Slavery Education In The Deep South

Hello and welcome! Follow along for updates on my Magellan project as I go to four major cities in the Deep South to see how they teach about their complicated history with slavery

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A Little Introduction

For this project, I am venturing to the deep south to study the way they teach about the atrocities of slavery. This project idea was inspired by a YouTube video of native southerners talking about how slavery “truly” was. They spoke of northerners demonizing the practice to further political gain. They were positively convinced that slavery was not a bad thing and that slave masters were never cruel and unfair. They even went so far as to say that slaves loved and appreciated their masters taking care of them. This is obviously contrary to everything I have ever been taught. I would like to go to slavery and civil rights museums in the cities that were built off slave labor and ascended to affluence through the economics of the slave trade. There are some cities that are more deeply entangled in the American history of slavery. These cities are the perfect places to study because their history is interwoven with the history of slavery in America. Richmond, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina, Savanah, Georgia, and St. Augustine, Florida were all integral parts of the deep south’s history. Their histories are deeply influenced by slavery. I would like to see how each city teaches about this complicated and shameful past. I would like to explore how these cities grapple with the reality of their history and what lenses they attempt to see them through. It will be important to keep an open mind during this trip. There are many avenues that each museum and historical site could choose to tread in their attempt to educate the public about their past.

The project will serve as a sort of ethnography and the subjects will be each of the major cities to serve as case studies. An ethnography, or a study of the customs of individuals in a specific place, will answer some key questions about how each city views their history with slavery. Doing my project in the deep south is extremely important because this was where slavery had the deepest cultural, economic, and historic effects. It is undeniable that before the civil war, each of the four cities grew to be economically and culturally prosperous on the back of slave labor. By experiencing the deep south’s education surrounding the topic for myself, I hope to gain some insight as to how differing versions of history regarding slavery have arisen. In everyday life, we see mainstream media portraying singular events in vastly differing ways for a number of reasons. As every educator knows, teaching is inherently political and different environments create different understandings. The import of this project it to understand how this part of American history is taught in a climate whose relationship with the topic is different than anything I’ve ever known growing up in California or being educated in Pennsylvania.

I will focus this blog on the museum exhibits, their target audience, and my conversations with museum personnel. For each educational site I visit, I will create a blog post. Images will contain focal points of the exhibits (where photography is allowed). In addition to descriptions of the photos, I will attempt to offer meaningful descriptions of the ambiance and commentary about my individual experience. Components of the exhibits like the rhetoric used in descriptions, objects displayed and their provided context, and the presentation and persona of the exhibit will be included to give readers an accurate picture of my experience and finding. 

This project will be a substantial amount of work, but I feel it will be worth it to experience the American sub-culture in the deep south and see how it varies city to city.

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St. Augustine Day 4: The Kingsley Plantation

Day four in St. Augustine brought me to the Kingsley Plantation, about an hour outside the city. This plantation has an extremely interesting history. It is considerably younger than the other plantations I’ve visited on this trip. It was founded in 1814 when Zephaniah Kingsley moved his family to the island. The Kingsley family history was also quite interesting. Zephaniah wife Anta/Anna was enslaved in Senegal, brought to Havana and purchased by Zephaniah. According to the plantation’s many pamphlets, “He freed Anna... and their children in 1811.” This means that she was forced to have three children by her master when she was still enslaved. After gaining her freedom, she stayed with Zephaniah’s a wife and partial owner of the plantation. It was really unnerving as I was reading about this because the material makes it sound as though the situation was a whirlwind romance in which Zephaniah was a knight in shining armor. The reality is that plantation owners fathering the children of enslaved women was a rampant form of violence against black women, perpetuated by their inherently unequal societal status. Despite marrying a black woman and fathering four black children, Kingsley continued to own around 200 enslaved people. After the Florida became a member of the United States, the laws regarding the status of black people and enslaved people constricted. Because of the new restrictions, in 1837 Kingsley moved himself and 50 newly freed enslaved people to Haiti, a republic of freed black people.

The first place I stopped on the site was the kitchen, which had an attached parlor and wash room. Here it was made clear that an enslaved person would be responsible for feeding the entire household. The reading material described the kitchen as a place where European and African culture mixed through food. While I am sure this is true, by leaving out there harsh, uncomfortable conditions int he kitchen, there was a sort of romanticization of the work. 

In the other rooms joined to the kitchen displays educated visitors about the laws that facilitated racism in the state of Florida. I was impressed by an interactive action where visitors could look through a book of laws regarding enslaved people and freed people and then see the harsh punishments for breaking the laws. There were also exhibits showing various forms of punishment. One could almost argue that the thoroughness of the adjoined rooms made up for the interesting characterization of the work in the kitchen.

The next stop was the barn. In here were educational plaques about plantation work, crops, and livestock. It was made explicitly clear that this building would have been a utilitarian space, used for a wide number of things. Enslaved people would have worked on various different projects in the building, and possibly even sleep in the building. Additionally, the displays told of the many hardships and physical brutality that enslaved people would face. 

Making my way through the plantation, I next came to the garden. This space showed some of the plants that enslaved people would have cultivated along side the cotton being grown on the plantation. The plaques explained that one of the few ways and enslaved person could supplement their poor diet or even to make some of their own money would have been to grow their own food or valuable corps. Things ling indigo and sugarcane could be sold and food crops would would have nourished the enslaved people so they could sustain their body and endure work. This alluded to the fact that slave owners did not accurately provide for their enslaved population, but did not address it head on. 

One of the major stops on the walk through the site was the remnants of the 32 slave cabins that once stood on the property and housed around 200 enslaved people.  Most of the education around the ruins focused on the archeologic finding on the site. Beads showed a distinct culture, animal remains were attributed to ritual sacrificed. Another focus was the tabby used to build the housed. This type of architecture dots the Florida landscape and is an immense source of pride. In addition to the facts on the plaques, there were quoted from prominent, historic figures condemning slavery. One that struck me was by Julius Lester, “To be a slave was ti be a human being under conditions in which that humanity was denied. Their condition was slavery.”

The last stop on my trip to the Kingsley Plantation was to the boat dock. Here, there was considerable education regarding the triangle trade. These explained both how enslaved people came to the plantation, via the Portuguese, and how the dock on the plantation made it easier to send and receive good from the markets. 

Overall the Kingsley Plantation did a very adequate job of educating the public about the history of slavery on the property. My only recommendation would be to use more blunt language when talking about the harsher realities of what happened in order to lose some of the mystifying, romantic undertones. 

[curtismagellan2022]

St. Augustine Day 3: The Colonial Quarter

For my third trip in St. Augustine I went to the Colonial Quarter for the “full Colonial Experience.” This included a tour through the recreated colonial town and multiple demonstrations. While I was there, I learned that the Colonial Quarter is a popular field trip for fourth graders as their curriculum for Florida History. It was really interesting to see the standard information being passed to the state’s youth. Because the average fourth grader is around 10 years old, it makes sense that some of the harsh realities about slavery in Spanish Florida and British Florida be watered down. Howerver, there was almost no mention of slavery at all. 

