Born December 28, 1723 (Antigua, West Indies)

Died May 26, 1793 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Agricultural innovator

Eliza Lucas Pinckney was a teenager when she was assigned to manage three large plantations for her family. She was still a young woman when her horticultural (plant-growing) experiments succeeded in the cultivation of the first indigo plants in British North America. Lucas shared her discovery with her South Carolina neighbors, creating an industry that would sustain the Carolina economy for three decades. The so-called Indigo Bonanza saw indigo planters double their money every three to four years from 1745 until 1775, when the American Revolution (1775–83) brought an end to trade with Britain. By 1775, South Carolina was exporting over 1 million pounds of indigo annually, with a present-day value of over $30 million. Thanks to Pinckney's efforts, the Southern economy had grown strong by the time the United States won its independence in 1783.

Pinckney supported the American...