Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
Described as good natured, spritely, and a talented musician, the wife of Thomas Jefferson and mother of six of his children lived at Monticello from 1772 until her young death in 1782.
Women's History Month Livestreams
Thursday, March 23, 1 p.m. - The Life of Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
Tuesday, March 28, 1 p.m. - Enslaved Women and Resistance
Lives and Legacies
Sally Hemings
Sally Hemings (1773-1835) is one of the most famous—and least known—African American women in U.S. history. Learn more about this intriguing American.
Sarah Mayrant Fossett Fights for Her Place on the Trolley
VIDEO - A century before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama, Sarah Mayrant Fossett successfully integrated the Cincinnati streetcar system.
A Woman of Extraordinary Ability: The Remarkable Journey of Elizabeth House Trist
PODCAST - Follow the journey of Elizabeth House Trist, whose journal is the earliest known record of a Mississippi River expedition by a woman.
Sacajawea
PODCAST - Monticello's Olivia Brown looks at the myths and realities of the life of this famous Native American woman who played an unlikely but critical role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Edith Hern Fossett and Her Family
PODCAST - Trained at the President's House in Washingtion, D.C., enslaved chef Edith Fossett cooked for Jefferson for over two decades and oversaw the creation of the food for which Monticello became famous.
"One of the Most Estimable Characters on Earth": Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson
The American Revolution and her husband's career brought Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson together. Yet politics would drive them apart for years, only to rekindle their friendship.
The Lasting Legacy of Marie Kimball
BLOG - Read about Marie Kimball, a pioneering historic preservationist, Monticello's first curator, and the first woman invited to speak at the University of Virginia's Founder's Day.
Video Gallery
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Blog Posts and Biographies
Letters and Historic Documents
Getting Word: African American Oral History Project Biographies
Shop Books: Women at Monticello
Jefferson's Daughters
Thomas Jefferson had three daughters: Martha and Maria by his wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson, and Harriet by his slave Sally Hemings. In Jefferson's Daughters, Catherine Kerrison, a scholar of early American and women's history, recounts the remarkable journey of these three women..
Martha Jefferson Randolph
These pages chronicle the account of a tearful child emerging from the grief of a young mother's death to seed a relationship that became the emotional sustenance of her father's republican aspirations, and who grew to be an indispensable helpmeet and the competent mistress of a plantation household in its waning days...