This plaque was the only mention of enslaved people or africans int he whole site. All that it says is the enslaved people from the Carolinas were offered freedom in St. Augustine if the met certain criteria. It completely leaves out that there were enslaved people in St. Augustine who weren’t from the Carolinas and were not offered freedom. It also left out that during the periods of British occupation and when the U.S. bought Florida, slavery as we know it was in full effect. Additionally, our tour guide stopped at this plaque only momentarily as it was next to a water station. 

Our next stop was the Blacksmith’s forge. We were told about the work the blacksmith did, and even given an iron working demonstration. We were told about the children who started apprenticeships at about 8 years old. We were not told about the the enslaved people who probably worked in forges. The demonstration was very interesting, and informative. I see how the the children who come through would be enthralled. However, the history was incomplete.

The next stop was a tour of the house on the property. there were three stages of additions. First was the original Spanish house, then the British add on, then another Spanish addition when they regained control. The house was labeled to show which rooms were added by which group of people. This was the set up of the kitchen. It was used by all three historical periods. However, you can see a white manequin staged in the kitchen. This is something could use serious explanation to the visitors. THere is a complicated history in the room, but placing a white lady in the role of the cook, erases the identity of thos ehwo actually worked there. It is likely that both white and black people served in this role. It is possible that they were enslaved, or indentured. The reality was that this home belonged to wealthy people. It is unlikely that a free white person worked in the home.

There were many other stops on the tour that showed the history and ingenuity of those who lived in St. Augustine. A replica boat, scaled to about the size that Christopher Columbus would have used gave visitors some perspective about what it was like to cross the Atlantic. The replica pulley system showed how the people were able to work efficiently. A printing press showed visitors how news was circulated in the colonies. Finally, a timeline of all the flags to fly over St. Augustine showed the history of all the countries who once claimed it. It was clear that The Colonial Quarter was geared towards young children to provide a cursory history of St. Augustine. However, there is clearly need for a more complete version of history at The Colonial Quarter. 

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St Augustine Day 2: Fort Mose

For day two in St. Augustine I visited the Fort Mose Historic State Park. This state park marks the cite where Fort Mose once stood. Fort Mose was the cite of the first, legal all black community in the United States. The fort was owned by the Spanish who promised freedom in exchange for three things: 4 years of military service, conversion to catholicism, and baptism under a christian name. This promise drew numerous enslaved people and families to Fort Mose from the Carolinas. The community thrived until the British burned down the fort in 1740. The fort, geographically, was the first line of defense against the British, and was completely destroyed. In 1752, it was rebuilt under the request of the Spanish crown, to re fortify the defense of the City of St. Augustine. WHile the second fort has been lost to time, the state park stands to commemorate the community that once thrived here. 

One of the first thing a person sees when they ender the parking lot for the state park is this arch way. This path leads out and over the marsh of the park. Along the way is some cursory information about Fort Mose and its history, as well as the wild life that inhabits the area. This is not where the brunt of the information is located, but it is nice to know that if people skip the museum portion of the park and go straight to the scenery, they cannot escape the history of the site. 

These informational plaques dot the path to the museum and give some basic background information. Not only are they colorful, but they are tactile. This really added to the draw for people of all ages. Even as an adult, I couldn’t resist running my fingers over the iron pipe of the mock hand gun. Additionally, the plaques laid the ground work of knowledge necessary for people to know the significance of Fort Mose. 

One of the first things detailed in the museum was that difference between slavery under the British and under the Spanish. Under the British, slavery was complete and total ownership. Under the Spanish, Enslaved people were able to live with their families and have more autonomy. There was even legal repercussions for slave owners who mistreated their enslaved people. It is important to note, though, that people were still enslaved, unless they could secure their freedom from the governor of Florida. That is why Fort Mose had such a draw. For the Enslaved people belonging tot he British, it was actual freedom. Unfortunately for the enslaved people in St. Augustine, the deal did not apply to them because they were already Catholic and the mission was to convert people to catholicism. 

Next was the importance of the militia at Fort Mose. There were an all black militia, led by a black man in the 1740s. Historically speaking, this is amazing. Unfortunately, they had one of the more dangerous roles as the first line of defense from the British. At Fort Mose, black men were given military training and performed all of the important duties. This is more than most of the english colonist could say. For this reason, they were able to defeat the British in multiple battles. Additionally, when the British gained St. Augustine, diplomatically, all the people moved to the other nearby Spanish territories: white men, free black men, and enslaved people. 

One thing the museum did especially well was include the storied of individuals to give a better picture of what life was like. They explained how freed people could be married to enslaved people and if the mother was enslaved, so were the children. They also used these biographies to show what a person’s role would be based on their age, and gender. The museum was catered toward children, therefore it was very interactive, and information was given in small, palatable snippets. For many of the displays, there were tactile elements for the visitors to touch, short movies to watch, and even platforms to stand on to start audio clips. 

One of the elements that I’m noticing is common place is timelines. This timeline held the history of the fort through maps and pictures and feel-able objects. It moved quickly and followed an interesting floor path. In addition to the many interactive elements, the timeline, and the audio visual engagement, there was a movie visitors could watch and a moderately sized out door area to enjoy. This historic site did a wonderful job of engaging their target audience and relaying history. 

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St Augustine Day 1- THe Ximenez-Fatio House

For my first day in St. Augustine, I visited the Ximenez-Fatio house. This house was off the beaten path, so I was the only person on my tour. This made my experience unique because I had by tour guide’s undivided attention. Instead of the tour being very rigid and structured, we were able to converse as we went through the house. We talked about anything that caught our eye and made our way through the house at our own pace. I learned the the house started as a family home for the Ximenez family from Spain, but was sold after a number of years, and became a boarding house. Therefore, each room had an interesting double history. There were some room that were dedicated to the history of enslaved people on the property, some where the history was there but not addressed until asked about, and some where enslaved people were not mentioned.

The first stop on the tour was this dining room, which had also been one of three stores that the Ximenez family owned. While the focus of the talk was mostly about the two histories of the room, I was able to ask questions about the various items around the room. The two hanging items made of wood and cloth were the old versions of ceiling fans. When I asked about them, I learned that an enslaved person of servant would sit the far door way and pull on the strings attached at the top. the flaps would move through the air creating circulation and bug deterrent. It was interesting to see that the history of enslaved people was everywhere, I just had to ask the right questions. However, it was disappointing to know that if someone doesn’t ask those questions, people simply won’t get that portion of history. 

Given that the house was a boarding hose, there were many many rooms. These were set up to showcase the types of people who would have stayed at the property. Rooms were set up for a soldier, a sea captain, an entire family, a medical traveler, and even suffragists. These various rooms took up about half of the tour, and the enslaved people who would have worked to maintain the room and cater to the people were really mentioned, unless asked about. It was really interesting to see the different types of people along with how and why they would have been traveling. 

On the third floor was a timeline that explained the lives of enslaved people on the property and in St. Augustine. This timeline was very detailed and based on recovered documents from the time period. It even stated that at one point the owner of the boarding house paid taxes on 40 enslaved people. I appreciated that the timeline of Florida was juxtaposed with the history of the house. 

