Dr. Michael Genovese, renowned scholar and author of “Memo to the New President…,” reminded a room full of over 600 university students that ensalved African Americans helped build the White House.
According to CNN.com,
Twelve American presidents owned slaves and eight of them, starting with Washington, owned slaves while in office. Almost from the very start, slaves were a common sight in the executive mansion. A list of construction workers building the White House in 1795 includes five slaves – named Tom, Peter, Ben, Harry and Daniel — all put to work as carpenters. Other slaves worked as masons in the government quarries, cutting the stone for early government buildings, including the White House and U.S. Capitol. According to records kept by the White House Historical Association, slaves often worked seven days a week — even in the hot and humid Washington summers.
Michelle Obama learned this year that one of her great-great grandfathers was a slave who worked on a rice plantation in South Carolina. She says finding that part of her past uncovered both shame and pride and what she calls the tangled history of this country.
Though Michelle Obama’s ancestors had to come through the ordeal of slavery, “Her children are sleeping in the room of presidents,” said Brinkley. “It’s a very great and hopeful signal.”
“Tangled history” is quite the understatement.
“Progress” is extraordinary (or extra ordinary), and we know it should not have taken so long. On January 20th, 2009, the Obama family moves in. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,” said MLK. Our work begins now.