The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House

by Jesse J. Holland

THE INVISIBLES: Slavery Inside The White House and How It Helped Shape America is the first book to tell the story of the executive mansion's most unexpected residents, the African American slaves who lived with the U.S. presidents who owned them. Interest in African Americans and the White House are at an all-time high due to the historic presidency of Barack Obama, and the soon-to-be-opened Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and History. The Invisibles chronicles the African American presence inside the White House from its beginnings in 1782 until 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that granted slaves their freedom. During these years, slaves were the only African Americans to whom the most powerful men in the United States were exposed on a daily, and familiar, basis. By reading about these relationships, readers will better understand some of the views that various presidents held about class and race in American society, and how these slaves contributed not only to the life and comforts of the presidents they served, but to America as a whole.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, African American, American History, Race, Politics, Audiobook

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite chapter was on Slave Rebellions. Decent and interesting if a bit light. My only complaint would be the author's apparent misunderstanding of consensual sex with rape. Enslaved Peoples are unable to consent to sex with persons in a position of ownership or management. Someone who has the power to free an Enslaved Person and their offspring in perpetuity has too much power for consent to mean anything. After all Enslaved Peoples were enslaved without their consent.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The portions of this book based on documented fact were fascinating. The chapters on the slaves of Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson I found particularly well researched and compelling. The chapters covering the earliest slave residents of the White House, however, I found less compelling, since (as with most information from that time period) fewer reliable primary source documents existed and there was a larger amount of supposition.

I have two gripes about the book. The first is redundancies, which may be useful for someone using this book as a source for research papers and utilizing the index to find what they need as opposed to reading the book cover to cover. Since I read it cover to cover over the course of two days, I found the various repeated passages/facts annoying and a detraction. My second gripe is because of a personal misconception I had about the purpose of the book. I thought the purpose of this book was to relate historical fact, so when the author drew "obvious" conclusions and stated inferences based on personal opinions and subjective criteria as fact in cases where documentation did not exist, the history seeker in me cringed.

For example, by choice of tone and wording the author conveyed (to me) a strong dislike of Dolley Madison, using pejorative phrases and declaring her a liar, a women who kept no faith with her slaves, and a woman willing to plot betrayal against those in her charge. Dolley Madison may indeed have had such a character and deserve the derision of the author and myself, but the damning evidence she ignored James Madison's directive to manumit their slaves upon her death was diminished by the subsequent presentation in the narrative of a clearly inaccurate recollection of a former slave who claimed the former First Lady lied to his mother for apparently no other purpose than having her infant son named Madison. The reason she would desire such a naming was not provided, rather the author dismissed the fact that Dolley Madison was in another state at the time she was supposed to be speaking with the infant's mother and the fact the infant was not present or aware of the conversation as indicators the conversation may never have occurred, and declared that obviously the conversation had occurred six months prior to the claimant's date and went so far as to say the mother was reminded of the perfidy of Dolley Madison every time she was compelled to speak or call her child's name. In my opinion, the case for the faithlessness of Dolley Madison in her treatment of slaves would have been stronger without the inclusion of this unsubstantiated conversation.

However, as previously stated, my second gripe was because of my own misconception. The author made it quite clear in the conclusion the purpose of this book was less a work of history and more a journalistic foray into an oft overlooked portion of early American history. I found it very readable, not at all dry, and quite informative, with the caveat that since the author's purpose was to make a point rather than merely portray facts, not all sides of a story were presented here. I highly recommend it to those interested in early American history and hope (as stated in the author's conclusion) that he does find many more sources and stories of African Slaves in the White House and can release either a 2nd edition of greater scope or a sequel/part II.

