Monument near Liberty Bell to mark Washington Home

The buildings near Independence Hall, Philadelphiia, where George Washington and his slaves once lived were razed long ago, but historians hope a new monument will keep their complicated, and sometimes painful, legacy alive for generations.

The National Park Service and city officials announced Tuesday the selection of a design by a black-owned firm to mark the site of the presidential mansion.

A brick facade, meant to mimic the home’s first floor, will trace the building’s outline and encompass video and audio exhibits telling what daily life was like for the president and his slaves.

The selection comes five years after groups started protesting plans to commemorate the Robert Morris House and build a new pavilion for the Liberty Bell, saying officials were ignoring the history of slaves.

“We are, as they say in politics, cautiously optimistic,” said Michael Coard, a black lawyer who has fought since 2002 for the exhibit to include the story of Washington’s slaves. “(But) we won’t take our eyes off anybody.”

Washington and John Adams each lived at the mansion, a block from Independence Mall, when Philadelphia was the nation’s capital between 1790 and 1800. At least nine of Washington’s slaves were also quartered there.

Controversy over the slavery issue was sparked when city and federal officials began planning a new home for the Liberty Bell, itself an important symbol to abolitionists. Some historians and black groups were outraged when it was revealed that the entrance to the new pavilion was near where the slaves once lived.

Dennis Reidenbach, superintendent of Independence National Historical Park, said the Park Service never meant to minimize the importance of the slaves.

“I don’t think it was a situation that the Park Service was deliberately hiding history,” Reidenbach said.

In 2002, Congress directed the National Park Service to “appropriately commemorate” the slaves.

But the project was slowed by disagreement over exactly where the slaves lived, along with a lack of funding. Mayor John F. Street has committed $1.5 million in city funds and the project also has the support of a $3.6 million federal grant.

A committee of historians, community activists and representatives of political leaders sought public input before selecting the final design, by Kelly/Maiello Architects & Planners of Philadelphia.

“We didn’t get here in the usual kind of way. This wasn’t a tea party,” Street said Tuesday. “To say that people had very strong emotional feelings about this, would be the understatement of the decade.”

Before construction can start, an archaeological firm will conduct a dig to look for any remains of the original house. It will start in about two weeks and is expected to take about a month.

The exhibit will include audio and video presentations with actors telling the stories of what went on the house on a daily basis. It will also feature the stories of Washington’s chef and his wife’s personal servant, both of whom escaped.

The project is expected to take about eight months of research and planning and a year to build and install, said Emmanuel Kelly, a co-founder of the winning design team. It is scheduled to open in 2008.

“We will show how central the issue of freedom and slavery was to the people who lived in that house,” Kelly said.

Courtesy of usatoday.com