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Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington's Mount Vernon
"Examines slavery at George Washington's Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon, during the eighteenth century. Features brief, illustrated biographies of nineteen enslaved individuals, based on primary documents, archaeology, and oral histories. Ten essays discuss Washington's views on slavery, resistance, types of evidence, and the legacy of slavery at Mount Vernon" Source: Publisher
- GenresHistory
154 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2016
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October 7, 2020
Enlightening about an enlightened president...and his slaves!
his is an extremely well done book chronicling slavery at Mount Vernon. I was especially pleased with the information in the following passage on page 69, in an outstanding chapter written by Philip D. Morgan: “The next decade, when Washington was president, saw his last sustained attempts (before the drafting of his will) to extricate himself from the ‘peculiar institution.’ He posited various schemes: leasing some of his farms to ‘substantial farmers’ who might hire his freed laborers; selling his western lands and using the resulting funds to finance in whole or in part the freedom of some of his slaves; hiring out slaves to earn income that would free others. He hoped to manumit both the slaves he owned and Martha’s dower slaves. These projects foundered because of his inability to rent or sell his western lands, the reluctance of the Custis heirs to embrace his plans, and the intractable problem of how to minimize family separations if the Washington and Custis slaves, who had intermarried, could not be freed at the same time.”
I would like to say that the main mystery that the book leaves me with is the question of exactly when Oney Judge (page 21) was to be given to Elizabeth Park Custis Law, soon (as in a wedding gift) or later (as in bequeathed in Martha’s will) and the reference for a direct quote of Judge saying she “was determined…never to be her [fierce-tempered Elizabeth’s] slave.”
Overall the book is researched, documented, and illustrated especially well. The Appendix (Selected Timeline of George Washington and Slavery at Mount Vernon), with its colored ink coding, offers an outstanding way to relatively easily understand events and put them in perspective.
Bottom line, I highly recommend this book for its contribution to appreciating George Washington and his life as a president holding slaves while in office, the only one of eight such presidents who freed his slaves (albeit after his death; for the curious, there were eighteen presidents who one time or another held slaves). Again, and as a fellow GW author, well done!
his is an extremely well done book chronicling slavery at Mount Vernon. I was especially pleased with the information in the following passage on page 69, in an outstanding chapter written by Philip D. Morgan: “The next decade, when Washington was president, saw his last sustained attempts (before the drafting of his will) to extricate himself from the ‘peculiar institution.’ He posited various schemes: leasing some of his farms to ‘substantial farmers’ who might hire his freed laborers; selling his western lands and using the resulting funds to finance in whole or in part the freedom of some of his slaves; hiring out slaves to earn income that would free others. He hoped to manumit both the slaves he owned and Martha’s dower slaves. These projects foundered because of his inability to rent or sell his western lands, the reluctance of the Custis heirs to embrace his plans, and the intractable problem of how to minimize family separations if the Washington and Custis slaves, who had intermarried, could not be freed at the same time.”
I would like to say that the main mystery that the book leaves me with is the question of exactly when Oney Judge (page 21) was to be given to Elizabeth Park Custis Law, soon (as in a wedding gift) or later (as in bequeathed in Martha’s will) and the reference for a direct quote of Judge saying she “was determined…never to be her [fierce-tempered Elizabeth’s] slave.”
Overall the book is researched, documented, and illustrated especially well. The Appendix (Selected Timeline of George Washington and Slavery at Mount Vernon), with its colored ink coding, offers an outstanding way to relatively easily understand events and put them in perspective.
Bottom line, I highly recommend this book for its contribution to appreciating George Washington and his life as a president holding slaves while in office, the only one of eight such presidents who freed his slaves (albeit after his death; for the curious, there were eighteen presidents who one time or another held slaves). Again, and as a fellow GW author, well done!
Displaying 1 of 1 review