https://mallhistory.org/files/original/9f50c055a6f15e74893dff301fa24e52.jpg 048fd3dd7f63d8c17d69bd7bcfc3c216 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Width 150 Height 274 Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Paul Jennings Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This photograph is in the private collection of the family. Last known owner is Silvia Jennings Alexander. Permissions contact can be made through the Montpelier Foundation. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Montpelier Foundation People An individual, biographical data, birth and death, etc. Birth Date 1799 Birthplace Montpelier, Orange County, Virginia Death Date 1874 Biographical Text Paul Jennings was born a slave on James Madison's plantation. When Madison was elected President in 1809, Jennings accompanied the Madisons to the White House, and was present for the burning of the public buildings of Washington in 1814. He returned with the Madisons to Virginia after 1817. In the 1820s, he married a fellow slave named Fanny and they had five children. When Dolley Madison returned to Washington in 1837, following the death of James Madison, she took Jennings with her but not his family. His wife died in 1844, the same year that Mrs. Madison sold her Virginia home. Jennings' children were sold to other slave owners in Virginia. Although her will had stated that Jennings would be freed, Mrs. Madison sold him in 1846 to Pollard Webb. Six months later, in early 1847, he was purchased by Senator Daniel Webster who then freed him in exchange for work. Jennings became a prominent member of the free black community of Washington, DC. In 1848 he helped to arrange an escape attempt for slaves in the district, whose path took them across the Mall. In 1851, with a glowing recommendation from Webster, Jennings took a job at the pension office of the Department of the Interior. It was there he met a coworker from Massachusetts who encouraged him to record some of his life experiences. His memoir, A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison, was published in 1863; it contains the only first-hand account of Madison's death. Jennings briefly returned to Virginia in 1850 where he was able to find and secure freedom for his children. In 1849, he had remarried to a free mulatto woman from Alexandria, and he settled the children from his first marriage next door to his new home on L Street NW. When Jennings died in 1874, he was able to leave his children a house and valuable property. Bibliography "<a href="http://www.montpelier.org/explore/community/paul_jennings.php">Paul Jennings - Enamored with Freedom</a>." James Madison's Montpelier. <a href="http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jennings/jennings.html">A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison: Electronic Edition</a>. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2001. First Name for nav purposes Paul Last Name for nav purposes Jennings Occupation Office worker Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Paul Jennings Description An account of the resource Paul Jennings was an enslaved man owned by James Madison who lived in the White House during the Madison presidency. He was 15 years old in 1814 when the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/157">British invaded Washington, DC</a>, and burned down the presidential residence. Almost fifty years later, Jennings wrote a memoir recalling that day and asserting that a gardener and the cook saved the portrait of George Washington, not Mrs. Madison. Jennings gained his freedom in 1847 and became a prominent member of the free black community in Washington, DC. In 1848, he helped to organize an ultimately unsuccessful <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/287">slave escape</a> in Washington; the path the slaves took toward freedom ran across the Mall. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Courtesy of Sylvia Jennings Alexander Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1800-1829 1830-1859 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paul Jennings