James Madison's Montpelier We The People Spring 2017 Montpelier_WTP_Spring2017_FINAL-1-web | Page 6

WE THE PEOPLE
THE MERE DISTINCTION
OF COLOUR
Bringing the story of enslavement from Madison’s time to ours.
BY ELIZABETH CHEW
Interpreting slavery at museums and historic sites has become
commonplace in the second decade of the 21st century. Since the
early 1990s, many museums have been educating the public about
slavery, focusing on the physical realities of labor “from can’t see to
can’t see;” the diverse knowledge and specialized skills possessed by
enslaved African Americans running plantation operations and houses,
often under brutal conditions; and the resilience and achievements of
enslaved people in creating home, community, and culture within a
system that denied their basic humanity. Visitors to historic sites have
learned about slavery through many interpretive modalities: furnished
living and working spaces, both original and reconstructed; first-person
interpretation; living history demonstrations; third-person guided
tours; digital interactives; and more traditional gallery exhibitions.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
The Mere Distinction of Colour opens on
JUNE 5, 2017
Montpelier’s interpretation, with both guided tours and furnished
spaces, has incorporated stories of slavery and the enslaved community
since 1997, when the National Trust still operated the site. Since
2000, when The Montpelier Foundation was created, staff researchers
have been engaged in documentary and genealogical research to
understand the Montpelier plantation and its enslaved community
and have, to date, identified nearly 300 slaves by name and located
living descendants of five. In this same 17-year period, archaeological
research under the direction of Matt Reeves has led to an overall
understanding of the physical plantation landscape and the relative
locations of farm operations, plantation industries, and the dwellings
of enslaved domestic and agricultural workers. Elizabeth Dowling
Taylor’s 2012 book on Paul Jennings, A Slave in the White House, filled
out the remarkable story of the best-documented Montpelier slave.
David Rubenstein’s transformational 2014 gift is enabling us to put
research into practice by expanding our interpretation of slavery and
the enslaved community. Following the gift, we began planning ways to
return slavery to the Montpelier landscape, through further archaeology
and reconstructions of the slave dwellings and work buildings adjacent
to the main House. We also began organizing an exhibition on slavery
entitled The Mere Distinction of Colour that would begin in the cellar
level of the House and extend into the reconstructed buildings in the
South Yard. The title comes from something Madison said during
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