George Washington, First President and Slave Catcher

Erica Armstrong Dunbar New York Times
Last week the U.S. paid tribute to former Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. And while Lincoln’s role in ending slavery is now understood to have been more nuanced than his reputation as the great emancipator would suggest, it has taken longer for us to replace stories about cherry trees with truer narratives about George Washington, president and slaveholder. Perhaps we can also honor Ona Judge, one of Washington's slaves that got away.

labor

Workers at N.Y.U.’s Abu Dhabi Site Faced Harsh Conditions

ARIEL KAMINER and SEAN O’DRISCOLL NY Times
Inside squalid quarters, bedrooms are so crowded that men must sleep three to a stack — one on the upper bunk, one on the lower bunk and one below the lower bunk, separated from the floor by only a thin pad for a mattress. In the space between the beds, the men pile cauliflower, onions and sacks of Basmati rice to cook after working all day and washing the construction dirt from their clothes. Exposed wiring hangs from the ceiling, and cockroaches climb the walls.
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