Harsh Life of Washington's Slaves Revisited

this mansion belonged to America's first president George Washington he called it home now visitors can see the humble abodes that housed Mount Vernon's many slaves just next door after a 10-month restoration the slave quarters have been reopened for the public they are two wings that George Washington added on to the Mount Vernon green house shortly after becoming president they're divided into four large rooms including one for men and another for women each room was heated by a fireplace at the dedication ceremony archaeologist Denis Pope said the restoration was the result of more than 20 years of research he said the clothes utensils cups and glasses bruised and baskets used by the slaves were also reproduced we have a lot archaeological materials that we've excavated from the slave quarters site and from that we know the kinds of things that they were actually you know using the ceramics that they were eating from and and the food remains I found lots of animal bones so we know that they were eating lots and lots of wild animals that they were you know augmenting the rations that they were getting from the Washington's these items bring to life the lifestyle of the craftsmen cooks servants and farm laborers who were owned and worked on the Virginia estate for free we have some descriptions of what these quarters look like and they described them as huts and they say that they're the most more miserable than you know than anything that you can imagine and I think that you know we don't want to you know why wash this this part of the story these folks were owned by other people and they had no rights of their own and they were doing hard work some of the reproduced items reflect how some slaves held on to their African heritage like this ceramic bowl a fabric doll and a knitted cap several descendants of Washington's slaves took part in the ceremony long they play some of those items in the restored quarters among them was rubella mink wander a senior administrative judge in Washington DC he's a descendant of Sookie Bay a slave who lived at Mount Vernon and worked for George Washington for many years their names are forgotten and the roles that they played were forgotten yet the man they worked for George Washington glorified we want to give these men and women that just do because they are the ones who toil from sunup to sundown six and seven days a week who made it possible for him to go off to do many many great things that benefited all of us how many people slept in one room in George Washington's house why but one or two right how many slept in the slave quarters what yes good Beth care an elementary schoolteacher brought her students to Mount Vernon as part of their history class of course some of the children have ancestors that came over that way but it was a real eye-opener for them to see the contrast in lifestyles and it just I think it's made a real impression on him educating visitors about the harshness of slavery is one goal of the restoration the point was not lost on Gloria Ellis Holmes another of Sookie BAE's descendants who came to Mount Vernon for the dedication she placed the ceramic bowl in the woman's room it's raining today and I'd like to say that in my opinion the rain that's the tears of the slaves saying thank you thank you for not forgetting us for writer Faiza el-masri I'm faith Lapidus VOA news you

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Keywords: George Washington, Mount Vernon, Slavery, slaves, quarters, Faiza Elmasry, VOA

Id: Ygko3bsl_Ro

Length: 3min 58sec (238 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 30 2010