Buried Lives: The enslaved people of George Washington's Mount Vernon by Carla Killough McClafferty

McClafferty has previously written a number of nonfiction titles for children, including several about George Washington. In her latest book, she proves that while history may not change, the parts of it we choose to commemorate and remember certainly do.

George Washington is a primary historical figure and his military campaigns, political work, and position as a symbol of American independence has been assured (except for the third graders that got him mixed up with Abraham Lincoln...) But what about the slaves he owned? McClafferty follows Washington's changing views on slavery with personal documents and his own changing fortunes.

However, Washington is not the primary focus. The primary focus of this book is the hidden people who served Washington personally, on his plantation, and in the Nation's capital. The lives of four enslaved people and one couple are told, their hidden pasts brought to light. William Lee was Washington's trusted servant and stayed at his side through the Revolutionary War. When he was injured after the war, he was set to work making shoes. He remained at Mt. Vernon after Washington's death, when he was freed. Christopher Sheels, one of Martha Washington's slaves, was prevented from gaining his freedom first by the Washingtons, then by his own choice when he returned to Mt. Vernon, and finally when his attempt to escape with his wife was discovered. Caroline Branham and Peter Hardiman labored for many years for the Washingtons, Branham as a seamstress and maid and Hardiman as a rented carpenter and stablehand. Accolades given to the Washingtons for their hospitality, their horse breeding, and their innovative introduction of mules could more accurately have been attributed to the couple who did most of hard labor of these projects. Ona Maria Judge and Hercules, after long service to the Washingtons and despite many attempts to bring them - and their children - back to slavery - escaped.

McClafferty retells the story of the Washingtons and their time period through the eyes of their slaves. When visitors praised the George Washington's estates, they rarely mentioned the slaves who labored on them. When they wrote of the beauty and luxury of Mt. Vernon, they didn't mention the cooks, maids, seamstresses, and other slaves on whose labor it was built. After following up on the little that is known about the rest of the lives of these men and women after Washington's death, McClafferty turns to the history of Mt. Vernon and how the restoration of Washington's estate finally acknowledged and commemorated the slaves who had lived, worked, and died there.

Verdict: McClafferty peels back the pages of history and reveals, in moving but objective prose, the lives of the slaves owned and used by George Washington. Readers can reflect on the gap between Washington's spoken views on slavery and his actions, as well as how history has long ignored the contributions of these and other people.

ISBN: 9780823436972; Published 2018 by Holiday House; Borrowed from another library in my consortium