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I am the rector of st. Johns church, and i am thrilled that our friends at the White House Historical association asked us to provide space for tonights conversation. Stewart asked if i would share a little bit about the history of this very historic room that you are sitting in tonight and so i will share with you that this church was completed in 1816. The architect was Benjamin Henry latrobe. Not only did he design this church, he was working on rebuilding the white house after it was destroyed by the british in the war of 1812, and in 1818 he built Decatur House which is now the home of the White House Historical association and if you go inside the Decatur House and you look up, you see a very similar entrance. It is almost like a miniature of this dome that we have in our church space and the Original Church was built as a greek cross. So it was an even four sides and just six years later in 1822, they expanded the Church Building to make room for more seating. We dont know who the architect was who did that expansion and who built the bell tower. Tragically, latrobe had died in new orleans at that time and i imagine there might be some historians in the room and if anyone is interested in helping us solve the mystery, we would love to know. The bell tower is a very beautiful addition to the church and inside the bell tower it houses a bell that was forged by joseph revere, paul reveres son. Its stamped 1822, boston revere. It is not the only revere bell that came to washington, but it is the only one that is still in its place and being used for its original purpose. Its interesting, too, to think about this building. This is the only building on Lafayette Square that goes back to the era that it goes back to that is still being used for the purpose for which it is built more than 200 years later and i am happy to open most days of the week and for anyone to spend some time and be in this gracious space. I also feel compelled to mention that it usually looks a little different than it does tonight. Stewart was telling me this could be practice for our new televangelist ministry which i do not intend to develop. James madison was president in 1816 when st. Johns opened, and the church decided to offer him a special pew that would be reserved for his use any time he wanted to come to church that would be the president s pew. Back then there were actually boxes and you rented your pew box, and he was able to use his pew box free of charge and he received that offer and a decision was made to put the president s pew right in the middle of the people, rather than up front which was the highest status pew boxes. They wanted his pew box to be among the other people who were here for prayer and worship in 1842, when the pews that exist now that youre all sitting in. In 1842 it was president tyler and he personally made sure that the president s pugh would be in the exact location where the pew box had been beginning with madison. It was a fact that every president beginning with president madison has worshipped in this space at least once. Many had become regulars and some have even become members of st. Johns during their presidencies. One detail that really stirs me is to think about the time during the civil war when Abraham Lincoln would walk alone across the park from the white house in the evenings. His regular sunday Morning Church was new york Avenue Presbyterian Church a few blocks in that direction but in the evenings he would walk alone across the park and he would sit in the very last pew on the south side right over there. You can imagine what was on his heart as he came for a little bit of space, a little bit of quiet time to reflect and to pray. He would always leave just before the end of the service so that he could leave undisturbed. Its a prayer of mine that this space will continue to serve as a place where people can come and have reflection, can have a little bit of space and grace in the city that moves very quickly, and i want to say to you all that our aim is to be open to all people no matter what background, no matter what denomination or faith tradition, that we want to be here for all of our neighbors, a house for all people. Now, i am really excited for the conversation that we are about to have tonight, and its important to say its good to remember that in those early years those people who passed through this space, who lived and spent time in the neighborhoods surrounding this building, all of those people, no matter what color of their skin, no matter their stature, no matter their disposition, everyone was affected by the economic and the moral reality of the institution of slavery. One historical detail that i want to leave you with, a poignant note, the second rector of this church, he was rector from 1817 to 1845, his name was reverend william holly, he would have the practice of baptizing africanamerican babies and marrying africanamerican couples in his home. As the historians in this room who have been working hard on the essays that are being produced know very well, we dont have all the records that we would like to be able to tell the story as fully as the story needs to be told of that time, but we have in our own registers that we have collected upstairs and in the church archives, we have the registers of all the baptisms and all the marriages and in some of them we see the notes where it says where it took place. When he would marry africanamericans he would usually do it in his home and his family would be the witnesses. On january 11, 1828, reverend holly married em lien matthews and william praits. em aileen was listed in the register as colored, and william was listed as slave. Just think, the very next wedding listed in the same register took place in the white house for John Quincy Adams son. Thank you all for being here tonight to have this important conversation that we are privileged to host, and i will now welcome forward my good friend, stewart mclaurin, the persistent of the White House Historical association. [ applause ] thank you very much, rob, and to reverend fisher and the people of st. Johns church, its wonderful to be in your historic home in this historic neighborhood here tonight for this very, very important conversation. I also want to thank the string queens who performed for us as you were coming in. Theyre our local washington d. C. Group and its wonderful to have them with us tonight and i hope you enjoyed their music. [ applause ] applause to our friends joining us tonight by cspan and on facebook live, welcome. We hope you enjoy this conversation. And it encourages you along with everyone here to dive deeper into the topic that will we will be unpacking for you this evening. I am here tonight on behalf of the board of directors of the White House Historical association. Our National Council on white house history, many of them are with us tonight. Welcoming you all for this wonderful conversation that our historians have been working on for several years. It was