A revealing true story of celebrity, race, and the children George Washington raised, First Family offers a remarkable view into the Custis and Washington families and Virginia history. Don’t miss Massachusetts Historical Society’s presentation and discussion of this new history. 

While it's widely known in America that George and Martha Washington never had children of their own, few are aware that they raised numerous children together. In First Family, we see Washington as a father figure, and also meet the children he helped to raise. The children of Martha Washington's son by her first marriage—Eliza, Patty, Nelly and Wash Custis—were born into life in the public eye. Raised in the country's first "first family," they remained well-known not only as Washington's family, but also as keepers of his legacy throughout their lives. First Family brings new focus and attention to this neglected aspect of George Washington's life and legacy.

Cassandra Good is a writer and historian focused on gender and politics in early America. She is the author of the prize-winning Founding Friendships: Friendships between Men and Women in the Early American Republic. She has taught at Marymount University, George Washington University and University of Mary Washington and has written for Smithsonian Magazine, Mental Floss, The Atlantic and Slate.

Sara Georgini is series editor for The Papers of John Adams, part of the Adams Papers editorial project based at the Massachusetts Historical Society, where she has worked on nearly 20 volumes of the edition. She is the author of Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family and the forthcoming Our Library in Paris, as well as editor of The Oxford Handbook of Family History and Genealogy.

Presented by Massachusetts Historical Society in partnership with American Ancestors’ American Inspiration author series