Oct
27

Who Built the White House?

“I wake up every morning in a house built by slaves.” After Michelle Obama said those words at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, thousands of Americans flooded the White House Historical Association with calls. Who were the enslaved African Americans who built the White House?

Illustration showing black workers and the White House under construction
Sidedoor 8.9 “Who Built the White House?”

Though our national ethos is rooted in the principles of liberty and equality, America has a complex history with these ideals that reaches to its very foundation. Few examples of this are more poignant than the construction of the White House: a monument to freely elected governance that was constructed by enslaved labor.

This time on Sidedoor, we journey back 230 years to search for clues about the enslaved African Americans who built our most famous residence — and many of the buildings that became the cornerstones of a new nation.

Painting showing White House under construction
Oil painting, completed by artist Peter Waddell in 2007, depicting White House construction as it may have appeared in 1796. Peter Waddell for the White House Historical Association.

Speakers

  • Lina Mann – Historian, the White House Historical Association
  • Mary Elliott – Curator of American slavery, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
Reproduction of page from 1795 White House payroll records
Payroll from August 1795 showing enslaved sawyers hired out to work on the President’s House; Simon, Jerry, Jef, Charles, Len, Dick, Bill, and Jim. Enslaved workers were typically noted in the payrolls with an “N” or “Negro” to indicate their status. Wages for labor were paid directly to slave owners. National Archives and Records Administration

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Links and Extras

Lina Mann and Lizzie Peabody on the National Mall
Lina Mann and Lizzie Peabody discuss White House history in Lafayette Square. (Photograph by James Morrison.)

Posted: 27 October 2022
About the Author:

Alex di Giovanni is primarily responsible for "other duties as assigned" in the Office of Communications and External Affairs. She has been with the Smithsonian since 2006 and plans to be interred in the Smithson crypt.