Your family will learn about Sambo Anderson, an enslaved man who kept bees at Mount Vernon and the importance of bees to 18th-century life.
Program is weather dependent. All ages welcome.
About Sambo Anderson
In 1799, Sambo Anderson was likely about 40 years old. He worked as a carpenter, so he is shown carrying a hammer and a wooden plank. In January 1876, 30 years after Anderson’s death, an anonymous author described the former slave in the Alexandria Gazette: “He was of a bright mahogany color, with high cheek bones, and was stoutly made. His face was tattooed, and he wore in his ears rings which he informed me were made of real Guinea gold.”
Male laborers like Sambo Anderson wore coarse linen shirts, linen or wool breeches, stockings, and shoes without buckles. In the winter, they also wore wool jackets. The clothes were mass-produced and often ill-fitting. As a skilled craftsman, he may have received specialized garments like a leather apron.
