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I've spent much of the past year traveling to different plantations across the South for the book I'm writing & while the majority of places still barely mention slavery, in the places that *do* talk about it, this is a pretty consistent response you'll find (from white people).
I grew up in Louisiana, where the vast majority of plantations are used as the sites of wedding venues, debutante balls, & high school proms. The tours are often more interested in exploring the history of its architecture than the history of what actually happened on that land.
The good thing is that we're in a moment in which many plantations that never spoke about slavery as part of their plantation tours are being pushed to reexamine how they present this history, & many are (slowly) moving towards a more honest reckoning w/ what that history means.
I will never understand how someone could bring themselves to hold a wedding on the site where people were tortured, worked to death, & forcibly removed from their families. But it is a *huge* industry across the South. From Louisiana to Virginia.
herecomestheguide.com/wedding-party-…
herecomestheguide.com/wedding-party-…
This is another issue that plantations are facing, even well-intentioned ones. Some have "slavery tours," distinct from the "main tour." Problem is the "main tour" rarely addresses slavery, which reinforces the idea that it was some sort of side issue.
Having a seperate tour specifically to delve more deeply into the lives of enslaved ppl is not inherently a problem, & can often be done effectively, but it becomes a problem if that part is seen as *optional* while the other tour that doesn't address it remains the central focus
The lives on enslaved people are impossible to disentangle from any other facet of plantation life. There can be no discussion about the architecture without addressing the hands that built it, there can be no discussion about the land without addressing the people who worked it.
Soon! (leaves twitter and goes back to writing)
