Spinning and Sewing Report, February 16, 1793
Enslaved seamstresses Betty Davis, Charlotte, and Caroline produced nineteen shirts, four sheets, and a shift in six days of February at Mount Vernon—an output which suggests their skill and speed, but also that they were sewing a coarse, simple style of shirt for the enslaved. Finer shirts could take up to 25 hours to complete.
Courtesy of The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, gift of Mrs. DeCourcy W. Thom, 1944