Paul Jennings (abolitionist)

Jennings was enslaved at birth at Montpelier in about 1799; his mother, who was African-Native American, was enslaved by the Madisons. The mixed-race Jennings, as an enslaved child, was a companion to Dolley's son Payne Todd. He began to serve James Madison as his footman and later was trained as his "body servant". Other people enslaved at the White House helped save such valuables as silver. (The portrait was returned to the White House, where it is the only surviving item from before the War of 1812.) Legend has it that he assisted First Lady Dolley Madison in this effort. In his memoir, Jennings wrote that a French cook and one other person did the physical work of taking down the painting. ==Post-White House years==

After the president ended his second term, the Madisons returned to Montpelier in 1817, bringing Jennings. He was 18 years old and continued to serve Madison as his valet for the rest of the president's life. Jennings married Fanny, an enslaved woman held on another plantation, and they had five children who lived with their mother. Jennings was with Madison when he died in 1836. Struggling financially, in 1844, Dolley Madison sold Montpelier and all its property, including its slaves, to raise money to live on. That year, Fanny, Jennings's wife, died in Virginia. The following year, Dolley Madison hired out Jennings to President James Polk in Washington. Often enslaved people who were hired out got to keep a portion of their earnings, but she kept it all. ==Freedom==

Fearing for his future, Jennings tried to arrange a purchase price with Madison, but she sold him to an insurance agent for $200 () in 1846. Six months later, Senator Daniel Webster intervened to buy him from the new owner for $120 () and gave Jennings his freedom, for which he paid the senator in work. He entered the large free black community of Washington, which outnumbered enslaved people by three to one at the time. In 1848, Jennings helped plan a mass escape of 77 enslaved people from Washington, D.C., on the schooner Pearl. It was the largest escape attempt by enslaved people in US history. John, Franklin, William and daughter Mary later joined him in Washington and the area. After the war, Jennings worked at the newly established Pension Bureau, part of the Department of the Interior, to handle claims of veterans and soldiers' families. He made the acquaintance of John Brooks Russell, an antiquarian. Russell wrote it down because of Jennings's story of his years with Madison. He published it for him in January 1863 in The Historical Magazine and Notes and Queries Concerning the Antiquities, History and Biography of America, to which Russell had contributed. He helped Jennings gain publication of his memoir as a book in 1865. It is considered the first White House memoir. A free man, Jennings bought a lot and built a house at 1804 L Street, NW. He had reunited with his children, and his son John lived with him. His daughter Mary lived next door with her two children. His sons Franklin and William also lived in the area. After Desdemona's death, Jennings married a third time in 1870 to Amelia Dorsey. He died in northwest Washington, D.C., at the age of 75 in 1874. He was buried at Columbian Harmony Cemetery in D.C. When that cemetery closed in 1959, the remains of those buried there were reinterred at National Harmony Memorial Park in Landover, Maryland. However, Jennings's remains (along with others unclaimed by family members) were lost in this process. In his will, Jennings left his family his house and property in northwest Washington. ==Works==

• Paul Jennings, ''A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison'' (1865), reprint copy available at Google books. ==Legacy and honors==

• In 2009, Montpelier staff gave a lecture about Jennings, "Paul Jennings: Enamoured with Freedom", and had a reception for his descendants at the estate. • Also in 2009, the Montpelier Foundation arranged a private visit for Jennings's descendants to the White House to see the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington and celebrate Jennings for his efforts during the War of 1812. • One of his descendants lives in a rowhouse in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., which his family has owned since the 19th century. • James Madison University honored Jennings on February 8, 2019, by naming a new residence hall after him. ==See also==