The Letterbook Of Eliza Lucas Pinckney

In 1739, Major George Lucas moved from Antigua to Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and two daughters. Soon after their arrival, England declared war on Spain and he was recalled to Antigua to join his regiment. His wife in poor health, he left his daughter Eliza, 17, in charge of his three plantations. Following his instructions, she began experimenting with plants at the family estate on Wappoo Creek. She succeeded in growing indigo and producing a rich, blue dye from the leaves, thus bringing a profitable new cash crop to Carolina planters. While her accomplishments were rare for a young lady of the 18th century, they were not outside the scope of what was expected of a woman at that time. This biography, drawn from her surviving letters and other sources, chronicles Eliza Pinckney's life and explores the 18th century world she inhabited.

Indigo is the rich, electrifying history of a precious dye: its relationship to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, its profound influence on fashion, and its spiritual significance - all very much alive today. But it is also the story of a personal quest: Catherine McKinley's ancestors include a clan of Scots who wore indigo tartan, several generations of Jewish 'rag traders' and Massachusetts textile factory owners, and African slaves who were traded along the same Saharan routes as indigo. Her journey takes her to nine West African countries and is resplendent with powerful lessons of heritage and history which shape the way she understands her world at home.

While managing three plantations, sixteen-year-old Eliza Lucas changes agriculture in colonial South Carolina when she develops indigo as an important cash crop.

In 1739, Major George Lucas moved from Antigua to Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and two daughters. Soon after their arrival, England declared war on Spain and he was recalled to Antigua to join his regiment. His wife in poor health, he left his daughter Eliza, 17, in charge of his three plantations. Following his instructions, she began experimenting with plants at the family estate on Wappoo Creek. She succeeded in growing indigo and producing a rich, blue dye from the leaves, thus bringing a profitable new cash crop to Carolina planters. While her accomplishments were rare for a young lady of the 18th century, they were not outside the scope of what was expected of a woman at that time. This biography, drawn from her surviving letters and other sources, chronicles Eliza Pinckney’s life and explores the 18th century world she inhabited.

The enthralling story of Eliza Lucas Pinckney, an innovative, highly regarded, and successful woman plantation owner during the Revolutionary era Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1722-1793) reshaped the colonial South Carolina economy with her innovations in indigo production and became one of the wealthiest and most respected women in a world dominated by men. Born on the Caribbean island of Antigua, she spent her youth in England before settling in the American South and enriching herself through the successful management of plantations dependent on enslaved laborers. Tracing her extraordinary journey and drawing on the vast written records she left behind--including family and business letters, spiritual musings, elaborate recipes, macabre medical treatments, and astute observations about her world and herself--this engaging biography offers a rare woman's first-person perspective into the tumultuous years leading up to and through the Revolutionary War and unsettles many common assumptions regarding the place and power of women in the eighteenth century.