Historians In Awe Over Discovery At Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Property

Getting The Word: An Oral History Project

Although there were hundreds upon hundreds of slaves that worked the land and lived on the Monticello plantation, there are only pictures of about 8 of them. The rest of the names are kept in a giant log recorded by Jefferson which is simply a list of human names, with no true human meaning to them.

So, in 1993, an oral history project was started to get into contact with the descendants of the slaves at Monticello to hear their accounts of their family members to put a story to each name. They have currently interviewed over 200 individuals.