Descendants of Paul Jennings Visit White House

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.)