in may of 2016, at a speech at the city college of new york and later that summer, the Political Convention in philadelphia. The First Lady Michelle Obama delivered a speech on both occasions that included these words, i wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. In the days that followed, our phone lines, our email, our internet, our press office, our historians were all inundated from the public, the press, people wanting to know the story behind those very compelling words. My first call was to dr. Lonnie bunch, who will be part of our conversation tonight. I said lonnie, we need to know more about the story. We know anecdotes, but we need to know names, we need to know dates. We need to know specifics. It is the peoples house, the white house. But we need to know about the people that both the house, and the people that impacted it beyond the president and the first families. He was very generous, to introduce historians had the National Museum of African American history and culture, its our historians and this began a threeyear project delving into this topic. During that time, we had the privilege to host at cater house, a group called the president ial leadership scholars. This is a program that is a collaboration of the president ial libraries and foundations of president s clinton, both bushes and president johnson. And they bring together the junk dynamic of early career leaders and they run a program at the cater house, we are robs it is our headquarters. They went up into the historic slave quarters that night. I think they were intrigued, encouraged, maybe a little inspired. But they took us to task. We need to do a better job of telling that story and interpreting that space. So we folded that story of the cater house and the last remaining example of the slave quarters in the president s neighborhood into the story that we are telling tonight. We previously this week, earlier this week to unveil their website, emphasis on this topic, with a treasure trove of Research Documents and papers and at white house history. Org, you could find all of those when you go home tonight and encourage your friends to do so as well. This is not the end of what we will be doing. This is really the beginning, we are raising the curtain on this conversation and we want to encourage it through our continued research and Ongoing Program that will be into undertaking as well. Lets face with our mission, we were founded in 1961 by first Lady Jacqueline kennedy to be the nonprofit, nonpartisan partner of the white house. Every year, we provide non taxpayer funding to maintain the Beautiful Museum standard of those state rooms that you see on the state floor of the white house. But also important to mrs. Kennedy, was an education mission. She challenged us to teach and tell the stories of the white house and its history going back to 1792, where George Washington selected that piece of land across the street and hired the young irish architects janes hope and to build a white house. We do that through public programming such as tonight, our books, publications, quarterly magazine. Our robust website, social media. A podcast, many other ways. We have teacher institutes where we bring teachers from all over the country. We engage students and i actually have some friends of mine here tonight to our students. Reverend fisher mentioned the president s pew. Seated on the president s pew tonight are students from Calvin Coolidge high school in washington, d. C. They participated in a podcast with me and a wonderful students. I would like for them to stand. Are they here . There we are. Kissed applause and so tonight, they are at the president s pew. And one thing we like to think of as educators as we plant the seed and we want to the seat, we may never see the results of that education. And we hope, one day, these students and their peers will be back here maybe as president of the United States, sitting in the president s pew. They are great friends of mine and its great to have them here, this evening. We have the privilege of having to wonderful presenters tonight, David Reuben Stein is the cofounder and coexecutive chairman of the carlile group. He is the chairman of the board and held senior governance positions with Many Organizations that you are very familiar with including the Smithsonian Institution, the john f. Kennedy memorial performing arts center, which is a living memorial for president kennedy. The harvard corporation, duke university, council on Foreign Relations and many others. He has a heart and passion for patriotic philanthropy. And he invests in places that are involved with history like the White House Historical association, our sister institutions, the supporting history causes. Great american monuments, like the Lincoln Memorial and the washington monument, he has helped safe. He has been a giver of transformational gifts that allow us, through the david reuben Stein National center for white house history, to have programming like this in to undertake the research that we do. We are very, very grateful to him for that support. If youve had the opportunity to watch him on his television show, on the bloomberg network, appeared appear conversations with david robinson, i know you will enjoy that as i have. He is the recent author of a book the american story conversations with master historians and through his generosity you will all be receiving a copy of this book as you leave tonight. applause our other presenter tonight is doctor asked lonnie bunch who is the 14th secretary this obscene institution. Hes the first African American and the first historian to hold this very important role. In our country. applause you know him well as the founding director of the National Museum of African American history and culture, and as i mentioned earlier, he was the very first person i called when this Initiative Came onto our radar screen. He too is the author of a new book, a fools errand, creating the National Museum of African American history, and culture in the age of bush, obama and trump. And i really encourage you to read this because its a wonderful story of someone who is able to move and mix and make things happen across political lines, and beliefs. And that is a wonderful thing in this day and time. And his role as is our role at the White House Historical association, is the same regardless of who the president in the first lady maybe. Our role is to support the people of the United States and the resources they have here in washington, the Smithsonian Institution and the historic white house. He is the adviser to many boards including the committee for the preservation of the white house, which we work with very closely in collaboratively. And we are really thrilled an honor to have both David Winston and lonnie bunch with us here tonight. Please welcome join me in welcoming them to the stage. applause lonnie, do you think an 1816, when this was open for james madison, you or i or our ancestors would have been here . At the back door. Right. Were very honored