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President's House must be practical, too

See below to read the original unedited submission

Criticisms of the memorial's accuracy are off-base.

Philadelphia is about to make history by reconstructing the building that has been referred to as America's first White House, where George Washington and John Adams presided from 1790 to 1800, and where Washington kept black people as slaves. But the design of the project next to the Liberty Bell Center has recently come under harsh criticism for purported historical inaccuracies. While this criticism is sincere and well-intended, it is fundamentally flawed.

The critics say the project's dimensions are wrong. But Market Street has been widened since the original house was built in 1767. Therefore, the new design required a slight reduction in the size of the house to maintain a sidewalk that can safely accommodate pedestrians. Moreover, the design includes a prominent "footprint" marking of the original dimensions of the house, along with interpretive information about those dimensions.

Critics also complain that a bow window in the design is inaccurate. But the window has been modified according to an agreement sought by the critics, and the design includes accurate interpretive information about the window.

There has also been criticism of the placement of the house's slave quarters. But if the quarters were placed exactly where they stood more than 200 years ago, they would almost touch the new Liberty Bell Center, making the quarters impossible to enter and violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The design nonetheless does feature a slavery memorial on the precise spot where those quarters were located. It also includes a prominent footprint marking of the original location, along with interpretive information.

Many of the critics, the most vocal of whom belong to a group called the Ad Hoc Historians, are reasonable and impressive academics, scholars, and architects. But hyper-technical replication must sometimes give way to practical-minded accessibility. If people can't access or see it, then what's the point?

Even one of the most prominent members of the Ad Hoc Historians — Gary Nash, a prolific author and professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles — downplays criticisms of the design. He emphasizes the need for accuracy in the interpretive material, which no one has criticized.

The Ad Hoc Historians have focused on the inanimate bricks and mortar rather than the 316 black men, women, and children Washington held as slaves, in particular the nine he held here in Philadelphia. They should be the focus, because that's what history is primarily about: uncovering important buried truths. Those truths include stories of courage, such as the daring escapes of two of those nine, and of dignity, such as the against-all-odds literacy of one of the nine. Although the house matters, the people who were inside it matter more.

Philadelphia is about to make history with this project. And the designers already made history by envisioning a powerful, important attraction that everyone in America and the world should want to see. But they won't see it if it's not practical.

Michael Coard is an attorney and founding member of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition. He can be contacted at ATAC@avengingtheancestors.com.

Original Version

What follows is the original submission, unedited.

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To The Inquirer Editorial Board:

Philadelphia is about to make history by constructing, adjacent to the Liberty Bell Center, the building that has been referred to as America's first "White House," which is where George Washington and John Adams presided from 1790-1800 and where Washington enslaved Black human beings. The design for that building and area, known as the "President's House/Slavery Commemoration" project, recently received harsh criticism that- although sincere and well-intentioned- is fundamentally flawed.

That criticism is fundamentally flawed in its claim that the dimensions of the house are defective. Market Street has been widened since the time that the original (Estate of William Masters') house was built in 1767. Therefore, the current design obviously required a slight reduction in the size of the house in order to maintain a sidewalk area that can safely accommodate pedestrians by avoiding congestion, bottlenecks, and tripping hazards. Moreover, the design includes a prominent footprint marking of the original dimensions of the house along with interpretive panels that provide accurate and pertinent information about those dimensions.

That criticism is also fundamentally flawed in its claim that the arc of the bow window is distorted. The design is the result of an agreement, as sought by the critics, that removed the previous octagonal window and replaced it with a curve on the interior side to acknowledge what many historians believe to be the precursor to today's Oval Office. Furthermore, the design includes interpretive panels that provide accurate and pertinent information about the window.

And that criticism is fundamentally flawed in its claim that the Slave Quarters are misplaced. The design took into account the fact that if those quarters were set exactly where they stood over 200 years ago, they would nearly butt up against the new Liberty Bell Center, thereby making it impossible for the more than two million annual tourists and other visitors to access those historically, culturally, and spiritually solemn quarters. And for African Americans like me, those solemn quarters are clearly the highlight of the project. Those solemn quarters are our Mount Rushmore. They are our Statue of Liberty. Moreover, the designer understood that the design must comply with federal law by comporting with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Consistent with that, the design nonetheless can and does appropriately place a slavery memorial enclosure on top of the precise spot where those quarters were originally located. As a result, the complete enclosure will be veritably over one room of the actual two-room quarters. Additionally, the design includes a prominent footprint marking of the original location of the quarters along with interpretive panels that provide accurate and pertinent information about those quarters.

It must be noted that many of the critics, the most vocal of whom are some of the members of a learned group called the Ad Hoc Historians, are reasonable and impressive academics, scholars, and architectural professionals. They are good people, but good people with whom I- and the factual circumstances- totally disagree. And this disagreement stems from my position that it makes sense that, when necessary (as herein), hyper-technical replication must sometimes give way to practically-minded accessibility. As relevantly pointed out by Kevin Costner in the film Fields of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come." But if they can't access it and can't even see it, then what's the point of coming?

Even one of the most prominent members of the Ad Hoc Historians, specifically the preeminent award-winning Dr. Gary Nash, who is a prolific American history author and UCLA professor emeritus, downplays the "hair-on-fire" criticisms about the design and instead emphasizes the interpretive material, which, by the way, no one has criticized.

Apart from the arguments about the design, I would be totally remiss if I failed to point out that while the erudite Ad Hoc Historians focused on the "always told story" of the inanimate bricks and mortar, they basically ignored the "often untold story" of the sentient human beings- i.e., the 316 Black men, women, and children enslaved by President Washington and in particular the nine of those 316 whom he held in bondage here in Philadelphia. That should be the focus because that's what history is primarily about: uncovering important buried truths. Those truths include stories of courage (e.g., the daring escapes of two of those nine, namely Hercules and Oney Judge) and of dignity (e.g., the against-all-odds literacy of one of those nine, namely Christopher Sheels). Although the house matters, the people inside matter more.

Philadelphia is about to make history with this "President's House/Slavery Commemoration" project. And the designers already made history by creating a powerfully important attraction that everyone in America and throughout the world should want to come to. But they won't come to it and won't access it and won't even see it if it's not practical. But it is practical. In fact, it's perfectly practical.

Michael Coard, Esquire
Founding Member
Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC)
ATAC@avengingtheancestors.com
215/552-8751