A Slave in the White House (click to see video) by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor was recently featured on the Daily Show with John Stewart. The author tells the story of one of James Madison’s slaves, Paul Jennings. Starting at the two minute mark I think John Stewart make the author admit to what Kevin Levin was speaking to in this post where Ms. Taylor says that she just wanted to tell the story of Paul Jennings without passing judgement on Dolly and James Madison with regards to slavery.
Great interview, infromative and funny.
I see Taylor’s point. She has to walk a bit of a fine line here, because her subject is Jennings, not the Madisons. Nonetheless, the latters’ views on slavery and their practice of it is central to the story, and undoubtedly the single biggest external element that shaped the course of Jennings’ life (and that of his family), so it necessarily factors prominently in the narrative. At the same time, Taylor should (IMO) not be too tempted to go down the path of ZOMG hypocrisy! regarding James Madison, as it’s been pretty much done to death with him and others of the Founders.
I’d be interested to hear from others who’ve read this, how successful she is in this.