How Enslaved Virginia Kitchens Brought Fine Dining to Philadelphia

In conjunction with the Fire and Freedom: Food and Enslavement in Early America, traveling exhibition from the National Library of Medicine, the Scott Memorial Library and the Academic Commons at Thomas Jefferson University hosted Ashbell McElveen from the James Hemings Foundation for a featured presentation, "How Enslaved Virginia Kitchens Brought Fine Dining to Philadelphia."

Fire and Freedom: Food and Enslavement in Early America, a traveling exhibition from the National Library of Medicine, was displayed in Scott Library’s second floor gallery area between August 28 and October 7, 2017. It focused on the Chesapeake region, where European settlers relied upon indentured servants, Native Americans, and African slave labor for life-saving knowledge of farming and food acquisition, and to gain economic prosperity. By examining the labor of slaves and food practices of the time, including those at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the exhibition explored how power was exchanged between and among different peoples, races, genders, and classes during the early colonial era.

This exhibition was developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health with research assistance provided by The Washington Library at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.