Buy Tickets

Mount Vernon

Plan Your Visit

The Estate

George Washington

Preservation

Education

Washington Library

The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington

Enslaved Community and Slavery

William (Billy) Lee

William Lee spent two decades as George Washington's enslaved valet accompanied him nearly everywhere.

Learn More

Austin

Austin was an enslaved man whose labor benefited the Washington family.

Learn More

Ben

Ben was a widower with three small children at the time of the 1799 census of enslaved people at Mount Vernon.

Learn More

Betty

Betty, who was enslaved at George Washington's Mount Vernon, was described as being a "labouring woman" who worked at the Ferry Farm in 1786, though in 1799 she served as a cook.

Learn More

Caesar

Caesar was a field worker on Mount Vernon’s Union Farm. He was literate and preached to the local black population.

Learn More

Caroline Branham

Caroline Branham was the mother of nine, wife of Peter Hardiman, and a housemaid who was enslaved at Mount Vernon.

Learn More

Census of the Enslaved Population at Mount Vernon, 1786 and 1799

In February 1786, George Washington created a list of the enslaved people working in his service at Mount Vernon. He listed their location on the estate, work assignment, sex, and age. Washington also indicated status of ownership - whether the enslaved people were his own property, dower slaves belonging to the Custis family, or laborers rented from nearby plantations. He repeated this process again in June 1799, creating another equally detailed slave census.

Learn More

Charles

Charles was enslaved at Mount Vernon where he worked as a ditcher at the Mansion House and was married to Fanny.

Learn More

Charlotte

Charlotte was an enslaved seamstress at Mount Vernon who sometimes worked in the mansion.

Learn More

Christopher Sheels (1776 - ?)

Christopher Sheels was born in 1776, the second child of Alce (likely pronounced “Al-sie”), a spinner at Mansion House Farm.

Learn More

Davy Gray

In 1799, Davy Gray was about 56 years old and worked as an enslaved overseer on Mount Vernon’s outlying farms.

Learn More

Dick Jasper

Dick Jasper was described as a "labouring man" in the list of enslaved people at Mount Vernon Washington compiled in 1786.

Learn More

Doll

Doll was among the more than 80 enslaved people whom Martha Dandridge Custis brought to her marriage to George Washington. She worked as the Mount Vernon estate's cook for many years.

Learn More

Edmund Parker

Edmund Parker worked for the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association as the guard at Washington’s tomb. Years earlier, he had been enslaved on the estate.

Learn More

Edy Jones

In 1786, Edy is noted as being thirteen years of age and denoted as being one of the "labouring women." Edy was married to Davy, a carpenter who worked at the Mansion House Farm, and was most likely the daughter of Flora.

Learn More

Enslaved Burial Ground

One of the earliest descriptions of the enslaved burial ground at Mount Vernon came from the journal of Caroline Moore, who visited Mount Vernon on Tuesday, April 30, 1833, when the property was still owned by the Washington family.

Learn More

Fanny

Fanny was a "labouring woman" who worked at Ferry Farm (later known as Union Farm).

Learn More

Frank Lee

Frank Lee arrived at Mount Vernon in 1768 after George Washington purchased him.

Learn More

Gabriel Johnson (1820-c.1867)

Gabriel Johnson was an enslaved man who spent most of his life on the Mount Vernon estate while John Augustine Washington III owned it.

Learn More

George

George worked as an enslaved ditcher and later a gardener at Mount Vernon.

Learn More

George Washington and Slavery

George Washington's views on the subject of slavery shifted over the course of his life.

Learn More

Giles

Giles’s position as a postilion meant that he accompanied George Washington on several high-profile trips, seeing far more of the country than most enslaved people.

Learn More

Gradual Abolition Act of 1780

The Gradual Abolition Act of 1780, the first extensive abolition legislation in the western hemisphere, passed the Pennsylvania General Assembly on March 1, 1780.

Learn More

Greenhouse Slave Quarters

The original brick greenhouse was completed in 1787. In 1791 and 1792, one-story wings were added to each end of the building to house the enslaved workers who lived at the Mansion House Farm.

Learn More

Hercules

Hercules Posey (1747?-1812) was an enslaved cook for George Washington during the 1780s and 90s. A renowned chef during his lifetime, Hercules self-emancipated from Mount Vernon in 1797.

