MICHELLE Obama’s speech during the first day of the Democratic National Convention was generally lauded.
One sentence in particular garnered more attention, and controversy, than the rest: “That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.”
The mention of slavery was a stark reminder for those who may have forgotten the White House’s disturbing history or for those whose associate the iconic home with freedom and not the misery created in its absence.
Clarence Lusane, author of The Black History of the White House, isn’t one of those people. The chair of Howard University’s Political Science Department, Lusane has done extensive research on the enslaved people who built the structure and later lived among 10 of the United States’ first 12 presidents.
He called the first lady’s comment a “pivotal moment” in US history. “I’m glad that she mentioned the role of enslaved Americans at the White House because she presented a larger audience with a history that most people are not being taught in our schools,” said Lusane, also a professor emeritus at American University. “I certainly wasn’t taught that not only were many of our presidents slave owners, but that the most renowned building in our nation was, in part, built by slave labour.”
Unlike at the US Capitol Building and the site of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, “there’s nothing at the White House that acknowledges its slave history, and perhaps a million each year visit the site,” Lusane added.
While the history of slavery at the White House isn’t widely known, historians say there’s no debate about the accuracy of the first lady’s comments.
The White House Historical Association’s website says that when planners struggled to recruit European labour, they “turned to African Americans — enslaved and free — to provide the bulk of labour that built the White House, the United States Capitol and other early government buildings.”