Disclaimer: I received a digital galley of this title from the publisher for review purposes, which did not affect my overall rating or recommendation.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each February in honor of the National Black History Month, I read a book by or about African Americans. “The Invisibles” is my choice for 2016. Holland tells the stories of the slaves who worked inside the White House from President Washington until President Lincoln’s 1862 Emancipation Proclamation. The slaves worked as cooks, butlers, maids, body servants, doormen and footmen. Holland provides in-depth stories of some slaves, primarily those that had documented history, such as, George Washington’s William Lee, Thomas Jefferson’s Sally Heming and James Madison’s Paul Jennings. President John Adams and President John Q. Adams did not have slaves. I noted an error in the book, Holland stated that the Adams were Quakers; that is incorrect they were Unitarians. Holland also provided an over view of the history of slavery in American including race mixing.

Holland is a journalist who wrote the book “Black Men Built the Capitol”. The book is well research, documented and well written. Holland provides analysis and insight into the period of American slavery. Overall the book provides a look at the White House from the viewpoint of slavery. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. J. D. Jackson did a good job narrating the book.

[Jay Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting subject matter, but difficult read.

[Halli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every once in awhile a good book comes along: one that is well written, tightly edited, respectful of its subject matter. I don't think that it was Mr. Holland's intentions to be objectively removed from the subject matter but I don't think his emotional interests take away from the writing. He's relating experiences. He's compiled a book that tells the stories of those that have gone before, those that were in bondage while serving the highest office in the land. If Mr. Holland's words come across as angry/distasteful regarding the slave holding Presidents of the time, it's warranted.

"[John] Tyler's opinion was that 'he held no Slaves as President of the United States, & as John Tyler it was nobody's business (p. 175).'"

Thankfully things have changed/are changing/will change. Perusing the websites of Mt. Vernon, Montpelier, and Monticello's online shops reveal works that discuss slavery including "Twelve Years A Slave" by Solomon Northrup, "Never Caught:..." by Erica Armstrong Dunbar about Ona Judge, and Elizabeth Dowling Taylor's: "A Slave in the White House" (recommend this book).

Would recommend. I found this on a general search for "white house" on my library's search engine. I'm glad that I came across this book and I look forward to Mr. Holland's future works.

[Antonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, and learned a great deal about a long ignored chapter of our history. The book could have done with better editing - some sections were repetitious, and the author tended to jump back and forth a bit. I learned that the first slaves were brought to Jamestown in 1619 and that they were 2nd and third generation Christians from what we now call Angloa - not at all what I learned in school . There were some factual errors - John Adams and John Quincy Adams were not Quakers.....But overall an enjoyable read - not at all dry or stuffy.

[William Bahr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally told: the story of our presidents' slaves

I really enjoyed this book! I read it for further research for the next revision of my own book on George Washington’s Liberty (Bastille) Key and found a number of interesting things I didn’t know. Unfortunately, I also found a few errors: (p 3) John Adams was not a Quaker, but originally a Congregationalist and then a Unitarian, with John Quincy Adams also a Unitarian.; (p 12) I am not quite sure that New York City was chosen as the first US capital because it was the “logical choice” due to its being “largest city in the burgeoning new country” (it had been the capital under the Articles of Confederation since 1785, when it’s quite possible (first official census was 1790) that Philadelphia had been the largest city, Philadelphia being the largest city at least in 1776 (the prime reason why NYC was chosen to be the capital in 1785 was that John Jay insisted upon his home city being the capital as a condition for his becoming Foreign Secretary; thereafter it would seem to remain the capital due to “momentum” until 1790, when the capital moved to Philadelphia for ten years awaiting the completion of the Federal City in Washington, D.C.)); (p 64) Maryland and Virginia didn’t each cede just 10 square miles to Congress (the Federal City was to be 10 miles square (100 square miles)); and (p 65), to be clear, the law-making Congress left it up to "surveyor" Washington to choose the exact site of the capital. As well, there are more than a few ambiguous pronouns, questionable repetitions of previous statements, and assertions about the “White House,” when, at least for Washington, the better term would be “executive mansion.” I list these issues in hopes that the author will correct them in his future (implied in the book) update. If this occurs, I’ll be happy to move this review to 5 stars, especially as (I’ll take the author at his word that) this is the first book to tell the story of the executive mansion’s slaves. Bottom line: lots of interesting, important information which kept my interest throughout.