to be here tonight and this is an Historic Place and its a refix place to talk about the white house history and slavery related to it. Just before i dig into that though, at the African American history and culture museum, if i want to get tickets to go to see something, how do i get tickets to go . Everybody wants to go see this museum. Everybodys been calling me, i have tried to say that i am no longer there. But what i have been struck by is the desire is so great that a few months ago, a woman called and said that she want a ticket and i said i dont do that. She said youve got to give him to me because i was your girlfriend in seventh grade. laughs now ive got to be honest, when youre 13, you remember every crush. I didnt know that person from adam, but, i gave you the tickets because it was a good time. That is the technique that people should use. That museum, for those who arent not familiar with it, we will get into the other stuff in the moment. It took you how many years to get that from beginning to end . I worked on it for 11 years. When you took the job, how much money to the federal government give you for that . When we began, we had one staff, no collections, no money, no idea where the museum would be. The smithsonian had 1 Million Dollars to get started. I spent that in like two weeks. Ultimately, you have got artifacts given by citizens of our country. How many artifacts and things that you bring back to the museum . We collected nearly 40,000 artifacts, of which 70 came from the basements trunks and adding some peoples homes. We realized that the idea that this culture, this history was still available, we felt the only way we could do it was if we could get people to share with us their stories, their families, their histories, through those collections. Among the things you have, you have matt turners bible. Harriet tubmans shawl. But the most popular item, in the museum is which one . Chuck berries candy apple red catalytic. An artifact that i did not want and did not think it was important, which shows you my leadership skills. How many people have been to the museum since it opened . About 7. 3 million. The average person who goes to Smithsonian Museum spends about an hour and a half their, what is the average time that somebody spends going to this museum . Four and a half to five and a half hours. So it really is, it tells you that a few Craft Stories in a dramatic way, then people will spend the time to understand and think about and to debate. We are really pleased that its become the kind of sight that in some ways, its almost as pilgrimage site. If people feel the need to be a part of it. We are really grateful to have the opportunity to work with people like you and the gifted staff to create that museum. The federal government only put up 270 Million Dollars, taxpayers. How much did you raise from citizens around the country . About 350 million. Okay. Very impressive. applause so lets talk about the great birth defect of this country. How did it happen that this country had slavery . Was it ordained . When settlers came over here, that we were going to have slaves . How did it actually come about . What you have are really two systems that are created. You have spanish colonies in florida and mexico, where they begin to bring africans, and some enslaved people as early as 15 50. In the United States, what became the United States, you have the first africans coming in 16 nine teen, in jamestown. But the process of coming a sleeve took time. Initially, the africans were like indentured servants. But within 30 or 40 years, it was clear that africans who were then restricted to slavery for life. And so what you realize is that slavery is both an Economic System of labor labor, later its a system of social control, as more and more africans come to this world. I think the most important thing to remember is that slavery from the 17th, 18th and 19th century, was the most dominant institution in the United States. That almost every aspect of our culture, whether it was politics, foreign policy, industry, was all shaped either by slave trade, slavery, the labor of slaves, or the money that was invested in slaves. I have always been struck that when you think on the eve of the civil war, there was more money invested in slaves, in the enslaved population then in railroads, banking, business combined. So it tells you it is so central to understanding who we are. So that is why this kind of conversation is so important. This is not an ancillary story, this is a central story to help us understand who we once were and shaped us into who we are to this very day. The first africans who came here, were they brought in effect as indentured servants . Theoretically they work for a few years and then leave . Or was it clear they were slaves from the beginning forever . I think its clear that they were viewed as different. But i think that the kind of the way we can tell by formal records, its really the 16 forties to 16 60 that we see the institutions of slavery made sort of concrete, if you will. In south america, central america, and the United States. What became the United States, a total of 20 million slaves at one point, were i guess, here. But how many were actually brought over . Mostly more in central and south america and then United States . But you have to realize is that only 13 of the millions of africans that were taken from africa and brought to the new world only 13 came to the United States. More came to places like brazil in the caribbean, but yet, that 13 became such a large important part of the population of the United States that it really sort of began to outweigh its initial numbers. Larger numbers were in brazil, other places, because they died much more rapidly because of the weather and other treatments, and so forth. There, and the United States. Is that right . You also had the agriculture was better developed in terms of sugar and the like. In the caribbean, that is where it started. Totally, the United States brought over about, was it 100,000 or 1600 thousand africans who came to the United States . Obviously, they reproduced and so forth, but at the time of the revolution, we had about half 1 million slaves . At the time of the civil war about 4 million slaves . By the time the civil war we have about 4 million enslaved africans and about 1. 