WE THE PEOPLE
On the Record
DESCENDANTS AND RESEARCHERS WORK TOGETHER ON AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY PROJECT
When Rebecca Gilmore Coleman approached The Montpelier Foundation in the late 1990s about restoring the dilapidated cabin on Route 20 where her grandfather grew up , she intended to start a new conversation about African American history . According to oral accounts in her family , George Gilmore was born a slave at Montpelier and worked for the Madisons , but his name hadn ’ t shown up in any of Montpelier ’ s documentary records .
“ Rebecca ’ s case is actually typical ,” said Montpelier Vice President for Museum Programs Elizabeth Chew . “ She knows where she comes from , but , until recently , historians who rely on written sources discounted family stories passed orally down the generations .”
The solution , according to Chew , is to create a new way of making history in collaboration with descendants who are able to help researchers bridge the gap between the documentary record and oral histories of African American families .
“ Montpelier ’ s enslaved community belonged to a bigger community that extended across the region , and after Emancipation that network grew out from here ,” Chew said . “ The African American history at Montpelier can ’ t just be about slavery and it ’ s not isolated in this place . In order to find the real story , you have to connect to the people who have preserved it and work with them to find the truth .”
With funding from David M . Rubenstein , Montpelier launched earlier this year a new research effort , the African American Descendants ’ Project , that will help inform upcoming exhibitions on slavery at Montpelier in the South Yard and in the lower level of the House . Next June , the first phase of The Rubenstein Initiative will culminate with the opening of the permanent exhibition “ The Mere Distinction of Colour : Slavery at Montpelier .”
But behind the fast and furious work to bring Montpelier ’ s research and interpretation of slavery to the public , the effort to find out more
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