The Lives of Jefferson's Slaves Documented

The following is taken from EOGN's Sunday, 5/17/09 Plus Edition:

B. Bernetiae Reed, a retired nurse and amateur genealogist, has produced an impressive two-volume genealogical study of Thomas Jefferson's slaves that's drawing raves from such distinguished historians as John Hope Franklin. Reed self-published The Slave Families of Thomas Jefferson, a two-volume pictorial study that documents the lives of 619 slaves living at Monticello, in December of last year. She researched and compiled the work based upon Jefferson's Farm Book, a journal used during colonial times to record births and deaths among the estate's slaves.

That book, Reed said, inspired her to begin documenting the lives of Jefferson's slaves; by 2005 she had produced a series of 6×9-ft. wall charts that traced the 619 slaves. After receiving encouragement from experts at Monticello, she went on to expand the charts into a book and later, an easily accessible online database.

You can read more in the Publishers Weekly web site at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/index.asp?layout=talkbackCommentsFull&talk_back_header_id=6520455&articleid=CA6546025.