[Ronny · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading the forward in this book, I was afraid it would be amongst the ever-growing number of revisionist histories in which the editors/authors attempt to rewrite history to suit their agenda. Fortunately, my initial impression could not have been more wrong. Mr Holland does a fantastic job of telling the stories and sharing the facts without bias. He also succeeds in doing so in a captivating and enlightening way.

I came into this read with several preconceived notions, most of which were only reinforced through the course of the book. One of these was that our founding fathers were among the greatest people of their generation, and perhaps any generation. I still believe this strongly despite the fact that the author discusses how most of our pre-civil war presidents (all but John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams I believe) were slaveholders to some degree and at some point in their lives. While I believe the practice of slavery to be a wicked practice and that nothing justifies such a practice, these men did live in a time and place where slavery was not only a common practice, but any abolitionist commentary or sentiment were very much frowned upon. Despite the traditions so prevalent in this time and place many of these men had a strong desire and some even actively lobbied to outlaw the practice. And almost all of these men were extremely kind, compassionate, and benevolent to those whom they held in servitude.

In many instances, it is difficult to reconcile these men's beliefs with their actions, but I came out of it in the end still holding a deep respect and reverence not only for these men and what they did to build and preserve this grand human experiment but also for those slaves who, for generations, went without credit for the roles they played in building this great nation.

I would recommend this book.

[Audrey Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the 1700’s where black people were servants in the White House to the 2000’s where the first black President ran the White House lots of things had changed. In the 1700’s the White House was run by white men who had a basement full of servants ready to be of service whenever, so they could protect themselves and their families from being sent off to a much worse home, a plantation. The White House slaves were lucky, they had a nice home with food and clothes on their backs, and more freedom than others. But the untold stories spill from those 4 walls. Relationships, anger, death and much more was hidden in the basement.
Jesse J. Holland shares the untold truth of the White House, spilling the secrets of the backbone of the first years of American History. From a slave named William Lee who was George Washington's first and favorite slave, to the first black President Barack Obama, black people have been occupying the White House. I was shocked when I learned about the things that happened in the basement, from injuries such as broken knees, to living in stables, to marriages so much happens behind closed doors that most white Americans haven't heard of.
This book is short in pages but long in all of its information. The quotes from former presidents make it harder to understand, but a lot of information can be gained from reading this book. The audience that would benefit from this book is students learning about American history and English, as well as anyone who wants to learn more about the journey to anti-slavery and former presidents life. I would recommend this book to high schoolers and adults because the language could be harder to understand for younger kids. I recommend this book to others who love history

[Samantha Aspinall · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject and stories of this book were incredibly interesting and I learnt a lot, but the writing style was not enjoyable and the book was often repetitive and lacked good editing

[Julie Bestry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This well-researched book was interesting, but sometimes disappointing.

Having previously read The President's Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas , I was eager to read more about the lives of the enslaved people who lived and worked within its walls. However, very little of the book actually fulfills the promise of the subtitle, focusing instead on the lives of the presidents, the enslaved people before and after their lives in the White House, and (essential) context about enslavement and related issues of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

I already knew the stories of Oney Judge and the Washingtons, and James Hemmings and the Jeffersons, and was expecting to hear similar stories but with more details of their lives, travails, and whether each achieved freedom. I knew that from Washington through Zachary Taylor, only John and John Quincy Adams were not slaveholders, so I was not expecting stories from those two presidencies, but I was expecting more depth to stories about more individuals.

I was expecting an orderly and detailed description of life, for the enslaved people, in the White House given that the the subtitle of the book is The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House.

First, I'd say that less than 20% of the book focuses on enslaved people in the White House, and almost none of that relates to their daily lives and experiences. After a detailed introduction that does a great job setting the tone of the book, the author begins with Washington, whom I'd already known had taken advantage of his enslaved people in a particularly egregious way.

