Hercules Posey & the President’s House

The President's House was the first home of the U.S. president in the temporary capital of Phildelphia. While George Washington lived there, he had nine enslaved people that we know of., including the cook, Hercules.  Research: “George Washington to Tobias Lear, 12 April 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-08-02-0062 . [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 8, 22 March 1791 – 22 September 1791, ed. Mark A. Mastromarino. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, pp. 84–] “President's House Civic Engagement Forum Grant Report 1.” USHistory.org. https://www.ushistory.org/presidentshouse/controversy/october_30_2004_report.php “Tobias Lear to George Washington, 5 June 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-08-02-0172 . [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 8, 22 March 1791 – 22 September 1791, ed. Mark A. Mastromarino. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, pp. 231–] 1838 Black Metropolis et al. “Re: President Donald Trump’s Executive Order, ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.’” 9/8/2025. https://preservationalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/NPS-Signage-Letter-9-9-25.pdf Althouse, Michela. “President's House display on George Washington's slaves remains despite White House scrutiny — for now.” Philly Voice. 9/26/2025. https://www.phillyvoice.com/george-washington-slaves-presidents-house-exhibit-trump/ Andersen, Eva. “Philadelphia advocates say key panels of slavery exhibit still missing at President's House Site.” CBS News. 2/25/2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/slavery-exhibit-philadelphia-presidents-house/ Bomar, Mary A. and Dennis R. Reidenbach. “Report on Site Review of Interpretive Programs by The Organization of American Historians.” National Park Service Independence National Historical Park. 9/8/2025. https://www.oah.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Review-of-Independence-National-Historic-Parks-interpretive-programs.pdf Cerino, Marco. “Feds detail plans for restoring President's House.” Philadelphia Tribune. 2/24/2026. https://www.phillytrib.com/news/local_news/feds-detail-plans-for-restoring-presidents-house/article_85ee7f4a-0b19-4d20-8933-951c7e2bfea0.html. Chervinsky, Lindsay M. “The Enslaved Household of President George Washington.” The White House Historical Association. 9/6/2019. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-enslaved-household-of-president-george-washington Custis, George Washington Parke. “Recollections and private memoirs of Washington.” Philadelphia, J. W. Bradley. 1861. https://archive.org/details/recollectionspri02cust/ Evans, Dorinda. “Portrait of a Man from the Island of Dominica (?).” Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional. https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/reynolds-circle-sir-joshua/portrait-man-island-dominica Fanelli, Doris Devine. “History, Commemoration, and an Interdisciplinary Approach to Interpreting the President's House Site.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , Oct, 2005, Vol. 129, No. 4. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20093820 George Washington’s Mount Vernon. “A Case of Mistaken Identity.” https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/mistaken-identity George Washington’s Mount Vernon. “Hercules Posey.” https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/hercules Hinks, Peter. “A Shambles for the President's House.” Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies , Vol. 81, No. 2 (Spring 2014). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/pennhistory.81.2.0253 House Appropriations Committee. “H. Rept. 107-564 - DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2003.” https://www.congress.gov/committee-report/107th-congress/house-report/564 Joselow, Maxine. “Park Service Is Ordered to Take Down Some Materials on Slavery and Tribes.” 9/16/2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/climate/trump-park-service-slavery-photo-tribes.html Lawler, Edward Jr. “The President's House Revisited.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , Oct., 2005, Vol. 129, No. 4 (Oct., 2005). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20093817 Organization of American Historians. “Statement on the Freedom and Slavery Exhibit Removal at Independence National Historical Park.” 1/24/2026. https://www.oah.org/2026/01/24/statement-on-the-freedom-and-slavery-exhibit-removal-at-independence-national-historical-park/ Preservation Alliance. “We are outraged … “ 1/22/2026. https://preservationalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/President-House-Statement-1-22-26.pdf “US national parks told to remove signs on mistreatment of Native Americans, climate, Wash Post reports.” 1/27/2026. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-national-parks-told-remove-signs-mistreatment-native-americans-climate-wash-2026-01-27/ Rufe, Cynthia M. “CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Plaintiff, v. DOUG BURGUM, et al., Defendants. Civil Action no. 26-434. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.paed.648842/gov.uscourts.paed.648842.53.0.pdf Schuessler, Jennifer. “How Trump Brought the Fight Over American History to Philadelphia.” 2/5/2026. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/arts/george-washington-slavery-trump-history.html Smith, Dinita. “Slave Site For a Symbol Of Freedom.” New York Times. 4/20/2002. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/20/arts/slave-site-for-a-symbol-of-freedom.html Spears, Alan. “To Tell the Truth.” National Parks Conservation Association. Winter 2026. https://www.npca.org/articles/11218-to-tell-the-truth Visit Philadelphia. “The President's House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation.” Via YouTube. 12/14/2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPxu2z2GEcc Wiencek, Henry. "George Washington and Slavery" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 11 Feb. 2026. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/washington-george-and-slavery/ Young, Patrick. “The Signage at Manassas That Is Slated for Removal by the National Park Service.” The Reconstruction Era. 9/17/2025. https://thereconstructionera.com/the-signage-at-manassas-that-is-slated-for-removal-by-the-national-park-service/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.