Upon the Ruins of Liberty
Subtitle: Slavery, the President's House at Independence National Historical Park, and Public Memory
Publisher: Temple University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 264
ISBN-13: 9781439911990
Subjects: Washington, george, 1732-1799; Adams, john, 1735-1826; Slavery, united states, history; Architecture, united states; Pennsylvania, antiquities
Description: The 2002 revelation that George Washington kept slaves in his executive mansion at Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park in the 1790s prompted an eight-year controversy about the role of slavery in America's commemorative landscape. When the President's House installation opened in 2010, it became the first federal property to feature a slave memorial. In Upon the Ruins of Liberty, Roger Aden offers a compelling account that explores the development of this important historic site and how history, space, and public memory intersected with contemporary racial politics.