Learn More

House for Families

Most of the enslaved community that worked at Mansion House Farm lived in the House for Families between circa 1760 until circa 1793.

Learn More

Islam at Mount Vernon

Elements of Islam and other traditional African religions are found in the documentary and archaeological records of Mount Vernon’s enslaved population.

Learn More

Kate

Kate, an enslaved woman at Mount Vernon, held a distinct position within her community as a midwife, providing care for women and children.

Learn More

Kitty

Kitty was assigned to work as a dairy maid and a spinner.

Learn More

Marquis de Lafayette's Plan for Slavery

In the closing days of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette wrote George Washington about a plan to free enslaved people.

Learn More

Nancy Carter Quander

Nancy was eleven years old in 1799, when George Washington made a list of all the enslaved people on his plantation. Two years later she was freed.

Learn More

Ona Judge

Ona Judge Staines fled enslavement from the Washingtons’ executive residence in Philadelphia.

Learn More

Plantation Structure

"A large Virginia estate," wrote Washington Irving in his biography of George Washington, "was a little?

Learn More

Priscilla

In early July 1798 at Dogue Run Farm, thirty-five-year-old Priscilla gave birth to Christopher, her sixth living child. Both were enslaved by George Washington.

Learn More

Private Lives of Slaves

The enslaved community at Mount Vernon found many ways to fill the time they were not required to work for the Washingtons.

Learn More

Sambo Anderson

The man known as Sambo Anderson worked as an enslaved carpenter at Mount Vernon.

Learn More

Slave Clothing

Clothing issued to most enslaved people at Mount Vernon was minimal, plain, and often coarse.

Learn More

Slave Control

In addition to having overseers monitoring work on site, George Washington utilized a number of methods?

Learn More

Slave Demographics

According to George Washington's slave inventory, there were eighty-seven slaves on the Mansion House?

Learn More

Slave Labor

The Mount Vernon estate was divided into five separate farms, each of which was managed by an overseer who was either a hired free, white male, or one of George Washington's African slaves. These overseers were often supervised by a farm manager who reported to Washington on a weekly basis.

Learn More

Slave Quarters

In many ways, the Mount Vernon estate was comprised of several small African American villages, presided over by an Anglo-American ruling class.

Learn More

Slave Religion

Enslaved People working on the Mount Vernon plantation practiced a variety of religious traditions.

Learn More

Slave Resistance

The enslaved population at Mount Vernon did not meekly accept their bondage, many resisted.

Learn More

Slavery and Family

A census of the enslaved community at Mount Vernon compiled in the summer of 1799 indicated that nearly two-thirds of the plantation's adult enslaved people were married.

Learn More

Slavery and Marriage

Roughly two-thirds of the plantation's enslaved adults were married in 1799.

Learn More

Slavery at Dogue Run Farm

There were forty-five slaves living on Dogue Run Farm in 1799, the last year of George Washington's life. Twenty-seven of these individuals were owned by George Washington, with the remaining eighteen being dower slaves owned by Martha Washington.

Learn More

Slavery at Mansion House Farm

According to the 1799 slave inventory taken at Mount Vernon, there were eighty-seven slaves on the Mansion House Farm in the summer of 1799.

Learn More

Slavery at Muddy Hole Farm

There were forty-two slaves living at Muddy Hole Farm in 1799, including thirty-six owned by George Washington, five who were Custis estate dower slaves owned by Martha Washington, and one man who was rented from Mrs. French, one of the Washington's neighbors.

Learn More

Slavery at River Farm

There were fifty-seven slaves living on River Farm in 1799, of whom twenty-seven were owned by George Washington.

Learn More

Slavery at Union Farm

The following information is based on the 1799 slave list compiled at Mount Vernon. In 1799 there were seventy-five slaves living at Union Farm.

Learn More

Status of Slaves in Washington's Will

Composed by his own hand in relative secrecy in early July 1799, George Washington’s “Last Will and Testament,” in addition to the dispersal of his estate, recognized the freedom of his enslaved workers upon his wife Martha Washington’s death.

Learn More

Tom

Tom was an enslaved foreman in the fields at River Farm.

Learn More

William (Billy) Lee

William Lee spent two decades as George Washington's enslaved valet accompanied him nearly everywhere.

Learn More