Educated in Tyranny: Slavery at Thomas Jefferson’s University edited by Maurie D. McInnis and Louis P. Nelson

Slavery was as much an integral part of the early life of the University of Virginia as it was of the entire life of its founder, Thomas Jefferson. Nine scholars contributed to this book that estimates that over one hundred slaves lived on the campus of the University of Virginia throughout the almost fifty years it existed before slavery was abolished. “Little, if any, previous scholarship has explored the horrific abuse endured by enslaved people working at Southern colleges in the lead-up to the Civil War . . .  It’s now coming to light... [ Educated in Tyranny draws] on years of painstaking scrutiny of archival records, which U-Va. made available as part of its ongoing attempt to grapple with its slaveholding past” - Washington Post. “[A] complete appreciation of the University of Virginia entails learning hard truths. This... collection examines that truth, of the enslaved people who constructed the buildings and served the young men who were studying the precepts of liberty. Essa