5 fried africans in both the north and south. If you are brought over on a slave ship, what were the chances you are going to survive . Theres a lot of debate about mortality. Many people feel that 30 to 50 of those that were brought on those ships perished, either perished on the ships or perished on the way to plantations or minds where they ultimately worked. So the fact that it was key that that Middle Passage was really something that was hard for people to survive. It really was one of the markers of understanding the impact of slave trait on the africans. When the declaration of independence was agreed to, more or less on july the 4th, 1776, we fought a revolutionary war that went until 1783. Finally finished the treaty of paris. At that time, was there any mention of slaves, with slavery anything that the people had written the declaration wanted to mention is a problem where they didnt address it . There is this whole discussion around jefferson sort of beginning to identify the treatment of the colonists like they were enslaved. But i think there was such a concern that if you begin to explore the question of slavery, you has colonials, have to figure out what does that mean for us. And so i think flavor is always the most visible thing but also the thing thats often tried to not be mentioned. Jefferson is considered the author of the declaration of independence. People may change along the way. He wrote this famous sentence that became the most famous sentence in english language. We hold these truths to be self evidence, that all men are created equal. But how can he say almond a created equal when he had slaves throughout his lifetime and he wasnt proposing to end slavery . How did you get away with saying the . Thats what i call the paradox of liberty. Then on the one hand, here is jefferson who defines our notion of what liberty is and what independents and freedom is. But then you realize the only reason he was able to do that is because he understood what slavery was. That in essence, because he saw and used the power to control other people, he understood what freedom meant. For me, what is so powerful is, how do you unpack that . How do you help people understand that the same time he is seen as a symbol around the world of freedom, he is also a symbol around the world of american culpability, american embracing of slavery, and in essence, for us, we are still as a people trying to untangle that. Trying to really be clear what it means that we are a nation of freedom that was based on slavery. When the revolutionary war is over, the treaty of paris assigned. We go to government in the article of confederation, that wasnt thought to be working. So the Constitutional Convention is held in philadelphia, and in that Constitutional Convention, George Washington presides over. It is there any mention in the constitution, when it is finally revealed, of slavery . There is always these amazing debates in the constitution. One is about representation. And the notion was, that is representation based simply on population. To many people, that meant to you count slave, the enslaved population, does that give the south more impact, more influence . So you have the three fifth amendment. Where enslaved people are counted as three fifths of a person for taxation and for representation. And that really speaks to the way enslaved people were viewed, that they werent completely human, that they were not equal. The word slave is not actually used in the constitution for all the obvious reasons, didnt want to quite admitted what they had. But they obviously recognized it and in effect, they banned the importation of slaves, after a certain period of time. But they still dont use the word slave. But lets move forward. The capital of the country initially, is new york. George washington becomes the first president , he lives in new york, but then Congress Passes a law saying that we are going to move the capital to philadelphia and then eventually, a place south of that, in order to deal with certain debt issues of the government had. There was a compromise. Ultimately it was decided to move further south to philadelphia. George washington is given the right to pick that slight and he picks something on the potomac. Why did he pick this potomac area . In some way, it was a place that already had georgetown was here, there was some sort of tobacco trading. He had the river systems. He thought that this was a really nice spot that was between the north and south. So theyre going to build a capital city here, federal city, not yet named after him. Eventually it was named after him. Eight were there any slaves living in the Washington Area at the time . From the very beginning of what we call Washington Area, there were plantations. There were enslaved people that lived here before it became officially washington. To build the city of washington, did they import labor from overseas . Did they just use slave labor, who really built it . Washington is built by many people, it is built by immigrants that are brought into work, but there is a strong, in sleeved population that turns the land from swamp to farmland. That begins to identify and cut down the trees, the timber that is used, that quarries the stone so that enslaved labor is touches all aspects of what would become washington, d. C. Lets suppose i am a plantation owner and i have some slaves and i want to help the city of washington, or what became washington be built, i would say i will have to use some of my slaves, what i get paid for that . To the slaves get any of that compensation . What does slave labor get typically . First, you have people who use their enslaved population to do the work, and those folks rarely got compensated. Then what would happen is many times, enslaved crafts people and others were hired out, that you would say i am building a building in i need to have labor. I would like to hire three of your carpenters. Three of the people you work with, usually what would happen is that you would be the person building the structure would pay the plantation owner. Sometimes, it was done in a way to incentivize the enslaved, that they would get a small portion of that. But it really was most of the revenue that went back to the owner. The government is operating at a philadelphia, they are building the city of washington, what became washington d. C. George washington is supervising and he is picking various people to help the design, he picked somebody to design the white house, is that right . That was someone from europe who actually was the designer. When they started building the design was, it slave labor that actually did bill the white house . Over 200 enslaved people worked to construct the white house. And while there were craft people from ireland, england, and parts of the United States that did a lot of the work, the enslaved people played a crucial role. They did a lot of the quarrying of the stone, from virginia, getting the stone up here. They did a lot of the work on getting the lumber, doing some of the initial work that needed to be done. There is no doubt that you do not have a white house without the enslaved labor. When it was finally completed, it took about eight years to build the house. George washington was no longer president. The president was john adams, he came down and lived here only for a few months before his term was up. He only served one term. But did he have any slaves servicing the white house . Adams didnt own any slaves but there were enslaved people who worked at the white house. You begin to have enslaved people working from almost the inception, really threw into the 18 fifties, working in the white house. He was very careful not to ever own slaves, he didnt believe in