The East Side Freedom Library and the St. Paul Recovery Act Reading Group invite you to our monthly Reparations Reading & Discussion Group, The Federal Government and Lawmaking About Slavery

Tuesday, December 13, 2022, at 6:30 pm

Register here to join this event on Zoom. 

LEFT: An 1844 photograph of John Peter Van Ness, an enslaver who represented New York in Congress and later served as mayor of Washington. In D.C., an elementary school, a street and a Metro station are named for him. (Library of Congress) RIGHT: Francis Preston Blair Jr. in 1859. A Missouri enslaver who served in both houses of Congress, he has a statue in the Capitol and a homeless shelter named after him in Northeast Washington. (Library of Congress)

From the founding of the United States until long after the Civil War, hundreds of the elected leaders writing the nation’s laws were current or former slaveowners.  More than 1,800 people who served in the U.S. Congress in the 18th, 19th, and even 20th centuries owned human beings at some point in their lives, according to a Washington Post investigation of censuses and other historical records.

The country is still grappling with the legacy of their embrace of slavery. The link between race and political power in early America echoes in complicated ways, from the racial inequities that persist to this day to the polarizing fights over voting rights and the way history is taught in schools.

The Washington Post created a database that shows enslavers in Congress represented 40 states, including not just the South but every state in New England, much of the Midwest, and many Western states.

So that we can have a productive conversation, please read the Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2022/congress-slaveowners-names-list