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Monticello was the primary plantation of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26.
This book, first published in its present form 1951, is a collection of reminiscences by Isaac Jefferson, a tinsmith, blacksmith, and nailer at Monticello, and valued, enslaved artisan of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. In the 1840 census he was recorded as Isaac Granger, a free man working in Petersburg, Virginia, and it was there that the Rev. Charles Campbell interviewed him and went on to publish his memoirs under the name of Isaac Jefferson in 1847. “The reminiscences are confined to what Isaac saw and heard. They recount the simple events which even an illiterate slave, possessed of normal sight and hearing at the time of the events, could intelligently observe. Isaac Jefferson was obviously not mistreated by his masters. He did not, however, indulge in nostalgia about the “good old days.” The very simplicity of his story is its best watermark of authenticity.”—Introduction by Rayford W. Logan
Our perception of life at Monticello has changed dramatically over the past quarter century. The image of an estate presided over by a benevolent Thomas Jefferson has given way to a more complex view of Monticello as a working plantation, the success of which was made possible by the work of slaves. At the center of this transition has been the work of Lucia "Cinder" Stanton, recognized as the leading interpreter of Jefferson's life as a planter and master and of the lives of his slaves and their descendants. This volume represents the first attempt to pull together Stanton's most important writings on slavery at Monticello and beyond. Stanton's pioneering work deepened our understanding of Jefferson without demonizing him. But perhaps even more important is the light her writings have shed on the lives of the slaves at Monticello. Her detailed reconstruction for modern readers of slaves' lives vividly reveals their active roles in the creation of Monticello and a dynamic community previously unimagined. The essays collected here address a rich variety of topics, from family histories (including the Hemingses) to the temporary slave community at Jefferson's White House to stories of former slaves' lives after Monticello. Each piece is characterized by Stanton's deep knowledge of her subject and by her determination to do justice to both Jefferson and his slaves. Published in association with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
Historian and legal scholar Gordon-Reed presents this epic work that tells the story of the Hemingses, an American slave family and their close blood ties to Thomas Jefferson.
Includes a partial Heming's family tree.