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Descendants of Paul Jennings Visit White House

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A great story, first reported by the New York Times and, today, by NPR: The descendants of Paul Jennings, former slave and footman to the fourth president,  today visited the White House to have their picture taken in front of the George Washington portrait that Jennings famously helped saved from the fire set by the British in 1814.

The Montpelier Foundation organized the White House tour with dozens of Jennings’s family members (the Obamas are vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard). Lore has it that Jennings helped Dolley Madison save the now-famous portrait, even though she, unlike her husband, apparently did not treat Jennings or other slaves well. However, according to NPR’s blog post about the event, Jennings said in his memoir that he was simply asked to dismantle the portrait with the help of other servants so it could be moved.

Jennings was born into slavery at the Madison’s Montpelier, Va., home in 1799, according to the foundation. He eventually moved to the White House with the president, where he stayed until age 18, through two presidential terms. Jennings developed a strong bond with Madison and was at the president’s side when he died.

Dolley Madison failed to honor President Madison’s wishes that Jennings be freed after the president’s death, but he eventually achieved that status. He became a prominent citizen, famous abolitionist, and the first White House memoirist, authoring “A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison,” the foundation says. 

Family members, some of whom only recently met, told NPR that as they looked at the portrait, they felt a sense of amazement. (Some of the family members are pictured here.)

Is U.S. Health Care the Best in the World?

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A new Urban Institute analysis done with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation argues that claims that America’s health care system is the best in the world should be taken with a grain of salt. Authors Elizabeth Docteur and Robert A. Berenson argue in “How Does the Quality of U.S. Health Care Compare Internationally?”  that U.S. health care excels in certain areas, like cancer care, but does less well preventing death from treatable conditions. The 14-page analysis is yet another source to inform the current health care reform debate.

NEH: Chronicling America

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Just in case newspapers go the way of the dodo bird, or are subjected to a losing death panel debate (ha, ha), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is digitizing them (at least ones published between 1880 and 1922) and this summer posted its 1 millionth page.

The Chronicling America program, a partnership of NEH and the Library of Congress (LOC) is a free searchable database that provides everyone with the intertubes access to “historically significant” U.S. newspapers (many of which, sadly, were euthanized long ago). The names of some of the papers tell a certain story about the times (after Reconstruction to just before the Great Depression), and the national landscape (more farms). A LOC flickr photostream offers some of the images from the project. 

State partners (universities and such) win funding and decide which papers to chronicle. So far, content from 11 states and the District of Columbia is represented. The goal is to chronicle 20 million pages, officials say, and recently opened another round of grants to make it happen. (Proposals are due Nov. 3, 2009.)

Pretty ambitious, but I have no doubt it will get done, as long as Congress continues to support the small endowment.

And it’s likely to do so, given that one of its own now runs the place: Former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach was sworn in as the ninth NEH chairman a few days ago.

Health Care Cooperatives: Information Links

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How health care cooperatives would work as part of health care reform is largely unknown, but basic information about them is starting to surface (and resurface) as the idea enters (or reenters) the debate.

While I doubt health care reform can pass with these cooperatives substituting for a public health insurance option, here are a few sources to educate yourself on the concept. (I’ll add more as I find them.)

August 2009

June 2009

 

 

The Intrepid Damon Weaver

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For anyone who thinks journalism is dead, for those who’ve written off public education, for the cynical and the depressed, I bring you … Damon Weaver, intrepid White House correspondent, and inspiration to us all.

At 10 years old, he’s the youngest reporter among the White House Press Corps, and possibly the most wily, having recently scored a 10-minute interview with the President of the United States. (What’s his name again?)

Damon attends Canal Point Elementary School, in Palm Beach County, Fla., where he also works as a reporter for KEC TV, Canal Point’s award-winning news show produced by the school’s fifth and sixth graders.  (My sister, Lisa, is an intrepid educator and reading coach at West Gate Elementary, also in Palm Beach County, who I thank for sending me the YouTube video link below.)

You may remember Damon’s hard-hitting interview with then Sen. Joe Biden during the 2008 campaign, when Damon declared the now vice president his “home boy,” despite Damon having to hold the microphone so high, for so … long. 

See the full interview below and check out Damon’s many other broadcasts at KEC TV’s YouTube Channel.  And remember, behind every great youth journalist, are teachers, parents, community leaders, funders, and yes, even some politicians, helping youngsters like Damon get the quality public education that every child deserves.

[video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP-695ATg-c]
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