, and burned down the presidential residence. Almost fifty years later, Jennings wrote a memoir recalling that day and asserting that a gardener and the cook saved the portrait of George Washington, not Mrs. Madison. Jennings gained his freedom in 1847 and became a prominent member of the free black community in Washington, DC. In 1848, he helped to organize an ultimately unsuccessful slave escape in Washington; the path the slaves took toward freedom ran across the Mall.

Creator

Paul Jennings

Source

Courtesy of Sylvia Jennings Alexander

Coverage

1800-1829

1830-1859

birthday

1799