The third floor was set up to look as it would have when it was living quarters for enslaved people as well as storage. It was striking to see that the enslaved people would have also had to share their space with the empty luggage from the boarders. Visitors would touch the ‘mattresses’ that the enslaved people would have used as well as see how they would have been laid end to end, side to side on the floor in the attic. Because heat rises, this room was one of the hottest, most uncomfortable in the house, second only to the kitchen. This is something that I experienced as a visitor because the house had not been updated with air conditioning. The other floors has electric fans to at lease provide a breeze, but this floor had nothing. Unfortunately, this means that most people don’t spend an appropriate amount of time on the floor.

Above is the space above the kitchen that the cook and their family would have lived in. Because there were around 40 enslaved people on the property at one point, they would have had to split up around the house for room to sleep. This mere crawl space would have housed an entire family. Again, this space would have been uncomfortably hot at all times due to the heat from the kitchen rising. The cook would have had to live here because they would work the longest hours. Their day started well before sunrise to prepare breakfast for the boarders and ended when the last person went to sleep. They would have been responsible for feeding all the people in the home. 

Pictured here is that actual kitchen. Something not visible in the image is a bell. Bell systems were common place in houses of this time period, but the Ximenez-Fatio House was built int he Spanish style. The kitchen was detached for fire safety, but the house itself was long and open at the center. This means to answer a bell call, an enslaved person of servant would have had to walk completely outside, in the Florida heat, with hustle to take the order, come back, make the order then repeat the trek to deliver the order. 

Over all, my trip to the Ximenez-Fatio House was a lovely, educational experience. My only suggestion would be to weave the history of the enslaved people into the narrative. Some integration for the history would make a more complete history. As is, the history of the enslaved people seems to be separate from the mainstream history. It would be valuable for the visitors if the two stories were told in conjunction. 

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Savannah Day 4: The Green-Meldrim House

For day four in Savannah, I visited the Green-Meldrim House. This house was the head quarters for the Union Army toward the end on the Civil War, and has been designated a national historic landmark. Union general, General Sherman lived in the house for just over two months as the war came to a close. I had thought that because it was a landmark, it would be used as a museum or a place for education when i signed up for the tour. However, I was mistaken. The house was bought in the 1940s by the St. Johns Episcopal Church, next door and restored to how it may have look around the Civil War era. Now the congregation offers tours twice a week to explain the antique pieces in the home and explore the architecture. These tours are also used to extend invitations to visitors to attend services and become part of the congregation. While the tour was lovely, the antiques wonderful, and the architecture impressive, it was clear that I miscalculated the purpose this building. Looking back on it now, I find it all quite funny.

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Savannah Day 3: Wormsloe State Historic Site

For my third day in Savannah, I visited the Wormsloe State Historic Site. This sight was granted to Nobel Jones in 1756 by King George II and has remained with the family to the present day. Descendants still have a private residence on the property. Today the majority of the estate once given to the Nobel Jones is now the historic site and nature preserve. According to my preliminary research, the Site was a medium sized plantation that grew all of the major crops of the south: cotton, rice, various vegetables, and even mulberry trees for silk worms and silk production. For the duration of its existence until abolition, enslaved people worked and lived on the plantation. These people were never mentioned, the entire time I was on site. 

One of the few stops was a small museum with various exhibits about the family that owns the land. The exhibits pictured above showcase the major focuses of the museum. Things like the Jones’ family tree, the voting history of the family, the spelling of Wormsloe, etc all made appearances on the museum walls. While all these things are valuable pieces of history, there is a major piece missing. The people whose labor sustained the family’s wealth and importance, were not mentioned once in the museum. This form of erasure allows visitors to glorify the success of the Jones family without knowing the full truth of its cost.

Another main stop on the trails of the Wormsloe was the remains of the house built on the Jones land in the 1730s. The Jones family was one of the first families in Georgia. This meant the materials needed to build homes as them were in England and new building materials were necessary. Tabby was the solution. Tabby is a mixture of sand, oyster shells, water, and burnt oyster shells as a source of lime. This created a hearty building whose walls can still be seen above, after almost 300 years. This feat of engineering is spectacular, but the way the build was described is very interesting. I stumbled upon a tour guide talking to visitors, which was surprising because i didn’t see any tours advertised. Regardless, I listened as the guide explained that the idea for tabby was from black people who were living on the island. These people were most likely survivors from sunken slave ships who swam ashore according to the guide. He said that these people were the ones who figured out that melting oyster shells would create a bonding agent and that the tabby mixture would make a sturdy building agent. 

A plaque near the remaining structure said said, “With the help of his servants and marines, Jones completed construction of this fortified house by 1745.” These would have been indentured servants as Georgia’s charter prohibited slavery from 1735 to 1750. While this may seem contradictory, it is important to consider dates. The home was built in 1745, slavery in the state of Georgia was officially allowed in 1750, and in 1756, King George II granted the land officially. In the interim, the rich white men in Georgia were constantly petitioning for slavery to be allowed in the colony, saying the civilized life is not possible with out workers. Despite the time line, the plaques gave all the credit to Nobel Jones, not the people who actually did the work.

As I followed the trails, I stumbled across these structures. One was marked a dairy silo on the map, one was marked a colonial life area, and the rest were not marked living history. There was only information available in the colonial life area and it referred to building techniques and blacksmithing techniques. The dairy silo had no historic information available. The two living history sites I visited had no written information either. One of these sites, the garden, had a worker in period attire tending the plants and he was able to tell visitors about the different species available. There was no written history about the people who lived and worked on the property. There was literally one plaque that held a quote from a freed black person tucked along one of the trails, but it did not address the Wormsloe plantation or its history. It was abundantly clear that a sanitized version of history was being passed along through the Wormsloe Historic Site. 

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Savannah Day 2: The Owens- Thomas House and Slave Quarters

Day two in Savanah was a trip to the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters. After my tip tot he Savannah History Museum, my hopes for this stop were not high. This house proved me wrong. When I first walked in, I was automatically scheduled for the supervised tour through the slave quarters and house. I had about 15 minutes to entertain myself before the tour began, so I strolled around the property. There were attendants at every turn to answer questions and to make sure people weren’t touching things they weren’t supposed to. Not only were they friendly, they were very knowledgeable about the house and the people who lived there. 

The first stop on the tour was a room in the former slave quarters. The very first thing a person saw when they entered, was an informational plaque, explaining the power of words. The museum explained to visitors the importance of ‘people first’ language, like why it is now politically correct to say enslaved people, instead of slaves. It said, “As we share this history, we strive to use words that are empathetic to those whose history has been marginalized. For example, we use phrases like enslaved woman, rather than slave. The noun slave implies that she was, at her core, a slave. The adjective enslaved reveals that though in bondage, bondage was not her core existence.” This immediately set the time for the tour. It made it explicitly clear that the purpose of the museum was to preserve the history of the house and those who lived, worked and died there. The next thing one saw in this first room was a timeline of Savannah, including population estimates and the break down of race. This showed that about 1/3rd of the city were people of color, 2/3rds were white, and only about 3% of the white people were wealthy enough to own enslaved people. Finally, the focal point of the room was the wall pictured above. It is made of blocks with the names of the enslaved people who lived and worked in the house, etched into the wood. This display read, “The wealth that made the lifestyle of the Richardson and Owens families possible was created through the labor of enslaved men, women, and children who were never compensated for their work. Richard Richardson shipped over 200 enslaved people out of Savannah to be sold in New Orleans. George Owens enslaved almost 400 people on his plantations.” The inscription continues to say that, while they ahve not been able to recover all the names of the near 600 individuals, there are blank planks waiting for their names and representing them still.This opening to the tour was breath taking. It was truly amazing to see the names of the individuals honored as they should be.

