The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President's Black Family

About the event:

In The Other Madisons, Bettye Kearse—a descendant of an enslaved cook and, according to oral tradition, President James Madison—shares her family story and explores the issues of legacy, race, and the powerful consequences of telling the whole truth.

For thousands of years, West African griots (men) and griottes (women) have recited the stories of their people. Without this tradition Bettye Kearse would not have known that she is a descendant of President James Madison and his slave, and half-sister, Coreen. In 1990, Bettye became the eighth-generation griotte for her family. Their credo—“Always remember—you’re a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president”—was intended to be a source of pride, but for her, it echoed with abuses of slavery, including rape and incest.

Confronting those abuses, Bettye embarked on a journey of discovery—of her ancestors, the nation, and herself. She learned that wherever African slaves walked, recorded history silenced their voices and buried their footsteps: beside a slave-holding fortress in Ghana; below a federal building in New York City; and under a brick walkway at James Madison’s Virginia plantation. When Bettye tried to confirm the information her ancestors had passed down, she encountered obstacles at every turn.

Part personal quest, part testimony, part historical correction, The Other Madisons is the saga of an extraordinary American family told by a griotte in search of the whole story.

Bettye Kearse was born in Tucson, Arizona, and grew up in Northern California. Trained as both a physician and scientist, she holds degrees in genetics, biology, and medicine and spent many years practicing pediatrics in Boston while also serving families through international adoption and community-based programs.

Kearse became the eighth-generation griotte of her family in 1990 and spent more than three decades researching and writing The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family, a deeply researched narrative that traces her African American family’s lineage to President James Madison and honors generations of previously silenced voices in American history.

Moderator Dr. Larry Skogen is a historian and former president of Bismarck State College. A U.S. Air Force veteran and scholar of U.S. Indian education policy, he is the author of the two-volume series To Educate American Indians: Selected Writings from the National Educational Association’s Department of Indian Education, 1900–1909. Dr. Skogen's work explores the complex legacy of early 20th-century federal education efforts and their impact on Native communities. He continues to write, teach, and speak on history, leadership, and democratic values.

This program is made possible in part through partnership with the Leach Foundation.