Virtual Exhibit

Slavery at George Washington's Mount Vernon
Lives Bound Together explores the personal stories of the people enslaved at Mount Vernon while providing insight into George Washington’s evolving opposition to slavery.
After their manumission in 1801, many people formerly enslaved by George Washington settled in free black communities near Mount Vernon.
In the following decades, they purchased land, planted crops, started businesses, formed churches, founded schools, created civic organizations, and helped freed and runaway slaves. Many of their descendants continue to live in the area today.
Even as they celebrated freedom, formerly enslaved people faced great challenges. Many had been separated from family members who remained enslaved. African Americans also encountered racism and discrimination in Virginia, as laws restricted the rights of free blacks in the state.
Bowls were passed down in the family of Loretta Carter Hanes (pictured below), a descendant of Sukey Bay and her daughter Rose Carter—both enslaved field workers at Mount Vernon’s River Farm who were emancipated by George Washington’s will. The family has long used blue-and-white tableware, a tradition they trace to their ancestors at Mount Vernon. Many fragments of blue-and-white ceramics have been unearthed in archaeological excavations of 18th-century Mount Vernon slave quarters.
Before George Washington died, he wrote in his will that after he and Martha died, he wanted the enslaved people that he owned to be freed. But did the enslaved people know they were to be freed?
Meet some of the descendants of Mount Vernon's enslaved population.
The content on this page was adapted from Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, an exhibition on view in the Donald W. Reynolds Museum & Education Center from 2016–2020.