Emeline
Cite this Page
"Emeline," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/206.
- Position
- Unclear from Context Unclear from Context
- Years in President's House
- circa 1832
- Legal Status
- Enslaved Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Presidency
- Andrew Jackson
- Biography
- Emeline was an eight-year-old enslaved girl purchased by President Andrew Jackson’s nephew, Andrew Jackson Donelson in 1832 for $250. President Jackson then reimbursed his nephew for the purchase. (1) A deed of gift dated April 16, 1832, shows that President Jackson gifted Emeline to his grandniece, Mary Emily Donelson. Mary Emily lived in the White House with her granduncle and her parents, Andrew Jackson Donelson and Emily Donelson. (2) Emeline’s role in the White House remains unclear. However, wealthy slaveowners sometimes gifted enslaved children to their own children to serve them as they grew. Emeline likely worked from a very young age, performing simple chores including sweeping, and assisting adult workers. (3)
Additional details about Emeline’s life beyond the White House are currently unknown. - (1) “Bank Book for March and April,” in The Papers of Andrew Jackson, Volume X, 1832, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2016), ed. Daniel Feller, et al., 219, https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=utk_jackson.
(2) “Deed of Gift to Mary Rachel Donelson,” in The Papers of Andrew Jackson, Volume X, 1832, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2016), ed. Daniel Feller, et al., 219, https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=utk_jackson; Callie Hopkins, “The Enslaved Household of President Andrew Jackson,” The White House Historical Association, August 1, 2019, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-in-the-andrew-jackson-white-house.
(3) “Enslaved Children As Gifts,” Enslaved Children of George Mason, accessed February 5, 2025, https://ecgm.omeka.net/exhibits/show/the-enslaved-children-of-gunst/children-as-gifts. - Birthplace
- Unclear from Context