The Indigo Girl is an inspiring story of how a 16-year old girl brought wealth to the colony of South Carolina. Of course I knew that indigo was an important crop in colonial South Carolina, due to South Carolina history class, but I had no idea that a woman masterminded growing it! Eliza Lucas (later Pinckney, mother of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who represented South Carolina at the Constitutional Convention of 1787) was left in charge of her family’s SC plantations when her father had to return to Antigua. Eliza had witnessed the growing of indigo in Antigua and dreamed of growing it in South Carolina to save her family’s plantations. Boyd’s historical fiction book details Eliza’s work as a botanist and businesswoman in the early 1700’s.

Eliza was inducted into the South Carolina Women in Business Hall of Fame in 1993. Also, I just love how the cover depicts the fact that we have no photos of Eliza Lucas Pinckney.

You can very well call Eliza one of the Founding Mothers, not only for who her sons became, but also for establishing indigo as a crucial cash crop for the colonies.

“To this day, the South Carolina state flag is blue in honor of indigo.”

Age Recommendation:

I love The Indigo Girl for middle and high school students! I would highly recommend it!!

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