slavery, but he in effect, had some enslaved people working at the white house. He knew they were enslaved, presumably. There was later that was needed. So there were four adams, there were people who did the laundry. Some of the people who did the work around the exterior, who took care of the horses, were enslaved. Adams was succeeded by jefferson, jefferson was a big slave owner. He had a longtime relationship with slaves, did he actually ever bring Sally Hemmings to the white house . What jefferson did it he is he brought some of Sally Hennings family to the white house. But what jefferson did, was that he brought a portion of his own enslaved population, but often he used people who were already here. She wanted to keep people on the plantation. Jefferson realized like so many, that the key to his success was going to not to be able to have to pay for all the labor but to use slave labor to save money. Jefferson was succeeded by madison, madison also was a slave owner. Did he bring slave to the white house . Nine of the first 12 president s brought enslaved people, used in slave labor at the white house. Because you really are trying to figure out what do you need to get a building going, to get a white house going . What do you need for the entertainment . What they have realized is, slave labor is going to provide the foundation for them to craft and create what became the white house. One of his aides, assistance, was a slave named hennings who leader wrote a book about what it was like to work at the white house. Did that because a lot of credibility . People believed that a slave road in those days . Was it accepted . I think its important to realize that the enslaved people often didnt have a voice. But when they had the opportunity to right or to have their stories told, they shared them in a very candid way. It is really one of the first books to help us understand what life was like in the white house. And it was interesting, because through the lens of someone who was enslaved, it brings a special richness to it. Many people who were from the north were against labor, but they didnt have any problems, i assume, going to the problem where there was slave labor. They just accepted that is a part of life in washington . Remember that there is a difference between being opposed to slavery, and feeling that African Americans are equal. Our are people that you can interact with. There were people that were coming from whatever parts of the United States, comfortable with second African Americans a second class citizens, doing the kind of basic work that needed to be done. They may have opposed slavery, but they also did not champion equality. In the early days of washington, d. C. , when adams as president , jefferson, madison, monroe, washington was mostly a white city but there were some slaves and some fried African Americans . Throughout the 19th century, approximately a third of the population of washington, d. C. , was African American. There were places like george that had a predominantly African American community. In the 18th and early 19th century. And what you have in washington, is what i love to say is, this neighborhood that were in, was a black neighborhood. It was a neighborhood of an equals, but it was a neighborhood where many African Americans lived, many as enslaved, some ice free, and so i think its important to realize that for many people, African Americans washington became their home. And they did a variety of jobs to be part of the city. There were a number of freed African American slaves here but there were also number of slaves, did you have to carry papers with you down the street . If somebody said your slave, you should be doing this or that. How do they handle that . Washington became a place that the free black population began to grow. Partly, some people were admitted, often, when people gained their freedom in places like virginia and north carolina, they were encouraged to leave, not to stay. And then you came to washington, d. C. As you get into the 18 10 18 twenties, you begin to develop what we call black codes. There were laws passed to control the Free Black Community to make sure that they register, there were laws in the 18 twenties that said if you were free and black and wanting to stay in washington, you needed to have somebody white write a letter attesting to your character. There were laws that prevented African Americans from being out together after a certain time of night, or reduce the number of African Americans that could come together. Part of this is out of fear, part of it is out of social control. Andrew jackson was a slave owner as well, when he became president , did he bring his slaves to washington, d. C. As well . Andrew jackson is so interesting on so many levels, not only does he bring enslaved people, but during his administration, through the trail of tears and others, they have this removal of all these indians in the southeast, which opens all that land up for agriculture and for southern plantations. So what happens, as a result of jacksons administration, you have thousands of africans who are enslaved in maryland, delaware, north carolina, d. C. They move south. They are sold south to build a new plantation. And that changes the dynamics of the slaves. The white house today faces Lafayette Square and jackson park. And a lot of town homes that are restored, those homes were initially built by slaves . A lot of those homes had slave labor involved. There were crafts people, sometimes enslaved, sometimes free, sometimes not. So a variety of people, part of what i love about what the White House Historical society is doing is helping them understand more about who did what. In some ways, this work that is being done really gives humanity back to these people who we say are just enslaved. One of the houses that is still on Lafayette Park, and is the cater house. Its the White House Historical association has its offices. The cater house was named after a famous, stephen cater, who died and didnt live very long in the house. But that house had slave quarters and it. Is that right . That is one of the houses that we know has a slave area that still exists. There were probably other parts and other houses around this area that changed over time. But that is one of the special places to be able to actually go and stand in a space that the enslaved lived. Abraham lincoln is elected president in 1860, in those days, the elections were november but you didnt take office until march. There was a long period of time but in that period of time, the number of Southern States began to secede from the union. So lincoln moves to washington, at that time, when he came in as president , 1861. He took office. Who is there a big africanamerican population then, in washington d. C. . Was it larger than the white population . It was still a slave area, is that right . When lincoln is elected, in 1860, you have a population of about 12,000 freed African Americans and about 6000 enslaved. So you see that although there were large numbers