The next stop on the tour was a restored room. Informational plaques detailed that around 15 people who may or may not have been related would life in this room. The would sleep on the bed and on the floor. It is unknown exactly who slept where, and with who, but it is known that the items in the room were sparse. WHile there were no written accounts from enslaved people from this house or any of the properties attached to it, the museum included written accounts from other enslaved people in the area in an attempt to let the vioces of those who expierenced htis live, guide the narrative of the tour. Thesepromary accounts gave authenticity and gravity to the expierence.

Next on the tour was the main house. In my experience from more than 10 museums on the trip, so far, this is usually where the narrative from enslaved people stops, and the glorification of the wealthy family begins. However, this house, once again, broke the mold. The self guided tour has minute long audios that would be listened to via cell phones for each of the 14 stops on the tour. In every single stop, with the exception of the library, special attention was given to what an enslaved person’s role would have been in that room. Many of the audios even included the name of the enslaved person if there was documentation of where and when that person worked. In the dining room, special mention of a life-long butler, Peter. In the girls’ bedroom, the made special mention of a young enslaved girl who likely had to sleep in the room, on the floor in the event that the young ladies in the house needed something in the night. They were also quick to dispel the notion that this may have bred a deep friendship among the rich white and the people they enslaved. While the museum acknowledges that there may have been some mutual affection, the young people brought up in the house were privy to the institution of slavery and were made very aware of their role as owners and superiors. 

Next on the tour was the basement, which held the cellar, kitchen, and scullery. The audio corresponding to each room once again described the people who worked in each room as well as the conditions they worked in. Diane, the cook for a large portion of time is described as being force to work in the kitchen with state of the art technology, which she had no idea how to use, and no ability to read a manual, not that it was ever purchased for her. While the house was state of the art, and had running water in most rooms and bathrooms, the kitchen was given no such luxury. Diane would have had to fully leave the kitchen for the scullery to get any water she needed to cook or clean produce. Additionally, the cellar was kept under lock and key. There is no record of Diane or Peter, the chef and butler, ever having a key. This means they would have had to ask for the materials necessary to do their job, and would have been closely monitored. The basement also showcased remnants of the original bell system that would been used to summon enslaved people for work in specific rooms.

Finally, the tour culminated in the the last room of the basement. This room was designated a reading station. while most of the rest of the house was light on reading material, supplementing it with audio recording, this room gave viewers the opportunity to read letters and documents from the Owens family regarding the purchase, treatment, and sale of enslaved people in the home. In one letter George Owens instructs Sarah Owens to purchase the wives of two of the enslaved people they already own. The Museum tells us that moves like this were strategic for gaining the cooperation of enslaved people. It also tells us that the opposite was a tactic. Enslaved people were constantly under threat of being separated and sold away from their family and children for minor infractions. Another letter From George Owens to his wife described the punishment for being out past the 8pm curfew for enslaved people. He insinuates that not only is she a liar, but that she is also stupid for breaking curfew, by less than 10 min i might add, and has her put in the local jail for the night and following day. All this is described in a jovial, joking tone. 

I really appreciated the candidness of the Owens-Thomas house. It was obvious that the Telfair Museum, which runs the house, put considerable time and effort into displaying the history of the house in a way that accurately relayed the stories of all those who lived and worked there. 

[curtismagellan2022]

Savannah Day 1: The Savannah History Museum

On my first day in Savannah I vent to the Savannah History Museum. I was quite surprised to find such a tiny operation. The website makes the museum sound as though it is the premier museum to learn about the history of Savannah, but the reality was less than fabulous. The museum was tucked into a repurposed train station, behind a gift shop and a cafe. The reality was a tired museum constructed from tired partitions, containing desperately out of date information.

When first entering the museum, visitors see a recreation of a settlers camp, containing two dummies dressed as European settlers. In this section, mentions of Native American people were after thoughts. The telling of history at this site begins with the arrival of white people in Savannah, despite there being a thriving culture on the land for hundreds of generations before white settlers arrived. Next the museum moved straight into colonial times, displaying ceramics and buttons of the time. All of this history was covered in the span of about five feet. The museum had very limited space to work with, which lead to glossing over major parts of history. 

The colonial time section of the museum contained the exhibit above, which made up about half of the time period. While this is a respectful proportion of the time period to dedicate to the contributions of enslaved people at the time, it barely covered the facts of history. The exhibit makes cursory mention if tools, music, and crafts made by enslaved people and shows some examples. This is about the same depth that all the exhibits have for their topics. 

The next exhibit gave some brief facts about the cotton gin. It stated that Eli Whitney did not invent the cotton gin, rather he improved the technology and patented it. While it is unknown who truly invented the original cotton gin, it is widely rumored that it was invented by an enslaved man in the south. The museum completely left this out of the exhibit. 

Next, the museum brought us to the innovations that took form on the Ogeechee River. This river was the key to much of Savannah’s economic success, along with the Savannah River. The exhibit shows boats and the tools used to make them, but not much explanation as to their significance. Some pictures show the people who are credited with their creation, but the only mention of these people is in the singular plaque above the model boat that says “The Savannah Ogeechee canal was a transportation system constructed between 1826 and 1830 by enslaved Africans and Irish immigrant labor.”

Additionally, the picture above, showing a house, has a caption the described the importance of the rivers for transportation and the economy for formerly enslaved people after the civil war. While this information was valuable, it was out of chronologic order and contained no other context. Perhaps it was included here because there was no section of the museum that addressed the time after the Civil War but before World War II. While I don’t know if the omission of this piece of history was malicious or can be attributed to a number of other reasons, this was clearly a misstep in the telling of history.

In addressing the Civil War, the museum spent a considerable effort to describe the battle tactics and deterrence tactics that the confederates in the area used during the war. Above you can see designs for Frame torpedoes and other weapons as well as battle maps. Once again, there is only one mention of enslaved people. the thin placard next to the inky color picture on the wall says, “Army conscripts and some slaves were part of the workforces that built outposts. Especially later in the war, many slave owners tried to keep their slaves from being used on army work details.” There was no mention of why the war was being fought, or of slavery beyond that placard. This is obviously an incomplete telling of history.

The museum then flowed into an account of the Revolutionary War, which also scarcely mentioned the black people who fought for independence. the only mention of black people was in a diorama of the battle which contained representations of the Haitian soldiers who fought with he colonists. This section focused mostly on the battle of Savannah, which was a massive embarrassment for the colonies. Once again this was an incomplete account of history.

