Kenneth Davis: This is Kenneth C. Davis, author of In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives. Many people know me as the author of Don't Know Much About History, a book which asks a series of questions and answers about American history. This book is focused on one particular question. How did these men, who fought for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness go back to plantations utterly dependent upon enslaved labor? And I try and answer that question in the stories, and through the stories, of five people who were legally the property of four of our greatest presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Andrew Jackson. And in telling the stories of these five people, I try and explore what slavery meant in American history, what it meant to these presidents in particular, and to the history of the presidency. And of course, what it still means in America today.

Isaac Jefferson, who was the property of Thomas Jefferson, also sat down late in his life and told his story. So, in all these cases, we have much more primary documentation than we might have for other people who were simply laborers in the field, and that's why I wanted to focus on these stories. Obviously also, their proximity to some of the most prominent men in American history makes their stories all the more compelling, I believe, and more fascinating, so that's why I focused on these five individuals in particular. And this is from the introduction to In the Shadow of Liberty. Standing in a 1796 portrait of the Washington family is a house servant in uniform, a black man in profile, his features vague and shadowy. The other figures are clearly shown. President George Washington and his wife Martha, along with their grandchildren, Nelly and Wash Custis. We know that the map on the table shows the sight of the nation's future capital city, but who was the black man in the shadows?

Nobody knows for sure. Most of us learned something about America's presidents. You may have their pictures on your classroom walls. They're certainly in your pockets and piggy banks. George Washington on the quarter and dollar bill, Thomas Jefferson on the nickel, and rarely used two dollar bill, and Andrew Jackson currently on the 20. Across America, there are schools, cities, and other landmarks named in their honor, but this book is about some people who are not famous. They don't have towns or schools named after them. They are five enslaved people who were legally the property of some of America's most famous men. Like that mystery man in the background of the Washington family portrait, these enslaved people were hidden in the shadows of history.

They lived with these powerful men and their families every day, sometimes 24/7 as we like to say today. Each witnessed extraordinary events, and each has a story to tell about what being enslaved meant in early America. Because these five people were owned by men considered great presidents, we know their names and parts of their stories. Luckily because of their connections to these presidents, there are records to help us understand who they were and how they lived. These five lives help show us an important part of the great tragedy and complexity of American slavery. In a way, these five stories are as important as accounts of the men who were their legal masters.