of slaves and slave people early, it changes in washington, so by the time lincoln comes, there is a strong slave population. And as a free black population. It grows dramatically, because once the war breaks out, there are many African American enslaved who self liberate. Who leave to come to union lives, who come to washington, and there are literally tens of contraband camps, camps where the self liberated at arlington cemetery, on seventh and florida, up by the old soldiers home, washington is changing as a result of the civil war. More and more African Americans formerly enslaved are coming into this area. Abraham lincoln never owned any slaves, is that correct . Thats correct. His father was very anti slavery as an example of the way he was brought up. Very much against labor. Abraham lincoln was not a great abolitionist, is that correct . Lincoln believed his big issue was that they shouldnt extend slavery into the new territories. That were required after the Mexican American war. I think he believed as well that slavery was embedded in the constitution and he believed in the constitution. He thought, as long as Southern States have slavery, that was sanctioned by the founding fathers, more or less, was his original thinking. He obviously changed a bit. He is in the white house and then a civil war, he is conducting the. Does he decides that it would be a good idea to free the slaves . To help in the war . Why did it take so long for him to come up with the emancipation proclamation . Part of it is that as lincoln always said, he wanted to preserve the union. Have preserving the union meant protecting slavery, so be it. But ultimately, as the war went on, he realized that there were a couple of things that need to be addressed. First of all, he had to make sure that the confederacy did not get the support of european allies. And so one of the things he wanted to do was to add a kind of moral justification to the war, so that you could say to the french, to the english, to the spanish, this is about freeing people, not simply about an internal civil war. The second piece that was important was lincoln recognized the sensuality of slave labor, the labor of the enslaved. To the south. So what he wanted to do was disrupt that by a gore encouraging people to flee areas that were still outside of the control of the union army, and that would disrupt the confederate war effort. Before he was president , he served one term in congress as a wig, and one of the bills he introduced was to in effect, free the slaves in the district of columbia, and his complicated way was to free them, there would be compensation, it would be gradual in the slaves would be moved somewhere else, and what was called colonization. Can you explain what colonization was . One of the things that happened is the belief that you have got these African Americans who are so different, that ultimately, if they were not held in bondage, they would be a great problem in the United States. Jefferson said that slavery was like having a wolf by the ear. If you let it go, it would get you. Or it was a fire felon at night that would shock you. And so many felt if you were going to eliminate slavery, you also had to eliminates the enslaved. And so lincoln was part of a group of people who believe the key was, let us and slavery but let us colonize. Send them to latin america, back to africa, so they can colonize with sort of, christian spirit that they learned in the United States. But that would be a way to solve the problem. Because there was a concern that if you had all of these fried people, what do you do with them . If they strike back, because their anger about the way they were treated . That was lincolns notion. He tried several times. He never got anywhere in congress. But when he was president of the United States, he still was enamored with it. He had a famous meeting with African American leaders. In which he said, come to the white house, i want to talk to you. What did he actually say . Them what he said was, i need your support. In this idea that we would colonize parts of central america, that we would send the newly free to central america. Many of the African Americans, the notion of going outside the United States by choice, was a debate within the African American community. The notion of being told to leave really angered some of the abolitionists. People like Frederick Douglass were really offended and attacked lincoln when it became clear that his initial notion was to send these people outside the United States. For those who may not be experts on what Frederick Douglass did in what he was, he was a freed, i guess he was a slave what escaped, eventually bought his freedom, but what was his role in society . Frederick douglass was someone who escaped slavery from the Eastern Shore of maryland, ended up first in philadelphia philadelphia, the new york, than in bedford, and he became someone, who became one of the leaders in the abolitionist movement. A brilliant speaker, he was befriended by abolitionist leaders like william garrison, and douglas becomes the voice of black america. He creates newspapers, he debates with lincoln. He really was seen as somebody who would sort of demand that america live up to its stated identity. Stated ideals. He is not the only person to do that, but he was considered the most visible African American in the 19th century. He was very articulate, very eloquent and many people were surprised by that, because in those days, if you were a slave you are not allowed to learn how to read. It was considered against the law in some states. Is that not the case, against the law on some of the states . In some states, yes. How did he learn how to read and was that part of his appeal, that he was very educated and people were so surprised to see such an educated African American in that time . There were two things that were crucial to enslaved people. One was freedom. That was the most important thing. The other thing was maybe the key to freedom was education. To be able to read. Douglas was able to learn to read by playing with some of the children he grew up with overlooking a kind mistress who gave him a listens. Douglas was someone who is a voracious reader and with a desire to learn. He really became he was a self made man. He really became someone who focused his career on struggling for fairness in this country. He met with lincoln on three occasions in the white house. That he actually have a bond with lincoln . Did lincoln like meeting with him . There is debates around that. I think that initially, lincoln was concerned that douglas was so critical of his colonization standard. As lincoln is thinking about the emancipation proclamation, suddenly are talking about people like Frederick Douglass about how this this work . If not a champion, more supportive lincoln. There is this amazing scene near the end of lincolns life where lincoln speaks said his second inaugural and douglas is there. He is trying to get into see lincoln. Hes being stopped by some of the guards. Lincoln