Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington’s Mount Vernon

Carla Killough McClafferty examines the lives of people enslaved by George Washington at Mount Vernon, whose histories were far less documented than Washington’s own. Drawing on primary sources and photographs of artifacts, she profiles six enslaved men and women and considers the daily work that supported the plantation. The book also addresses the property laws that complicated Washington’s decision to free the people he owned and an archaeological cemetery survey at Mount Vernon.