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Daniel Webster's House
Before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Building was built during 1922-25, a simple three-and-a-half story brick home stood in its place at the corner of H Street and Connecticut Avenue. The home's original owner was Daniel Webster, a Congressman from both New Hampshire and Massachusetts and a Senator from Massachusetts who also served as Secretary of State for three
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Self-emancipation in Lafayette Park
In 1810 an enslaved woman named Alethia “Lethe” Tanner purchased her freedom with $275 dollars she had earned selling vegetables in the area we know today as Lafayette Square. Enslaved people used the open air markets to their advantage, by growing fruits and vegetables on small plots of land and selling them to raise money. Before being landscaped and named for the Marq
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Rodgers House and Belasco Theater
The Rodgers HouseThe Rodgers House, formerly at 717 Madison Place, was constructed in 1831 by Commodore John Rodgers, a high-ranking naval officer. Rodgers is known to have owned slaves because one of them, a man named Henry Butler, was identified as Rodgers' slave in an 1827 entry in the Marriage Register of St. John's Church, also located on Lafayette Square. In the image
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St. John's Church
Every president since James Madison has attended services at St. John's Church. This distinctive yellow church was the second building to be constructed on Lafayette Square and has always been a symbolic and important house of worship in Washington, D.C. Visitors to Lafayette Square can enter St. John's Church from the 16th Street entrance to see the sanctuary and
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Tayloe House
Five hundred and forty-seven dollars and fifty cents. According to the records of the District of Columbia that is the amount that Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, who lived on Lafayette Square, was paid by the federal government for Melinda Lawson, a slave he was forced to free under the District of Columbia Emancipation Act passed by Congress and signed by Abraham
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The White House, Lafayette Square and African Americans
To imagine what it was like here when the White House was being constructed in the 1790s, erase everything else you see now on and around Lafayette Square. The park was a field—muddy or dusty, depending on the weather. Enslaved workers who were building the White House were housed in temporary shelters—each about 10 feet wide and 10 feet long—lined
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The White House Neighborhood Revisited
Read Digital Edition Foreword, William SealeThe Willard Hotel, Elizabeth Smith BrownsteinNotable Prominent Neighbors: Personalities of Saint John's Church, Richard F. GrimmettThe Association's Decatur House on Lafayette Square: A Center for the Study of History, Neil W. HorstmanPlatform Star: Robert G. Ingersoll in Washington, Steven C. LoweUnraveling the Dolley Myths, Merry Ellen ScofieldRemembering My Mother in the White House on the
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Asantewa Boakyewa
Asantewa Boakyewa currently serves as Associate Director of Collections & Exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Community Museum. has held research and administrative appointments at Johns Hopkins University, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture (A Smithsonian Affiliate Museum), Georgetown University, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She has been an invited speaker an
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Digital Library Exhibit
Slavery and Freedom in the White House Collection: Slavery at the White House
This exhibit explores the history of slavery and emancipation in the United States through art, furnishings, chinaware, and other objects in the White House. This exhibit was curated by White House Historical Association historian Sarah Fling.
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Digital Library Exhibit
Something Old, Something New: Maria Monroe
Something Old, Something New: Eight First Daughters’ Fashionable White House Weddings highlights the glamorous weddings of eight women who took their vows at the White House over two centuries and how their bridal fashion reflects both the taste of each era and their own personal styles. This exhibit was curated by Jillian Staricka, the 2023 Digital Exhibits Intern and MA student in
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Turning Points at the White House: Great Expectations
Read Digital Version Foreword, William SealeThe First Ladies as Scene Builders: An Artist’s Gallery of Changes at the White House, Lauren McGwin, illustrated by Peter WaddellCreating a Room of its Own: The Evolution of the White House China Room, Melissa NaulinAn Artist’s Drawings for a New White House Piano: Dunbar Beck and the Art of the Nation’s Second
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