Elizabeth Dowling Taylor received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Over a 22-year career in museum education and historical research, she was Director of Interpretation at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and Director of Education at James Madison’s Montpelier. Most recently a Fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Taylor is now an independent scholar and lecturer. She lives in Barboursville, Virginia.

Her latest book A SLAVE IN THE WHITE HOUSE (pub 01/03/2012) follows the inspiring story of Paul Jennings, James Madison's enslaved manservant who began his life on the Virginia plantation of a U.S. president and ended it as a free man.