What does Getting Word do?
Getting Word operates at the intersection of research, oral history, and community engagement.
Our team has been researching the lives, legacies, and lineages of Monticello’s enslaved
families for over thirty years, and we continue to learn more every day. Through primary source
research and oral history interviews, Getting Word works alongside other departments at the
Thomas Jefferson Foundation to piece together an honest and full history of the United States
from the viewpoint of Monticello, an active site of historical inquiry.
Our work is situated firmly in the study of African American life from the founding era to the
present, in which family history plays an essential role. We aim to steward family history
resources in our Charlottesville community and beyond through public programming both on
and off the mountaintop, and to do history that is both community-led and community-engaged.
Is Getting Word a genealogical society?
No. While Getting Word does descendant-engaged oral history and programming, it operates as a scholarly department of the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, aiming to more fully understand the histories of the enslaved community and its descendants.
Does Getting Word process or work with DNA?
No. Getting Word does not process, collect, or use DNA in our research activities. For
information on the Report of the Research Committee on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings
(January 2000), which evaluated DNA as one of many pieces of historical evidence, please visit
the dedicated page on the Monticello website.
How do I become a member of Getting Word?
There are no “members” of Getting Word, which is a research department focused on African
American history at Monticello. Our oral history archive, a collection that has been growing for
over thirty years, is composed of interviews with Getting Word participants. Participants are
most often those who are connected, either directly or indirectly, to Monticello’s enslaved
community, and who share their oral histories with us in order to preserve their families’ stories
and further our understanding into the many individuals who descend from the mountaintop. If
you believe you are connected to Monticello’s enslaved community and would like to get
involved in the project, please visit our Contact Us page to get in touch.
How can I access Getting Word’s oral history collection?
For access to interviews beyond what is available on our website, please fill out our contact
form with more details regarding your request.