Oddly enough, the museum then led into an exhibit about the historic girl scouts that got their start in savannah, then flowed back into the civil war. Still, the museum focused a considerable amount of space to describing various battles. Above you can see pictures of a man named Jackson who ran away from savannah to join the Union Army as a drummer boy. There is also a portrait of Susie King, a black woman who served the Union Army as a nurse. There was also a little biography of the first black troops to serve the U.S. Army. It was nice to see representation for the people who served in the civil war. However, as you can see above, the museum has fallen into disrepair. You can see me holding the plaque that honored the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. I had actually picked it up of the ground and returned it to its place on the wall. 

The museum then flowed into an exhibit the honored but the first and second World Wars. Like the one before it, this exhibit displayed the portraits of notable contributions from both Black and White veterans as well as acknowledging the contributions of women of all races. 

All in all, this museum was quite sad. Many of the exhibits were missing plaques or artifacts that had fallen. Some materials had misspellings and grammar mistakes. The history was out of order and incomplete. The Savannah History Museum is in dire need or rejuvenation. 

[curtismagellan2022]

Charleston Day 3, part 2: The Old Slave Mart Museum

Day three in Charleston was as twofer. The second location I visited was the Old Slave Mart and Jail. Unfortunately, I was not permitted to take photos inside the museum, but I will do my absolute best to describe the museum with words. 

This museum is in the actual building that once was the Ryan Slave Mart where countless sales and auctions took place. Attached to the building was also a slave jail where enslaved people awaiting sale were held in squalid conditions. I was very surprised the side of the building. I thought a jail and auction house would take significantly more space, but the building was about the size of today’s mid size Starbucks that wen up to a second floor. I can only imaging the cramped, disgusting conditions in the building when it was in it original use. Due to the small size of the building, the museum itself was small as well. But this is no to say that it didn’t capture the intricacies of history. This space was just one piece of Charleston’s famous ‘Museum Mile,” which is a road full of historic sites converted into museums to educate the public on the history of Charleston. This enable the Old Slave Mare to focus on one piece of Charleston’s history, slavery.

Instead of a chronology of slavery in South Carolina, the museum followed the journey and enslaved person from capture in Africa to sale at the mart and beyond. I particularly liked this take because it refocused the narrative on the people, not the events that shaped history.

Walking into the museum, a visitor is immediately flanked with information on both sides. One side detailed how enslaved people were sold in Africa, endured the middle passage, and those that loved, entered the colonies. the other side detailed what it was like to be born into slavery, already in the colonies and how families were forcibly separated by slave owners. The sides came together to lead to a round about of information on what would happen when the enslaved people reached the colonies and how they would be bought and sold. 

One thing I found particularly interesting was pricing charts used to calculate an enslaved person’s worth based on age, physical ability, and skill. While the museum actively condemned the sale of people at every turn and portrayed the genuine suffering that happened at the mart, it stilled displayed objective, yet disgusting information like the charts to give visitors an accurate picture of the business being conducted at the mart. I also found it very interesting that there were written accounts of enslaved people bargaining for differing interests like more tolerable jobs, keeping their family together, and even altering the way the present their skills to make themselves more or less appealing to potential buyers. This was interesting because it showed enslaved people to have more agency than history gives them credit for. Often times, the narrative that enslaved people were completely helpless due to a lack of education or differing culture, but this museum disproved that narrative while still acknowledging that they were subjugated and abused.

In this museum, the focus was mainly fact and written words. Especially on the ground floor, there were not many artifacts of interactive exhibits. This made the experience very informative, but not very enthralling. My only suggestion for improving the first floor would be to make it more appealing so as to hold a visitor’s attention for longer.

The second floor was just as informational as the first. It focused on how enslaved people were treated by those that bough them. It displayed various artifacts proving that they were treated horribly, including whips, brands, shackles, and various other horrific devices. It also displayed copies of the books that recorded many of the sales that had taken place. Pictures and display cases made it abundantly clear that slavery was a terrible period in America history. This museum did a great job of relaying a great volume of accurate, objective information in a very limited space. It is a must see for anyone visiting Charleston.

[curtismagellan2022]

Charleston Day 3: Boone Hall Plantation

My excursion for day three in Charleston was a trip to the historic Boone Hall Plantation. Instead of focusing of the majesty of the property like the Magnolia Plantation, Boone was significantly more dedicated to the preservation of history and culture. Additionally, after paying the entrance fee, visitors were able to go on any and all tours they wanted instead of having additional fees for the tours. I attended the Historic Dwelling History talk which lead into the Black History in America tour, then the Exploring the Gullah Culture presentation, and finally the House tour. While I enjoyed all of them, they all presented unique views on history, some wonderful, some problematic. 

First I attended the Historical Dwelling History Talk where the gentleman above explained many significant features of the eight slave cabins still standing today. Because in addition to producing cotton on the plantation, the Boone family also dealt in brick production, some of the housing for slaves was made out of discarded bricks. The enslaved people who worked in the brick house would bring back the brinks that weren’t good enough to be sold, and slowly but surely built their own houses. While the plantation owners allowed the building, they did not aid in the building. Regardless, they still instructed the enslaved people on how and where to build, so that it best showed off their wealth to the outside world. Other cabins once stood on the property, but because the were made out of wood like the dwellings for enslaved people on the surrounding plantations, they unfortunately did not stand the test of time. The speaker was very frank about the reality of live for enslaved people on the plantation, saying that they were worked from sun up to sun down until the importation of new enslaved people was outlawed. He explained that it was only then, when owners could not purchase more people, that a more bearable task based system was implemented. This was only in the interest of keeping enslaved people alive for longer to work and reproduce. Finally he explained that at its height in 1850, Boone Hall plantation reported 290 enslaved people.

Once the talk let out, our speaker directed us to walk throughout the eight remaining buildings, all set up to educate viewers on different aspects of life and culture for enslaved people. The cabins were arranged by topics: religion, crafts, Life + family, Archeological Discoveries, Work + Life, Emancipation + Freedom, Struggle for civil rights, and Leaders + Heroes. Above are pictures from the Crafts building and the life + family building. Each building was unique by topic, but shares some similarities. They all had buttons to push that would start an audio or video recording that would play as patron explored the house. Additionally, there were educational plaques with long, detailed description of each individual topic. 

In the craft building, a woman, descendant of some of the original basket weavers in South Carolina, was set up making and selling her baskets. While this did somewhat commercialize the visit, if was very interesting to see her practicing this technique which had survived in Africa, through the middle passage, through the hundreds of years of slavery, all the way to today. 

In the archeology building it was interesting to see artifacts that researchers had pulled up from the very site. It said there was evidence that enslaved people had to garden and hunt to supplement the incredibly poor diet that the plantations owners provided. Even when they weren’t allowed to hunt, they did what they had to do to maintain caloric intake to support the intense labor they were subject to. 

Each cabin was very informative and accurately depicted various aspects of history which pieced together to form the history of the enslaved people at Boone Hall. While most attempted to highlight the good that can from a terrible situation, they all acknowledged the mistreatment of black people in American history. 

