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Article: Upstairs and downstairs: the 19th-century White House.(African Americans; Special Issue: The Untold Story of Blacks in the White House)
- Article from:
- American Visions
- Article date:
- February 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Heritage Information Holdings, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Thomas Jefferson Randolph, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson and the first child ever born in the White House, fittingly bore the family names of two of Virginia's leading Revolutionary figures.
Perhaps surprisingly, but equally fittingly--because it underscores the long historical connection between African Americans and the White House--the second child born at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was black. Born in 1806 to Fanny and Eddy, two of President Jefferson's slaves, the child was, of course, also a slave.
Fanny had a difficult time in childbirth, and she and the baby were waited upon by nurses until both were well. Sadly, the child died two years later. One can ...