After the government moved from New York to Philadelphia but before the White House was built, Washington knew that Black slaves brought to Pennsylvania would be free upon residing in Pennsylvania for 6 months; thus, he made a point of removing the enslaved people who worked for him and sending them back to Mount Vernon (or elsewhere) and returning again, to maintain their status as enslaved persons. The two chapters on Washington (as are all the chapters) was deeply researched using primary documents, and can be forgiven for not mentioning the White House much, given that Washington never lived there. But aside from what his slaves were given to wear, we learn almost nothing about their lives.

I did love the selection of a letter by Edward Rushton, an anti-slavery advocate, calling Washington out:

"My business is with George Washington of Mount Vernon in Virginia, a man who notwithstanding his hatred of oppression and his ardent love of liberty holds at this moment hundreds of his fellow being in a state of abject bondage."

The book then jumps back to the early history of slavery in the Colonial pre-United States, which may have been the most interesting part of the book. I was not aware that for the first several decades, the bulk of the "slave trade" had actually kidnapped Africans and brought them here to be indentured servants, and that the first slave auctions, per se, were not until 1638. The entire horrifying chapter (of the book, and of our history) was very instructional, as I'd been mostly under the impression that indentured servitude mostly involved white people.

The book then jumps forward to more about Washington, with a greater focus on Oney Judge and others of his slaves. (I'm disappointed that schools do not teach more about Oney Judge, focusing on men's violent rebellions against slavery and not various, particularly women's, efforts to self-emancipate through escape rather than through violence.)

Jumping back and forth, the book then moves on to the construction of the White House. While it's widely known that the "presidential palace" was due to the labors of Black slaves and a small number of Black slaves and white indentured servants and freemen, too little is known (and was rarely officially acknowledged until 2015 or so) of this part of our history.

Holland really leans in to the primary documents here, telling us how much they were paid, and even trods the ground of Hamilton's "The Room Where it Happened" to tell how Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison negotiated for the financial centers to stay in New York while they carved out a chunk of Virginia and Maryland to make Washington, DC. I understand why there were probably few primary documents about these workers personal lives, and accept what is proffered as representative of what's actually available, but it's harder to square this in later chapters.

From there, the author moves on to talking about Jefferson and the many Hemmings family members as a pretext for explaining the early history of interracial relationships its intersectionality with enslavement, indentured servitude, freedom, sexual assault, love, economics, and politics all intertwined.

While one might have assumed that interracial relationships had been outlawed from the beginning, legislation changed quite a bit across the 1600s and 1700s. The history of these concepts and the legislation surrounding them, as well as the personal stories, creates robust tales. (That said, I really need a genealogical chart to keep the Hemmings family members straight!)

Two more chapters linking Madison and Jackson presidents to the people they enslaved come next. While Dolley Madison gets the side eye for (possibly? likely?) lying about being the one to rescue the portrait of Washington — as well as keeping people enslaved long after they were supposed to be freed, and lying about other things as well), the reader can't help the feeling that the author, though Black, is a bit of an apologist for slaveholding presidents, overall.

I don't know Mr. Holland; perhaps because he's made his career as a journalist and not a historian, he's inclined toward being dispassionate. But there's a lack of dismay and umbrage, and a decided leaning toward weary acceptance in these stories. With the exception of acknowledging how awful and racist it was to call a talented jockey enslaved by Andrew Jackson "Monkey" Simon, Holland seems oddly comfortable with those enslaved persons who were "loyal" to presidential slaveholders.

Holland references that Elias Polk "would have been a complete "Uncle Tom" in "today's parlance" and details how Polk was assured of the loyalty of his slaves (to the dismay of abolitionists who tried to forcibly free them), but makes no mention of what we'd know today as Stockholm Syndrome or the economic, social, and other hardships that enslaved people might have feared as the devils they did not know.

This is not to say that the book makes slavery out to be a good thing (thank goodness). There's a moving retelling by Roeliff Brinkerhoff of Brinkerhoff's conversation with "Uncle Alfred" Jackson, who was deeply loyal to Andrew Jackson; as Brinkerhoff keeps trying to point out all the ways that White House slaves (and indeed, "house" slaves of various sorts) had it easier than other enslaved people, or even other free Blacks, Alfred asks:

"How would you like to be a slave?"

to which Brinkerhoff notes,

"It is needless to say I backed out as gracefully as I could, but i have never yet found an answer to the argument embodied in that question."