Next, I attended the Gullah Theater for a cultural show, which was a 35 minute presentation on the underground culture formed by enslaved people. The presenter was as descendant of enslaved people from Georgia and South Carolina. She educated the audience of the thing in our everyday culture that enslaved people and africans must be given credit for, hand washing, maxi pads, c-sections, and a wide array of great southern foods. This show included singing, story telling, as well as artifacts from the past a present. In my opinion the purpose of this show was equal parts entertainment and education. It was full of jokes and satirical stories while occasionally weaving in history. Our presenter used culture to entertain and freely used African American Vernacular English to make us laugh. This commercialized adaptation of culture for the entertainment of white people felt off. Even the sign utilizes the shortened version of the word show, sho’ which which blatantly shows the current owners using the culture for an attraction and monetary gain. 

Finally, I attended the House Tour which was wonderful. the house had been restored to its antebellum style, down to the paint color.  Our tour guide, Bill, was incredibly thorough in explaining every piece of the house and its significance, never once leaving out the forced contributions from enslaved people. While I could not take pictures in the house, I was able to take this picture of the patio outside. We toured the four main rooms on the ground floor of the house where the culture and influence of all the previous owners was explained. In my opinion, the most striking piece of the tour was the windowed in section of the patio which had been created using the brick that enslaved people on the plantation had made. This patio had been added on after abolition, but to pay homage to those who worked on the plantation, the bricks used were all from the surrounding fields, where enslaved people had been forced to work manufacturing them. They were collected from the fields and used. In some of the bricks, the finger prints of its maker can still be seen. This ensured that as long as the brick is in use, that person and their suffering must be remembered. I also found it striking that original tax documents were hanging in the parlor that detailed the trade of and taxes on enslaved people in the area. Our guide Bill said that the current owner of the property is dedicated to the accurate portrayal of history in the present day.

[curtismagellan2022]

Charleston Day 2: The Magnolia Plantation

Today’s trip to the Magnolia was quite the surprise. Unfortunately not the good kind. It was very obvious the money making was more important than preserving the history of the site. Admission to the grounds was $29 plus an additional $10 for every tour you’d like to attend. The only tour that wasn’t an extra charge was the “From Slavery to Freedom.” However, this tour wasn’t free until about a year ago when the murder of George Floyd flooded the media.  I took this tour and the house tour tosee how the two would differ in their characterization of how enslaved workers were treated. 

The first tour I took was the “From Slavery to Freedom” tour. Physically, this tour was far removed from the main hub of action. I had to follow signs like the one above across the parking lot and down a road to reach the beginning of the tour. The other tours began from a main hub of action by the ticket box. Once I reached the beginning spot for the tour, I waited with a group of about 15 other people. It was abundantly clear that this was not a very popular tour, unlike the house tour which accomidated about 45 people, split into three groups. 

Another surprise was that, unfortunately, the tour wasn’t really a tour. The schedule blocks 45 minutes for the experience, but this was broken down into 10 min of out tour guided, Joe, talking about the type of work enslaved people did on the plantation, then a q&a, then we were about to look in some of the last cabins still standing on the property. Joe did a wonderful job of describing the types of slavery and how the type embraced in the U.S., chattle slavery, was by worst andmost creul. He also explained that the slave owners really didn’t begin to care about the well being of the slaves until about 1808 when they were not allowed to import any more due to constitutional change. Finally, he explained how rice farming was particularly dangerous for the working people because the necessary flooding in idea bugs and pestilence. He made it explicitly clear that slave owners did not care about the dangers of that type of farming.

After Joe’s talk and a few questions, we were allowed to explore the four cabins that were renovated to different time periods. From top to bottom the cabins are dates at 1850, 1870, 1930, and 1965. However, the cabins had been occupied as recently as 1990, by various workers on the plantation and gardens. Unfortunately there wasn’t any written material to explain the various interesting aspects of the cabins and what makes them period appropriate. Our tour guide, Joe was outside for questions, but he constantly had a swarm of people around him, making it had to engage in an in-depth conversation about the cabins. This left me and a number of other guests to speculate about a number of interesting features of the cabins instead of getting concrete answers. Overall, the tour was not as informational or historically relevant as it could have been. Additionally, there was no burial ground for former enslaved people open for visitors or alternate memorials to those who worked and died on the property. There was nowhere near enough respect for the individuals who made the plantation and the owning family the influential millionaires they were in their hay day.

For the sake of being thorough, I also took the house tour. This tour began in these picturesque rocking chairs on the porch of the family home, very different from the rikity benches that started the slave cabin tour. On this tour I was not allowed to take any photos or touch anything. We went through the Drayton/Hastings house and heard about their family narrative, who married who, their children, and what additions they made to the house. Slavery was mentioned twice. Once to say that slavery had never taken place in the house because the houses where it actually did take place had burned down. The second time to point us towards the gift shop which was in the slave/servant quarters and kitchen. The confederacy was only mentioned when our tour guide explained that the Drayton family lost a lot of material wealth by investing in it. Abolition was mentioned once when the guide explained a relation of the family to Sarah and Angelina Grimke which had greatly embarrassed them at the time. The erasure of the history and labor of enslaved people in the Drayton/Hastings family homes was blatant.

Plaques like this dotted the walking trails through the garden (of which I walked about half) and detailed famous people and events that had taken place on the grounds. I did not come across even one that detailed the enslaved people who maintained the grounds for over a century. While it is possible that I could have missed one, I don’t think it’s likely given that the attractions catered to the antebellum ideals of the perfect mint julep and luxurious rocking chairs, not forced labor and exploitation.

Finally, it is extremely important to reiterate that this was a money making endeavor. Between the gift shop, the cafe, boat tours, tram tours, and even a petting zoo, the goal of the grounds was clearly not historical preservation. Unfortunately this was what I had expected when I embarked on my trip and I was happy this far that it hadn’t come to fruition. It is my hope that this was a first and last disappointment along my trip.

[curtismagellan2022]

Charleston Day 1: The Charleston Museum

Day one started off with a scramble. I was originally supposed to go the International African American Museum, but they pushed their grand opening to 2023. Thinking on my feet lead me to the Charleston Museum, and it did not disappoint. This museum is dedicated to preserving Charleston’s history, both natural and man made. This means half of the museum is dedicated to all the plant and animal life that has been native to the state over the course of history. While that section was very interesting, for the purpose of this blog post, I will be focusing on the human history in Charleston. This museum, like the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, chose to follow a chronologic flow through history, beginning with the use of the land by Native Americans, thousands of years ago. It began by detailing the numerous tribe that once called South Carolina home and telling of the human destruction that English settlers brought with them in the 1500s.

The chronology of South Carolina almost immediately involved forced labor. The first thing white settlers did was come over and start plantations. These plantations were first worked by enslaved natives, but the museum points out that this form of forced labor was not sustainable due to the physical and biologic violence enacted on Native populations. The rapid decline of Native Americans, according to the museum, facilitated the need for forced labor from enslaved Africans. The museum did a good job of detailing the vital work that enslaved people did on the plantations, and how the economic success of the state was directly dependent of their work, but many of the atrocious practices against the enslaved people were glossed over. 

