Paul Jennings was born into slavery on the plantation of James and Dolley Madison in Virginia, later becoming part of the Madison household staff at the White House. Once finally emancipated by Senator Daniel Webster later in life, he would give an aged and impoverished Dolley Madison, his former ow[...]
The true story of Paul Jennings, a slave in the household of America's fourth president James Madison, and an extraordinary man in his own right - he taught himself to write and read and purchased his freedom. This accessible and original narative history was a bestseller in the US.[...]