sees and waves that him. And says come in friend douglas. I think that there was a relationship. Im not sure it is as close as some people would like to after lincolns assassination, his wife he gave his walking cane to douglas as a gift. Mary, his widow gave a walking came to Frederick Douglass to symbolize which she thought was the bond between them. Also to symbolize that lincoln was somebody who opened the door and led to the freedom of the enslaved. So the emancipation proclamation was signed in 1863. The war ends roughly an april 65. Then the 13th amendment is ratified after lincoln dies, but it is ratified. Slaverys eliminated. When slaverys eliminated, everything in washington its fine. Blacks can live next white. There is no problem. Everybody is treated equally. Is that right . All. Im not sure that is even today. applause if the 14th amendment gave citizenships of black americans to vote, how is the case that washington became still as segregated a city pretty much is almost any city as the deep south . Remember. Segregation was initially a northern phenomenon. That it is really boston, new york, philadelphia that passes loss to prevent African Americans from going to theaters. That really segregates communities. It would not be surprising that washington became a segregated city immediately after the civil war, because it was segregated even before. Even when i was young i lived in baltimore. My parents brought me to washington. The fact that it was the nations capital, it did not really change anything. Washington, d. C. Was no different than other large segregated cities in the south. To differences. One is that washington had the federal government. There were opportunities for employment that mary African Americans had. Not at the highest level, but they had steady jobs that you could get from the federal government. Also, washington had Howard University and Howard University is so important. People undervalue its impact. It really made washington the center of black thinking. Education. Creativity. That was also part of the appeal of coming to washington, d. C. One of the interesting things about washington, d. C. , is that in the constitution there was no provision for it to have any electoral votes and therefore people lived in the district, a number of them are African Americans, did not have any right to vote for president or at least members of congress, i should say. Why was that the case and why did people who lived in the district should have a say in voting representation . Now you are asking me to do politics. In some way there is this debate about what is federal sector is. Are you a citizen there . What are your rights . I think that the challenge of washington is that it really is a place where you could call it applause i think it is important to really grapple with the fact that youve got 600,000 people or more, many of whom are voting age, who have really limited rights that are not the same as the people around the country. In addition to not being able to vote for members of congress will have rights to vote in congress, the district was for a long time run, in effect, by the federal government. The citizens here did not get to pick their own mayors. Is that right . Thats right. Home rule is really the 1970s creation. Let us go back to finish the story while we are almost done with the story of race and washington. Weve already obviously compressed a couple of hundred years and 45 minutes. Weve missed a few insurrections and the like, but whatever. After the reconstruction, because lincoln is assassinated, reconstruction does not go quite as well as they thought it would under lincoln. Reconstruction led to drum crow laws. The ku klux klan, lynchings throughout the south and so forth. Washington d. C. Did not do that much about the federal government. It was largely controlled by some southern members who were not really that favorable to African Americans. Not until the civil rights revolution in the 1960s did washington get more interested and actually trying to change these things. Is that right . Is that when it came about in the late fifties, early sixties, when the civil rights revolution came along, that the federal Government Official said we have to do something to change the laws in this country . What you have, washington d. C. See, again because of Howard University was really at the forefront of the demanding fairness in the 19 twenties, thirties, forties. It really wasnt that they waited until the 1960s, but the pressures on the federal government, the leadership that the Civil Rights Movement did, the visibility that it received, utilizing the media and television put pressure on the federal government to change. In august of 1963, there is the famous march in washington. The federal government at the time did not want. It president kennedy thought it might lead to violence. There was a lot of concern about it. But it actually went forward. It turned out not to be violent at all, the people were still afraid. Schools were closed. Stores were closed. Martin luther king was the last speaker that they. He was the last speaker because. In some ways he was considered the leader of the community and they wanted to give him the best spot. I thought they were afraid he was so articulate that if he spoke first, the others would not look as good. laughter john lewis said that but. Okay, thats not true. But he gave his famous speech. Me i have a dream speech. Was that something that was written out for him the night before . Was it a speech writer who had given him that text . Where that speech come from . The text he actually had departed from. It why did he do . That he had said portions of that speech and other places around the country the story is that as he is giving his speech, jackson, the great gospel singer who was someone that king admired yield back at him. There is a picture of her looking at king and saying, talking about the dream say the dream the argument is that he changed that to the response of emilia jackson. Its a great story. Its not true, but its a great story. So he already knew he was going to do his i have a dream. But that was a speech he had given before the i had a dream part. He did it from memory. Many lights who sought some thought they were mesmerized. They never seen him speak that way. Many blacks or mesmerized they had never heard of him speak that way either. After the speech is over, is invited to the white house . After the speech is over, what happens is that the canadians are moved by what they have heard and what it they have experienced. They began to realize that if they are going to grapple with civil rights issues, one of the people we need to deal with his Martin Luther king. He becomes the person thats the candies initially go to. Theres this wonderful story of during the election of 1960 after king is arrested, there was a notion of who was going to help him, was it someone from the nixon or Kennedy Administration . The kennedys actually sense people down to protect Martin Luther king and helped him