jim thompson discussing his new who is billy lee, george washington s mulatto man. toward acquired, in his words, 1767.atto man, in he was well-known known to washington s staff, including lafayette. thompson presents an analysis of washington s complex relationship with billy lee and discusses a deeper relationship between the two. mr. thompson is the author of a number of books on the arts and history, among them being the birth of virginia s aristocracy and thomas jefferson s enlightenment. after his presentation, there will be a q&a and mr. thompson will be happy to sign copies of his book. please take the opportunity to explore our library and museum with its new exhibition, remembering the american resolution. we also have 31 period rims detecting life in early america. resources are free and open to the public. o, pleaseurther ad welcome jim thompson. [applause] mark, for the, fine introduction, and thank you all for coming today. i appreciate you joining me and learni
you re watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend, on c-span 3. follow us on twitter for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history dues. history news. william lee, known as billy lee, was short washington s personal slave. washington granted billy lee land and freedom in his will. next, author james thompson discusses his theory explaining why washington may have taken this action. the daughters of the american revolution hosted this one-hour event. today, we are pleased to have jim thompson discussing his new book, who is billy lee, george washington s mulatto man. toward acquired, in his words, my mulatto man, in 1767. he was well-known known to washington s staff, including lafayette. thompson presents an analysis of washington s complex relationship with billy lee and discusses a deeper relationship between the two. mr. thompson is the author of a number of books on the arts and history, among them being the birth of virginia
number of books on the arts and history, among them being the birth of virginia s aristocracy and thomas jefferson s enlightenment. after his presentation, there will be a q&a and mr. thompson will be happy to sign copies of his book. please take the opportunity to explore our library and museum with its new exhibition, remembering the american to 1890.n, 1776 period rooms31 detecting life in early america. all these resources are free and open to the public. without further ado, please welcome jim thompson. [applause] jim: thank you, mark, for the fine introduction, and thank you all for coming today. i appreciate you joining me and learning with me about billy lee. i m going to begin with a couple brief comments about my background and my approach, my view of the past, and how i research. then i m going to talk about the book. i m only going to focus on a couple aspects. i m going to focus on the first point is, how was george washington related to billy lee? i believe th