Andrew Jackson and James Polk, but really all of the presidents, come off in Holland's writing more as benevolent dictators equal to their times rather than eternal villains, and I have to say that I'm no more mature than I was in second grade when first learning the history of slavery. He may have been "obnoxious and disliked," but I'll stick with John Adams and his abolitionist ways and disdain apologists of even the mildest sorts.

The penultimate chapter is entitled "The Rest" (reminiscent of the early seasons of Gilligan's Island's theme song, where the Professor and Maryann are relegated to "and the rest" status), and covers, in brief, the other six non-slaveholding presidents, as the entire book thus far only touches on Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson.

The enslaved people under Monroe, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Grant, and Johnson are covered in only 25 pages, and much of those chapters are more about the presidents and their positions (both personal and political) on slavery. As with much of the book, the accent is on the presidents, rather than on the enslaved people. This includes the well-known story of widower Tyler wooing his eventually second wife Julia Gardiner on the warship Princeton and the gruesome explosion that killed her father, multiple members of Tyler's Cabinet and other VIPs, as well as Tyler's "body servant". (Fans of The West Wing now know this role as "body man" through Dulé Hill's Charlie Young.)

The thing is, the body servant, Armistead, is given attention in the telling of the story, but overall, his life is given short shrift, though the details of his death are told and retold from different records, without any attempt to explain whether it was likely he lived 10 minutes or an hour after the explosion; all we know is that although he might have been the person with whom Tyler spent more of his private time than anyone else, Tylor appeared to say or care nothing about Armistead; his body was the only one from this tragedy not to lie in state, and was taken off to be "buried by the coloured persons — and his relations — the next day after the accident."

This is followed with a five page wrap-up (as of 2016, when the book was published) about how little is known about the enslaved persons who lived and worked in the White House under the other presidents.

So, the first problem with the book is that almost none of it lives up to the title. We get dozens of pages about how Andrew Jackson felt about horse racing, and a handful of pages making him out to be a not-too-bad dude for standing up for the people he enslaved when they were unjustly accused by others of running afoul of the law, but so little about the people he enslaved. And since the focus is on the people who worked in the stables and not, per se, even in the White House, that's a grey area altogether.

If this book is literally all that is known about the lives of enslaved people who lived and worked in the White House, then so be it, but rather than marketing the book as being about the lives of these enslaved people, why not keep the padding of presidential history that's being retold for the umpteenth time, but delve further into the historicity of the Colonial era and the interracial relationships? Why not interview actual experts on the eras and policies? Why not retitle the book and not promise what was not delivered?

These are not the "untold [stories] of African Slaves in the White House." These are retold stories (mostly about presidents), decent stabs at history (on related topics), and stories about people before and after they lived in the White House.

Holland is smart and has developed a remarkable bibliography of primary and secondary sources that would aid historians and avid readers. Content aside, the book is ably written but with some odd turns of phrase, weird repetitions, and a lack of cohesiveness that a better editor could have massaged into a smoother reading experience.

If you've read more than a few books on presidential history and slavery in the late 1700s and early 1800s, you will likely find little new here to captivate you, but you may wish to borrow this as a library book and read the first five chapters and chapter 9 on "Slavery, Indentured Servitude, and the Law" for some intriguing nuggets. But unless you really, really like horse racing, you can probably skip much of the chapter on Andrew Jackson.

[Chris Demer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the presidents up to the Civil War brought slaves with them to serve their needs in the President's residences, and later the White House in Washington. (The two exceptions were John Adams and John Quincy Adams who did not own slaves.)
Although the nation was supposedly based on the tenet that all men are created equal, Black men (and women) were definitely NOT seen as equal.
And although several presidents decried slavery and slave trafficking, they owned slaves and some of them were slave traffickers.
Washington and Jefferson brought slaves from their plantations in Virginia to wait on them in the capital city. Washington brought slaves to Philadelphia-but returned with them every six months to be sure they did not become free,according to the law in Pennsylvania.
Slaves built the White House and also the Capitol building-doing the drudge work of digging clay, making bricks, cutting stone from the quarries, as well as working inside as carpenters and masons. These slaves were paid for their labor---but the money was not paid to the slaves but to their owners for lending them to the projects.
Andrew Jackson, born poor but developing some land and acquiring slaves through marriage and purchase, kept special slaves who were really good with horses, and jockeys, as he was heavily into the business of horse racing.

