Agricultural industry, powered by and dependent upon enslaved labor, was a large-scale operation at Monticello. Thomas Jefferson experimented with several different types of money-making ventures over the decades, but cash crops were always a priority.

In this live Q&A with Monticello’s Manager of Historic Interpretation, Brandon Dillard, and Research Archaeologist Derek Wheeler discuss the various crops grown at Monticello and how that cultivation impacted the enslaved community.