You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hume.

James Madison is the founding father behind the U.S. Bill of Rights, and he conceived it at his home, Mount Peeler.

But historian Hassan Kwame-Geoffries reminds us it's a site of brutal history.

His 2020 talk at TEDx, Ohio State,

recasts and re-contextualizes Mount Peeler and Madison in American history.

Not that long ago, I received an invitation to spend a few days at the historic home of James Madison.

James Madison, of course, was the fourth president of the United States,

the father of the Constitution, the architect of the Bill of Rights.

And as a historian, I was really excited to go to this historic site

because I understand and appreciate the power of place.

Now, Madison called his estate Montpelier, and Montpelier is absolutely beautiful.

It's several thousand acres of rolling hills, farmland, and forest,

with absolutely breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

But it's a haunting beauty because Montpelier was also a slave labor camp.

You see, James Madison enslaved more than 100 people over the course of his lifetime,

and he never freed a single soul, not even upon his death. The centerpiece of Montpelier is Madison's

mansion. Now, this is where James Madison grew up. This is where he returned to after his presidency.

This is where he eventually died.

And the centerpiece of Madison's mansion is his library.

This room on the second floor where Madison conceived and conceptualized the Bill of Rights.

When I visited for the first time, the director of education, Christian

Colts, cool white dude, took me almost immediately to the library. And it was amazing being

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