This section of exhibit was dedicated to exploring the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It displays a number of artifacts related to the slave trade and the middle passage, but leaves out the exceedingly the disgusting conditions that the captured Africans experienced. The diagram of a slave transport ship has a description that says “One in six would die during the voyage.” It also says that the people were chained together in a manner that would allow for highest possible number of people to be transported. This however, is the extent of description regarding treatment on the middle passage. While an argument can be made the because the museum is open to people of all ages, there is a need for sanitization, I don’t think that fully excuses the wiping away of the atrocious violence. It seems as though there must be something that can be done to make history palatable for all ages while maintaining integrity. 

The next couple of displays in the exhibit were dedicated to the ins and outs of ‘Carolina Gold,’ or rice. Because the economy of the state was supported by the production and export of rice, there was a considerable portion of the museum dedicated to documenting its harvesting practices. At every turn, plaques like the one above explained how enslaved people were vital in the production of the cash crop. It also explained how wealth inequality grew due to the rapid success of rice plantations, on the backs of the enslaved population. Giving credit to the people who did the real work on the plantations was something the Charleston Museum did very well. Enslaved people were placed at the forefront of the narrative. 

Throughout the exhibits for the plantations in the pre-revolutionary and antebellum periods were displays like the one pictured above. Through displays like these, the museum did a good job of showing enslaved people to be educated workers with valuable specialization. Another display with bronze marker tags showed that almost every enslaved person had a designation, servant, carpenter, porter, etc. Displays like these attempted to convey how urban slavery was different than rural, plantation slavery. They made an effort to differentiate the experiences of the individual people in the city and give a broader understanding fo what slavery meant in Charleston. 

Because the museum followed the chronology of history, the next stop was the Revolutionary War. The museum accurately relayed the role of black people in the south during the war. The British offered to free the salves who fought for the king. This promise compelled may enslaved people to serve the king. However, many wealthy people and plantation owners were loyalists. therefore, their slaves were returned to them by the British. Even so, the museum did a good job of describing the events that went into the enslaved people’s decision making. While the museum makes it explicitly clear, that as a group, enslaved people made up a large portion of the war effort and the American population as a whole, the Revolutionary War was not a war that fought for the interests of black people. The plaque above aptly ends by saying, “The American fight for freedom clearly did not mean freedom for all.”

The parts of the museum dedicated to the time between the revolution and the southern secession also accurately accounted for the presence and contribution of black people in the city. The exhibit above was particularly striking to me. The bricks pictured above hold the finger prints and hand impressions of the slaves who made each brick by hand. The bricks literally hold the city together, even today. Two replicas of individual bricks were available for museum goers to touch and even place our fingers in the finger prints of the people who built the city. This display had a vary unique gravity. There were many other parts of the museum that captured the massive contributions of enslaved people, but this one was very special. 

The museum then came to the civil war times. The museum remained objective to both the Union and the Confederacy, not taking one side over the other. While this is better than siding with the confederacy like South Carolina actually did, it would have been appropriate for the museum to condemn the fight to protect slavery. However, this section was almost equal parts white history and black history. It captured biographies of white and black Carolinians and their contributions to the war on both sides. This can be best seen through the juxtaposed biographies of Susie Bake King and Clara Barton, both nurses in the war. By placing them right next to each other, they have equal weight. Juxtaposition like this was present through the entire section and gave due credit to the people of color who fought in the war. 

Finally, the museum brought us up to present day through displays of store signs and pictures from high schools in the area from the last hundred years. This section felt like a very rushed wrap of Charleston’s history. Something curious that I noticed, and even had to google to make sure I was correct is that South Carolina was segregated until the civil rights act of 1964. However, there was not one single mention of segregation or any black people in the years since the end of the civil war. This is deeply problematic. While my project focuses of the education of slavery in the south, segregation is still something that must be at the vary least mentioned if a museum claims to convey the history of their state. This is a part of history that simply cannot be glossed over in an exhibit of pretty signs from the 30′s. This effectively romanticized the era and erases the embarrassing history of Jim Crowe and the continued discrimination against people of color in America. 

[curtismagellan2022]

Richmond VA Day 4: The American Civil War Museum

Today’s excursion was to the American Civil Was Museum and it was a truly wonderful experience. I had the museum to myself because the city of Richmond was having their annual River Rocks festival less than a block away. This allowed me to truly take my time and take in all that the museum had to offer. Something unique about the museum was that it was set up chronologically instead of by topic. For a war as short as the civil war, this time line made perfect sense. This also allowed for the voices of black people of the time to be intermixed with the mainstream telling of history as they should be. 

The museum was set up as a walkable timeline with artifacts, quotes, and pictures from people who were actually there. Above you can see three examples of how black people, both enslaved and free were included in the tour as part of the historic canon, not aside from the traditional narrative. This setup helps avoid the trap that many educational institutions fall into by creating separate exhibits for the stories of black people in the civil war. By incorporating these narratives into the main tour and not a side show, the museum accurately acknowledges the contribution of black people to the historical period. 

The curators did a wonderful job of staying focused on the timeline of the war while incorporating the topic of slavery. here you can see the face of an enslaved person projected on an opaque sheet with chains hanging in the back ground. This section was a branch off of the main time line that visitors walk. Just because it was a branch, doesn’t mean it was avoidable. The path wound all around to allow for a fluid telling of history. To see this part of the exhibit, visitors simply had to walk straight. To stay on the path, visitors would have had to turn. This made sure that nearly everyone saw this piece.The section was also a dynamically interesting part of the exhibit. On the side pictured, the image flickered so that the chains in the background were frequently illuminated, while a speaker played recorded readings from multiple accounts of emancipation written by enslaved people. The dark setting, the voiceover, and the flickering lights made the exhibit enticing while still respectful to the story it was conveying. 

Another thing the American Civil War Museum did right was use 21st century technology to make the visit interesting and interactive. Above you can see a screen which displayed a video about some of the major events in the summer of 1863. The interesting design of the screen and 21st century animation coupled with sound effects made an enthralling experience for viewers of all ages. There were also interactive TV screens at every year marker along the trail that visitors could use to navigate maps, more in depth timelines, legislation and renderings of artifacts that weren’t presently in the museum. These additons to the traditional museum setting added another element of participation for modern audiences to enjoy.

The museum took into account the devastation to human life cause by the war. Above is a feature documenting how people were supposed to mourn and how there was almost never adequate burials for the vast fatalities on the battle field. After all, the American Civil war, to date, is the most deadly conflict for American soldiers, killing more Americans than any other war. The second picture accurately addresses that at the time, wounded or dead black soldiers were not counted as casualties, or treated as fallen veterans. The museum accurately addressed how black soldiers were treated as inhumane by both sides. The Union, which employed far more black soldiers, treated them poorly and did not offer equal monetary compensation or legal protection. The Confederacy even went so far as to declare that all capture black soldiers would be treated as slaves. The museum pulls no punches in detailing the treatment that both sides perpetuated toward black soldiers and veterans.