get out of jail. Some people argued that really what was helped many African Americans suddenly believed that somebody from massachusetts with an accent they did not understand could be a champion in their cars. Kennedy is a fascinated 1963, just a few months after the Lyndon Johnson, a southerner and a man who is closest friends in the senate or segregationists. He becomes president. Would anybody have predicted that he would lead the effort to get to 1964 Civil Rights Act why did he do that given his background, his knowledge that this will probably heard the Democratic Party in the south . On the one hand, youve got to remember that when Lyndon Johnson was a teacher in texas, he was very involved with trying to improve conditions for the latino community. There is a part of johnson that was not just kill calculated political move. I think he really felt the fairness was essential. That yes, he knew that it might hurt the Democratic Party from the white south, but when ensure that African Americans would also rally around the party. I think that what is so powerful about Lyndon Johnson is that he has the political sophistication, the connections, to be able to go to some of the southerners and say i understand who you are. Weve got to change. Okay. So the 64 Civil Rights Act, eventually the 65 Voting Rights act, the housing act is eventually passed as well, but Lyndon Johnson is obviously the most important person for this. It was an indispensable person . I think that it is a combination of Lyndon Johnsons political acumen, and the pressures that are put on by the Civil Rights Movement. I think that as people begin to see birmingham and selma, they begin to see the violence that African Americans and others endured. There is a sense that the country has to change. Johnson sort of rice that way. If somebody is watching or theres somebody here today and they say well, im very interested and we have to say. What books could i read that might give me more of a flavor of what washington went through in the civil rights era. What slavery was in this country . How it was dealt with eventually by the constitutional amendments . What would you recommend as a good books for people to reach . Anything by taylor branch. It really gives you a good sense its a three volume book on the civil rights revolution. It went a pulitzer prize. I think that one of the best books to understand sort of race in the 19th century is david blithes biography of Frederick Douglass. There is another book which has not yet won the pulitzer prize, which is your book. laughs applause i highly recommend that book. That is available on amazon and anywhere else anybody might want to buy it at the smithsonian . I would never champion my own book, but it is on amazon, and it all so is on audiobook. laughter applause lonnie, before we wrap up. You have given your professional career to causes relating to civil rights and slavery. The knowledge of slavery. Obviously the African American cultural museum. Is there anything else you did not go to private equity or something noble then what youve done . Why did you come to this career as opposed to something more important like hedge funds, private equity or Tech Startups . laughter every time i need to put a new roof on the house i think of that question. I am lucky. I grew up in a family that valued education. For me, i remember growing up in a town that was very few African Americans. There were people that treated me horribly. Other people that treated me fairly. I could not understand why. I remember thinking, talking to my parents, maybe if you read history you will understand a little bit about these interactions. Ultimately, history became a way for me to understand myself. Then it became a way for me to think, here is an amazing tool that could help a country be better. Here is something that if people understood more about their past, their expectations, their hopes, it could change the country for the better. Ive told the story before. Can i briefly tell it again . When you are younger, your father would take you and your brother and your mother. You would drive to the south. You would not stop at certain places, but ultimately, you would be taken to the smithsonian. Why was that . During the mid sixties, there was an era of the centennial, the civil war, like many kids i was fascinated by it. When you easter, we drove from my home in new jersey to visit my mothers family. I suddenly all these museums. Petersburg, richmond. I would say to my dad, can we stop at the museum of the confederacy . No. He never stopped. So on the way back, i thought im going to plan this and give him plenty of warning. I told him 20 more miles to the museum. He would keep going. Normally he would drive straight to new jersey. Instead, he pulled into washington. He pulled into the smithsonian in front of the museum of america, the museum of American History today. He said here is the place you could learn about your past, your country, and not be concerned about the color of your skin. So for me, the smithsonian has always been a place of fairness. A place of possibility. A place of where young kids could learn stories in some places, but the smithsonian could always give them that opportunity. I feel very humble to be able to be part of the smithsonian. applause i was the coach here on the search committee. I was selected unanimously laughter and one of the great things of having been selected was that when he was officially inaugurated, his mother was there. What could be better than having your mother come to see you . Did she think you should take that job . It was the first time my mother said to me, i guess history degree was okay. laughter lonnie, i want to thank you what youve done for our country and the smithsonian. Thank you. applause thank you. Thank you. Thank you. inaudible can i get a hedge fund . laughs thank you very much for lonnie bunch. In addition to the books that have been recommended, i would like to invite everyone to our website, white house history dot work, where there is a treasure trove on the history of enslaved persons at the house those enslaved at Lafayette Park as we call today who built the white house. Those enslaved tire early american president s in the white house. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for supporting our historic mission. applause weeknights this month, we are featuring American History tv programs as a preview of what is available every weekend on cspan three. Tonight, oral histories with footsoldiers from the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Beginning with gloria who talks about participating in the 1916 lunch counter sit in protest during her time as a student at richmonds Virginia Union university. She also describes the Culture Shock she experienced as a californian attending college and virginia. Watch tonight, beginning at eight eastern. Enjoy American History tv this week. And every weekend, on cspan three. One of the things ive learned growingin

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