Join Monument Lab at the Village of Industry & Art for the launch of Declaration House, a new book edited by Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Paul M. Farber, and Yolanda Wisher featuring essays, interviews, poetry, and photography reflecting on Sonya Clark’s monumental artwork “The Descendants of Monticello” in Independence National Historical Park. 

The new book centers Robert Hemmings, the enslaved valet who accompanied Thomas Jefferson to Philadelphia in 1776 during the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Declaration House and the artwork that inspired it, Clark’s “The Descendants of Monticello,” honored his living descendants and the hundreds of people enslaved at Monticello whose stories remain central to the founding of this country.

The evening will be hosted by Monument Lab Senior Curator and Declaration House co-editor Yolanda Wisher, and feature a conversation between Monument Lab Director and co-editor Paul Farber and contributor Gayle Jessup White, author of Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy. White serves as Public Relations and Community Engagement Officer at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns and operates Monticello, and is a leading voice on the legacies of slavery, family history, and American memory.

Books and merchandise will be available for purchase in the Monument Lab pop-up space. Inspired by Sonya Clark’s work, guests are invited to create a button featuring the eye of a Philadelphia “founding figure.” Light refreshments will be provided.

Featured Event Speakers: Paul Farber, Gayle Jessup White, and Yolanda Wisher

Editors: Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Paul M. Farber, and Yolanda Wisher

Book Contributors: Niya Bates, Kerry Bickford, Paul Buchanan, Sonya Clark, Andrew M. Davenport, Kai Davis, Husnaa Haajarah Hashim, J. Calvin Jefferson Sr., Jabari Jefferson, Jane Kamensky, Matthew Kenyatta, Salamishah Tillet, Gayle Jessup White, Auriana Woods, and the editors

Major support for Declaration House has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from VIA Art Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts. Project partners include Independence National Historical Park and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s Monticello and its Getting Word African American Oral History Project.

Photography by Steve Weinik and Sonya Clark.