Lecture: Washington at the Plow

Join historian Bruce A. Ragsdale for a discussion of his new book, .

For more than forty years, George Washington was dedicated to an innovative and experimental course of farming at Mount Vernon, where he sought to demonstrate the public benefits of recent advances in British agriculture. The methods of British agricultural improvement also shaped Washington’s management of enslaved labor, and he was at the forefront to efforts to adapt slavery to new kinds of farming. His ultimate inability to reconcile the ideals of enlightened farming with coerced labor and race-based slavery was critical to his decision to free the enslaved people under his control.  

Bruce A. Ragsdale served for twenty years as director of the Federal Judicial History Office at the Federal Judicial Center. He has been a fellow at the Washington Library at Mount Vernon and the International Center for Jefferson Studies. He is the author of 

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

Program Notes:

Due to current limitations on capacity, As a reminder, the VMHC is still undergoing construction. The parking lot will be open for this lecture. Please enter using the door on the south side of the building at the bottom of the steps leading to the VMFA. The lecture will be also streamed live on  for public viewing.