ATAC group holding banner

• DID YOU KNOW THAT GEORGE WASHINGTON ENSLAVED 316 BLACK MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN IN VIRGINIA?

• DID YOU KNOW THAT HE TRANSPORTED NINE OF THOSE ENSLAVED HUMAN BEINGS TO AMERICA’S FIRST “WHITE HOUSE,” IN PHILADELPHIA AT THE SITE OF THE NEW LIBERTY BELL CENTER?

• DID YOU KNOW THAT IN FALL 2010, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS SCHEDULED TO CUT THE RIBBON AT THE GRAND OPENING OF THE PRESIDENT’S HOUSE/SLAVERY MEMORIAL — IN HONOR OF THOSE NINE AND ALL OTHER BLACKS ENSLAVED IN AMERICA?

• DID YOU KNOW THAT, FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, AVENGING THE ANCESTORS COALITION (ATAC) LED THE SUCCESSFUL BATTLE FOR THIS SLAVERY MEMORIAL?

ATAC (Avenging the Ancestors Coalition)

ATAC is a broad-based coalition of historians, activists, attorneys, elected officials, religious leaders, media personalities, and other tax-paying voters — descendants of the victims of the greatest holocaust in the history of humankind. ATAC has the active support of Black (and other) elected officials throughout Pennsylvania.

What Have We Done?

  • ATAC spearheaded a letter-writing campaign, garnering over 15,000 signatures.

  • ATAC held large and vocal demonstrations annually, usually on July 3, from 2002-2007, in connection with the President's House project.

  • In October 2003, ATAC helped secure $1.5 million from Mayor John Street of Philadelphia toward funding the President's House project.

  • ATAC provided substantial documentation to U.S. House Appropriations Committee member Congressman Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania who was instrumental in securing an amendment to the Interior Department's 2003 budget requiring the National Park Service to develop plans for the President's House site, including an "appropriate commemoration" of the nine enslaved African descendants there.

  • In August 2005, primarily through the efforts of Congressman Fattah along with the assistance of Congressman Robert Brady of Pennsylvania, $3.6 million in federal funding was made available for the site and the commemoration.

Read ATAC Position Paper