December 28, 1722?

West Indies

May 26, 1793

Plantation manager, indigo cultivator

" . . . I was very early fond of the vegetable world. . . . "

Eliza Lucas Pinckney.

Eliza Lucas Pinckney was a South Carolina plantation manager who is known today for her pioneering work in the cultivation of indigo (a plant used to make blue dye). As a result of Pinckney's successful experiments—which she began at the age of seventeen—the Carolina colony sustained a flourishing indigo industry for nearly three decades. During her lifetime Pinckney kept a detailed journal, recording the progress of her experiments. She also maintained extensive correspondence with friends and family members. Her letters, one of the largest surviving collections of letters by a colonial woman, provide valuable information about Carolina plantation life during the eighteenth century.

Left in Charge of Plantations

Eliza Lucas Pinckney was born in the West Indies (a group of islands in...