The general takeaway is this: The information we have on most of the black people serving the presidents is lost to history. Those who became known through letters and documents were the favored house slaves of the presidents from their plantations. Most were treated relatively well, some presidents were hesitant to separate families by selling the slaves. Some were very dependent on their slaves (and vice versa of course) and even affectionate to them. The problem with this scenario is that the vast majority of slaves on the plantations were worked hard in the tobacco and cotton fields. They had poor housing and poor food, they were treated harshly by their overseers, their names and characters were hardly known to their owners. But even the house slaves and those especially favored by their owners, generally yearned to become free men and rarely were given their freedom, even on the death of their owners. Because after all, they represented the wealth of these men, who were somehow able to manage the conflict they seem to have had in relation to the ownership of other human beings.

The book is good and has many interesting anecdotes and information that was new to me. I found a few dates near the beginning a bit confusing. I would recommend it.

[Brendan Linwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Invisibles promises a story begging to be told - the story of the slaves owned by pre-emancipation presidents of the United States. When I first saw this book advertised, months before its release, I immediately added it to my "to-read" list; as a history lover, and in light of current racial tensions and injustices, I was excited to dive into the lives and words of these forgotten men and women. The book does not quite deliver, however. It turns out that very few books and essays have been written about the subject because very few reliable primary sources exist to document the presidents' slaves. The closer the book gets to the Civil War, the better records were kept at the time and the more sources are cited; however, the earliest parts of the book, and the parts that hold the most intrigue for me, personally, are based mostly on supposition and conjecture. Holland paints an interesting narrative picture of America during the Revolution and the subsequent generation-and-a-half, but the historical basis for these early chapters are shaky at best.
I still quite enjoyed the book, to be sure; it is an important essay, and has been made even more so in the past week. It is a demonstration of the importance of history, of looking back to look forward. And Holland himself admits in his conclusion that he hopes to find more sources and update the book for future versions, fleshing out the stories of these forgotten Americans. The book was highly readable, and I would certainly make time for an expanded edition, should one ever appear. The places in which the book falls short - primarily in its sourcing - are overcome by the intent: to tell the story of those who deserve, after all this time, to be remembered.
3.5 stars.

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am so torn on this review. I heard about this book in an NPR interview and was really exited to finally hear these stories. But, honestly, it falls flat. I understand there is just a big lack of information on the slaves (the title itself gives it away), but Holland perhaps just wasn't the writer meant to bring what we do know to light. While some of the stories are compelling, Holland focuses on some odd mundane things here and there that made me start to think he was attempting to hit a word count requirement. After the fifth time I found an instance of a sentence literally using the same words either within it (..he wanted to show off his new ship...so to show off his new ship) or within the same paragraph, I think that was the case (or very bad editing). Some things I really wanted to hear more about (how did the married slaves die in the 'last year of the civil war'?) and some things, much, much less (Andrew Jackson's horses were interesting for one page, not that huge amount of space).

I truly hope someone takes a shot at this and gives it more of a narrative flow that will give life to these people who so clearly deserve it.

[Corelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could give this maybe 3.8 stars....maybe I will bump it up one more star.... I heard about this title through some website on book suggestions for Black History month. I was intrigued and excited about the title.

