Database of Mount Vernon's Enslaved Community

The Database of Mount Vernon’s Enslaved Community project was launched in 2013 with the goal of drawing increased attention to the hundreds of enslaved individuals who not only labored on George Washington’s plantations but also built families and communities. This project aims to provide researchers, descendants, educators, and the general public with a user-friendly database that offers access to primary source references, genealogical information, and teaching materials about the enslaved community at Mount Vernon.

Unlike George Washington and other Founding Fathers, who left extensive documentation about their lives through letters and diaries, most enslaved individuals were illiterate and were not given the opportunity to author records about their own lives. However, they do appear in records created by others, including their purported owners. Members of the Mount Vernon enslaved community are documented through various legal documents, including tax forms, censuses, wills, and bills of sale. Washington and his plantation managers also unintentionally revealed intriguing details about Mount Vernon’s enslaved population in their weekly agricultural reports. Washington’s military and political duties often required him to be away from his cherished estate for extended periods. Still, he expected his plantation managers to send detailed reports, which included insights into the enslaved community. In this sense, Washington inadvertently created biographies of the enslaved population at Mount Vernon, and this database aims to provide researchers and the general public with access to these stories, thereby furthering their understanding of the lives of these enslaved individuals.

A team of Mount Vernon staff and volunteers spent more than two years analyzing George Washington’s papers and compiling references to the enslaved people who lived and worked on his plantation to create the original database. The Center for Digital History at the Washington Presidential Library is currently undertaking work to modernize the database and re-integrate additional information about people, sources, and places which were not included when the database was initially published online. We anticipate a late 2025 launch for the expanded online presentation.