Question

Which statement below is a lie about the National Mall?


Solomon Northop, a free black man from New York , was abducted and sold into slavery while visiting Washington, D.C. He saw the Yellow House firsthand.

The Yellow House was a three story brick building used as a slave pen. It was so profittable, owner William H. Williams purchased two slave ships with the funds he made.

The Yellow House was the closest slave pen to the Capitol, where rich clientele, slave owners, wined and dined while their slaves were held in pens. If enslaved people escaped, the owner offered a money back guarantee.

Englishmen, Joseph Surge called Washington, D.C. the chief seat of the American slave trade.

Answer 1

The lie is the second statement:

"The Yellow House was a three story brick building used as a slave pen. It was so profitable, owner William H. Williams purchased two slave ships with the funds he made."

Why it's false (briefly):
- The Yellow House was indeed a multi‑story brick slave pen in Washington and its owner, William H. Williams, profited from the domestic slave trade.
- However, there is no historical evidence Williams purchased transatlantic “slave ships.” The international slave trade had been banned in the U.S. since 1808, and sources on Washington’s slave traders do not document Williams buying ocean-going slavers. He operated a local slave pen and invested locally, but the claim about buying two slave ships is unsubstantiated and implausible.