I'm assuming at this point that everyone knows that slavery was involved in the White House hundreds of years ago. If you don't know, then frankly, I don't know what to tell you! The author did his research on the subject and he obviously worked with whatever findings he could grab. There were some areas that to me were a bit repetitive (i.e. the who's who of slave-owner presidents, early interracial relations-forced or not). Overall it is a good book but it left me wanting more information.
This would be a good basis for a research paper.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways this book is a 4, but it does need some editing and proofing as there is a fair amount of repetition. Also there were several errors in the book which always makes me wonder about the rest of the information given. The most obvious error occurred on page 3 in the introduction where the author states that John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams were Quakers. That is incorrect, they were Unitarians.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and startling. I especially loved the first two thirds of the book and I am amazed at how much the author was able to learn about the slaves' lives. I didn't realize how many of these slaves we knew the names of and the quotes by the presidents in their letters about these slaves make it very real how closely everyone lived together.

[tiffany greene · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject matter was fascinating, and I enjoyed learning about something I hadn't really taken the time to think about before. However, I didn't like the writing style of Holland, and struggled to stay focused on the subject because I was distracted by the writing.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a compendium of our past assembled by people who led the country and whether they owned other people or not. There is a lot of good information in here about enslaved people who worked within the White House and those who were owned by previous Presidents of the United States--so a but of an eye opener in come cases and then things we know in other cases.
The author has some firsts. He was the second African American to be editor of the daily campus newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, and he is the first ever African American to be a Supreme court correspondent for a major media organization. He has been a longtime reporter for the Associated Press, where he has covered the White House, as well as Congress, and so has a context within which to look at and present this information.
There are some high points, like the Adams presidents never owned slaves, even though both of them certainly could of, and there were economic incentives to do so, but they believed it to be wrong. There are things we know, like the fact that Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were all Virginians and not only owned slaves, but in some cases owned many. Washington and Madison freed the slaves closest to them upon their death, and Jefferson did not, not even those whom he had fathered. This paints Jackson a bit more favorably than I expected, but others, like Polk and Johnson, do not come off well. The history of slavery is touched upon, but the real focus is the presidents themselves, both while they were in the White House and when they were not. Definitely worth reading as a part of a US History education.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It surely took me awhile to get through this book. It is not exciting, and the content though well-written is exasperating. We remain so ignorant of the work that slaves did to build this nation, and our current state of affairs makes Holland's writing even more important.

He is even handed in his history telling and not hard on the presidential slave holders, instead giving them the benefit of the times in which they lived. He gently calls out their hypocrisy (and that if their wives) by describing unfulfilled promises and lies told to the slaves about their future possibilities of freedom. He sheds light on just how much is not known about the lives of the slaves who built and ran the White House. The details he unearthed and plotted out are just fragments.

If my fellow white people are too fragile to be moved by Coates' direct call for reparations, they should not be offended by this light handed history by Jesse J. Holland, but I am afraid far too many will ignore it for that lightness. Are we then damned to this willful ignorance surrounding our past? And will the lives and wills we trampled building our present ever be hidden in shame, instead of accepted and some attempt to repay our debt to their heirs?

[Tom N · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE INVISIBLES, by Jesse Holland, is an eye-opening chronicle of the African American slaves who lived in the White House and were owned by 10 out of the first 12 U.S. presidents. It tells of the origins of slavery in the American colonies through the Emancipation Proclamation and the American Civil War. Several of the slave-owning U.S. Presidents were very close to their favorite slaves, taking them from their personal plantations and keeping them at their sides as they did their presidential duties. The book also helps the reader to better understand the views that various presidents held about class and race in American society. It also shows the impact that the office of president had upon these men--in some cases (like Andrew Jackson) it changed the executive from a victorious general into a tottering old politician. Not at all boring in its portrayal of U.S. history, THE INVISIBLES broadens one's perspective on this dark chapter of our nation's heritage. I highly recommend it.

[Mizloo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book about some interesting people. The lot of specific slaves varied widely with the habits of the "owners" as well as the circumstances or positions they held. I was horrified, but not actually surprised to learn that 10 of the first 12 American Presidents were slaveholders; that they actually used slave labor in the President's House. Little is known about most of the enslaved persons, but Holland does a good job of fleshing out the known details.

