Historic Recognition: Washington’s Family Tree Is Biracial
“The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitution of government. But the Constitution which at any times exists, ’til changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory upon all.” George Washington (1732–1799). The first President of the United States, the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers. Gilbert Stuart/Library of Congress
ARLINGTON, Va.—George Washington’s adopted son was a bit of a ne'er-do-well by most accounts, including those of Washington himself, who wrote about his frustrations with the boy they called “Wash.”
“From his infancy, I have discovered an almost unconquerable disposition to indolence in everything that did not tend to his amusements,” the founding father wrote.
At the time, George Washington Parke Custis was 16 and attending Princeton, one of several schools he bounced in and out of. Before long, he was back home at Mount Vernon, where he would be accused of fathering children with slaves.
Two centuries later, the National Park Service and the nonprofit that runs Washington’s Mount Vernon estate are concluding that the rumors were true: In separate exhibits, they show that the first family’s family tree has been biracial from its earliest branches.
“There is no more pushing this history to the side,” said Matthew Penrod, a National Park Service ranger and programs manager at Arlington House, where the lives of the Washingtons, their slaves and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee all converged.
ZSun-nee Miller-Matema poses for a portrait at Mount Vernon, the plantation home of former U.S. President George Washington, in Alexandria, Va., on July 18, 2016. Miller-Matema is a descendent of Caroline Branham, one of George Washington's slaves who served as former first lady Martha Washington's personal maid. The National Park Service and the nonprofit that runs the historic Mount Vernon estate are acknowledging an aspect of U.S. history that doesn't show up in most textbooks: The family tree of America's first family has been biracial from its earliest branches. AP Photo/Zach Gibson
