This is the third of four lectures in America’s Architecture of Freedom and Unfreedom, the 74th A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts presented by Mabel O. Wilson of Columbia University.
Through an exploration of governmental, commercial, and residential buildings constructed along F Street in Capitol Hill, this talk reveals the history of how enslaved and free Black laborers became essential to Washington City’s transformation from a verdant patchwork of plantations to a monumental capital. The story of Peter (last name unknown), a carpenter enslaved by James Hoban, an immigrant Irish architect and builder who designed and supervised the construction of the President’s House (today’s White House), sheds light upon how Hoban and his peers’ hard-fought freedom and wealth depended upon confining Black craftsmen like Peter to conditions of unfreedom.
This lecture’s title is taken from an advertisement in the Maryland Herald and Eastern Shore Intelligencer (November 11, 1794).
The series continues on:
Sunday, March 30, 2:00 p.m.
Sign language interpreters are available for this program. Please call 202.737.4215 or email [email protected] two weeks in advance for a request. Learn more about accessibility services.