My only caveat is the amount of repetition. I'm not sure if the author wanted to make sure that readers drawn to a particular era or President knew the basics, if his editor didn't address the amount of repetition, or whether it's just that I've read a lot about the mores of American slavery and am already familiar with some of the important facts. "Bound For Canaan" led me to the "Hemingses of Monticellol and onward to "the Invisibles."

Readable, factual and looks behind the abstract philosophies of our Founders to their personal behavior. Human and fallible, every one.

[marcus miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readable collection of stories related to the slaves who lived in the White House, primarily through the time of Andrew Jackson. Of course, there are many slaves who lived and worked in the White House whose names were never recorded, but Holland does a nice job of describing the stories of some he has documented. Holland also looks at the first twelve Presidents, ten of whom owned slaves. Some bought and sold slaves while serving as President though they took pains to show they were using money other than their Presidential salary to buy and sell slaves. Holland also addresses the perplexing question of those such as Jefferson and Madison who wrote so eloquently about freedom and individual liberty and who at the same time made most of their wealth through the owning of other human beings. One discovers that the Presidents were not just "good men who happened to own slaves," but that they were men for who the owning of slaves was a weigh of measuring and increasing their wealth, and that being a slave owner was an essential part of their whole identity.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was some very interesting detail about presidents. In some ways the book was more about the presidents and their attitudes toward slaves than about slaves, which would be okay except that the title promised otherwise. It was disappointing to learn that Washington carefully managed his time in Philadelphia (when capitol was there) so that he and slaves were never in PA over the amount of months (6 or 9 ) that would grant the slaves their freedom. Then there was Jackson, never high on my list, who dropped lower when I learned how he ran a racing business from the white house.

In spite of frequent mentions of how freedom was better than slavery, of the uncertainty of situation when a master died, of a couple slaves attempting to run away, the overall detail (emphatic in amount and specificity) seemed to perpetuate the myth of the happy slave/master family.

It was an important history to attempt.

[Erin Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, without question, is a story that needs to be told. I appreciated hearing about the lives of the enslaved people who helped our country run yet received little-to-no public recognition for it. It was also clear that the author did an incredible amount of research that I’m sure was no easy task.

However, the amount of detail was dizzying, and it led to considerable repetition. For example, reading about Andrew Jackson’s death…and then reading about the exact same scene again, two pages later. There also were spots in which pieces of information contradicted each other. And because there was so much detail, the main story in each chapter often felt lost to all the offshoot stories.

[Chuck Wentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

True History Leads to A Better Tomorrow

The prejudice of the pass must be known to understand how it is engrained into our society today. This is the way to a truly free and accepting environment for all. All men are created equal. All men have prejudice. It must be understood to be overcome. Denial of prejudice only holds it below the surface waiting for the opportunity to erupt.

The Invisibles does an excellent job of educating us on the prejudice of the past. Knowledge that will provide a path to better understanding and a better society.

[Sporter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is utterly appalling! The word choices that this author chose to use glorifies slavery and portrays the enslaved people as happy and content. I completely understand that the book is not focused on the constitution of slavery but I am expecting an author to accurately depict the time period. I could not and did not finish this book. I was going to pull out a few egregious quotes but decided that I spent enough time and energy on this whole thing. This author should stick to fiction and comic book characters!

[Guthrie C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book that brings to life the individuals who were subjected to the horror of slavery by US Presidents in the 18th and 19th centuries. Beyond providing an interesting history of these individuals and how they helped build our early nation, you come to understand their personalities, their families, and their relationship with slave masters. An important book for understanding some of the people who were enslaved.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contained some interesting information, but the prose is clunky, poorly organized and repetitive. Much of the book is only tenuously about “Slaves in the White House” - probably because there was little documentation of African-Americans and their labor at all. But now I know quite a bit about indentured servitude, Andrew Jackson’s stable of racehorses kept at the White House and other extraneous matters.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Downloaded as an audio book from Audible. Was interesting to learn of some of the slaves who lived in the White House during the terms of the first 12 presidents. Not necessarily surprised but did learn how past presidents used the country’s resources (land and money) to build stables and race horses.