When Eliza Lucas was sixteen years old in 1738, she took over day-to-day management of her father’s rice plantations. Highly educated, independent, and energetic, Lucas introduced numerous innovations on the plantations, including the cultivation of indigo — which became a major export crop in South Carolina — and silkworms. The gown shown here was made for her out of silk produced on her plantation. Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Behring Center.