This painting depicts a man, woman, and child riding on a single horse. The man looks forward while the woman turns to look behind them. The scene is early morning light before sunrise. On the back of the painting is an inscription by the artist: “A…
Enslaved people were kept in the jail and sold on the courthouse steps. The Historic Records Center in the courthouse has information including the court slavery index…
When he was eleven years old, George Washington inherited ten human beings. His own life has been well chronicled, but the lives of the people he owned--the people who supported his plantation and were buried in unmarked graves there--have…
When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation’s capital. In setting up his household he took Tobias Lear, his celebrated secretary and eight…
At the time of George Washington's death in 1799, more than 300 enslaved men, women, and children lived on his Mount Vernon plantation. Lives Bound Together provides fresh research on
this important topic, with brief biographies of 19 enslaved…
In the late 1600s the 22,000-acre Ravensworth Tract, located in what would become Fairfax County, was part of a large land grant in Northern Virginia. By 1782, 203 people were enslaved at Ravensworth. Through six generations, the enslaved people…
Records indicate that there were enslaved persons held at Mount Eagle. Bryan Fairfax, who died in 1802, left Mount Eagle and some of his enslaved people to his son Ferdinando. He listed the enslaved people by name in his bequest: “the slaves…
"George Mason enslaved at least 300 people, many of whom lived on his property on Mason Neck. We know the names of a few of these people such as James, who spent his days as George Mason’s valet, and Nell, who was a midwife and an enslaved house…
In 1784, the Moss Family built their home Green Spring on their 540 acres of farmland. Most likely slave labor was involved in building the home. In 1795 John Moss wrote a deed of manumission (emancipation from slavery) for 14 slaves on Green Spring…
