Decatur House Slave Quarters
Click Image to Enlarge
Photograph showing the H Street side of the slave quarters at Decatur House.
Credit: Volkmar K. Wentzel Collection
Can you imagine living on the second floor of the stucco building pictured here —in a space of just about 900 square feet—with 20 other people ranging in age from eighteen months to fifty years of age? That's what it was like here for the African Americans enslaved in the household of John Gadsby, the second owner of Decatur House, who had the building constructed around 1836. An 1844 inventory of the furnishings of Decatur House included a listing of 21 slaves who likely lived in this building.
Today, very few examples remain of slave quarters in urban areas, and this structure is entirely unique as preserved physical evidence that African Americans were held in bondage in sight of the White House.
Originally, this building's only exterior doors led to an interior courtyard rather than out onto the street. This design allowed the Gadsbys to have greater control over the movements of their slaves and kept the slaves' presence and activities more hidden from public view. The first floor of this building contained the household's kitchen, laundry, and a dining room for the enslaved people. The second floor was divided into three small chambers where the enslaved men, women, and children made their homes.
Most of the people enslaved here by the Gadsby's were members of the King and Williams families. Some may have worked at Decatur House or at Gadsby's nearby National Hotel, while others may have been confined on the property prior to being sold.
Today the second floor of this building is home to the Decatur House exhibition gallery, which includes a permanent exhibit on slavery in Washington, DC and at Decatur House. Although most of the interior architectural features were removed by the National Trust in the mid-1960s, a chimney and hearth with the ghostmarks of a mantle are still visible and the building's original wall timbers form the backdrop for the slavery exhibit.
Listen to:
Decatur House Slave Quarters Tour Audio
Documents:
Floor plan of the rear wing (kitchen, slave quarters, and stables) of Decatur House, 1937 (pdf, 179 Kb)
Elevation of the rear wing (kitchen, slave quarters, and stables) of Decatur House, 1937 (pdf, 169 Kb)
Related Subjects:
Architecture of Enslavement
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Rodgers House/ Belasco Theater | A command performance by the first African American opera star... |
| Members of Gadsby's Enslaved Household | A list of their names and ages. |
| Gadsby Slave Quarters at Decatur House ca.1937 | Photograph taken by Volkmar Wentzel in 1937 showing the H Street side of the slave quarters at Decatur House. |
| Decatur House Slave Quarters Floor Plans | Floorplans and architectural drawings of the Decatur House slave quarters. |
| "Negro Life At the South" | Click Image to Enlarge. A 1859 painting by Eastman Johnson depicting urban slavery. |
| "Negro Life at the South" | 1859 painting depicting urban slavery. |
Enslaved People
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Weddings at St. John's Church | Selected entries from the St. John's Church marriage register. |
| Thomas Greene Bethune [Wiggins], 1849 -1908 | Photograph of blind piano prodigy Thomas Greene Bethune, the first African American artist to perform at the White House. |
| The White House | From slavery to sit-ins.... |
| Tayloe House | Compensated emancipation, only in DC... |
| St. John's Church | Free and enslaved African Americans are married and baptized at the President's parish... |
| President's House Carpenters' Roll from May 1795 | Payment record for carpenters,including five enslaved men, who constructed the President's House. |
| Paul Jennings | Paul Jennings |
| Members of Gadsby's Enslaved Household | A list of their names and ages. |
| Lafayette Square | An enslaved woman buys her freedom and changes the nation's history.... |
| Gadsby Slave Quarters at Decatur House ca.1937 | Photograph taken by Volkmar Wentzel in 1937 showing the H Street side of the slave quarters at Decatur House. |
| Frederick Douglass | Revered African American leader. |
| First page of a letter from Henry Clay to his agent in Washington, Philip Fendall, regarding Charlotte Dupuy's petition for freedom | Letter written written by Henry Clay to his agent in Washington, Philip Fendall, regarding Charlotte Dupuy's bid for freedom. |
| Ewell House | Buying, selling, and resisting. |
| Emancipation in the District of Columbia - List of the Petitions Filed | Government document showing claims paid for emancipated slaves to the former owners. |
| Elizabeth Keckly (1818-1907) | Elizabeth Keckly was born into slavery in 1818. She went on to purchase her own freedom and establish a successful dressmaking business. |
| Dolley Madison's House | A former slave shows charity toward an impoverished First Lady. |
| Decatur House Slave Quarters Floor Plans | Floorplans and architectural drawings of the Decatur House slave quarters. |
| Decatur House | Where Charlotte Dupuy takes a brave stand against slavery. |
| Daniel Webster's House | A slave plans a daring escape, but has a change of heart... |
Related Websites:
The Library of Congress’ Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) Collection includes a set of architectural drawings and photographs of Decatur House and the slaves quarters.
Gadsby’s
http://oha.alexandriava.gov/gadsby/