On top of interspersing quotes and biographies from enslaved people, the museum also included these portraits, depicting people from all walks of life. the portraits projected on the brick wall were cycled through via a projector. Icons such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas were among the portraits, as well as black soldiers, physicians, and freed slave. These portraits were projected among white icons, on the same standing and with the same importance. Black faces made up about one third of the faces projected on the wall. The eight men in the painting, also pictured above were members of the Virginia General Assembly of 1887-1888. This picture was hung in the section that acknowledged how the union, even after the war, did not guarantee black men citizenship or the right to vote. It explained that black men, like the ones pictured above fought for their rights in the wake of the war and rightfully demanded that as veterans, their right to citizenship could not be denied. 

Finally, the walk through the Civil War created by the American Civil War Museum culminated in one final room where the resulting constitutional amendments were illuminated on pillars. This finish gave the undeniable sense that the war was over the illuminated values: the end of slavery, citizenship for black men, and voting rights for all men. 

The end of the war, did not mark the end of the struggle for people of color and for reconciliation. Above are three displays that acknowledge the continued strife after the way. The museum acknowledges that emancipation did not equate to the end of forced labor as share cropping quickly arose. It also acknowledges that white supremacists quickly took action by forming terror groups that continue to murder and harass black people to this day. Finally, They included a sculpture created at the time that depicted the need for reconciliation between north and south, and white and black. 

I truly enjoyed this museum and the eloquent manner in which they portrayed slavery and the role of black people in the civil war. This organization presented an unbiased representation of history. Truly, I have no critique for their characterization of the events that took place. 

[curtismagellan2022]

Richmond VA Day 3: The Confederate Memorial Chapel

Yesterday was a day full of surprises. While the chapel was the only item on my itinerary, when I arrived, I found that it was situated on a campus of museums, all free to the public. I began with the chapel, picture above, then made my way to some of the other features on the museum campus.

The plaque above details how the museum campus came to be from the grounds of the Robert E. Lee Camp Confederate Soldiers Home and how funds were raised by the already impoverished veterans of the confederacy. 

This plaque is one of the first things a museum goer sees when walking in the chapel. While it seems innocuous, the wording implies the the Commonwealth of Virginia is still a friend of the Confederacy, which is inherently problematic. Throughout the museums on the campus, there were other plaques and buildings that were dedicated by the Sons of Confederate Soldiers or the Daughters of the Confederacy, or other groups, still in existence today, that sympathize with the aimes of the confederacy, to assert the states’ right to keep slavery. this sentiment being sprinkled throughout the educational sites was alarming to say the least. I showed that in the city, there were still people who believe that the aims of the confederacy were faultless and patriotic. In today’s day and age, we know that this is simply not correct.

At the Chapel, I was surprised to find very few informational displays. Most of the features in the chapel were only described by who they were dedicated to and who donated them. The chapel is not an active place of worship, but is open to the public as a place to come and remember the over 260,000 fallen confederate soldiers. Therefore, thought there would be more information about the war and the people who fought. Instead, a select few high ranking generals, colonels, and a few chaplains were represented. Even those that are represented, are only named. Their accomplishments were not spelled out or their contributions to the war. This is something I was not quite sure how to feel about because their accomplishments were obviously on the wrong side of the war. 

The stained glass pictured about was a focal point of the chapel. In most churches, chapels, and cathedrals, the stained glass tells the story of Christ and other biblical features. Here the glass was dedicated to fallen colonels and generals of the Confederacy. An argument can be made that this is appropriate for the commemoration of the confederate soldiers. Another argument can be made that this is an inappropriate glorification of the Confederacy. 

Pressing on to other features of the campus, this beautiful statue. This monument to the slaves who worked and died in the United States is one of the largest, most notable works on the campus. This work and another called “Rumors of War” by Kehinde Wiley (https://vmfa.museum/about/rumors-of-war/) are major focuses outside the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA). They are much bigger and more noticeable than the Confederate War Memorial Chapel. The two versions of history exist side by side in the VMFA. I know it would be naive of me to expect Richmond, once the capital of the confederacy, to completely condemn the war and slavery as a while. I think these two pieces of art were significantly more powerful than the chapel and surely had more visitors and viewers.

The next place we went was the Robinson House which detailed the history of the land that we now know as the museum campus. It was incredibly detailed and employed traditional museum like displays as well as interactive touch screen where patron could navigate the campus over the years. The displays were unbiased in their description of slavery on the property. they even detailed the attitudes of prominent, white individuals toward slavery. One such example was the lady of the property, Rebecca Robinson who came from an abolitionist family but abandoned those beliefs when she married. This kind of honest education is extremely valuable when cataloging history. Once again, this exhibit showed slavery as it was intertwined with the history of the land and success of the white people.  

Finally, this last exhibit was a complete surprise. I chose to go to the VMFA as an extracurricular, not a part of my Magellan project. I found this gem in the American art section. While the caption is difficult to read due to color choice, it details how enslaved Africans were the back bone of horse racing in 19th century America. It calls out slave owners and portrait commissioners for putting their own likeness and the names of the horses at the forefront of the paintings and the enslaved Africans in the background. Enslaved Africans who cared for horses had to be especially knowledgeable and were indispensable members of American society. The painting are even renamed to honor the individuals shown to be in the background when they should have been respected in the first place. This exhibit was quite a shock. The justified, scathing review of how society treated vital people based on the color of their skin was accurate and appropriate. The VMFA was not pulling any punches as many other curations had. 

[curtismagellan2022]

Richmond VA Day 2: Tuckahoe Plantation

Today I ventured to the Tuckahoe Plantation which is right outside Richmond. The plantation is marketed as a Registered National Historic Landmark site, but also a multi-purpose location. I ran into workers setting up a wedding while I toured the grounds. I was odd to think that a plantation, with all its violent history, would be used as a wedding venue. Despite the wedding, I was still able to tour the grounds and take in all the plantation had to offer. 

When I first arrived at the site, I went straight to the house which unfortunately can only be visited with a reservation. However, there was a QR code that I scanned and was redirected to an informational website. For each of the locations of the map, there was a scannable code that directed visitors to the plantation website. On each page was a custom video and a description of the historic relevance. Above, you can see a list of the locations on the plantation and an example of the corresponding web page. I thought this was a decent compromise between the need for education and the want to preserve the beauty of the location. However, I felt odd that the importance of the location’s beauty was something being considered while education was being planned. 

Once I got my bearings, the first exhibit I visited was the Old Kitchen. It is set up to emulate how it would have looked when enslaved people were forced to work and prepare meals there. The educational video corresponding with this exhibit detailed the miserable, hot conditions that slaves would be forced to endure in the particular building. I though the exhibit was appropriate by including the truth of what occurred, but clearly there had been some oversight because it was being used to house extra plastic chairs, as well as educate the public. This clearly ruined the authenticity of the exhibit and showed that it was not given the respect it deserved. 

Next on the tour was the Old Stables, which had been converted to an exhibit displaying the timeline of the plantation’s land. It began with the time only Native Americans inhabited to present day and detailed everything form when structures were built, to how many enslaved people were present at a given time, to business dealings involving the property. This exhibit was the best of the trip, in my opinion. It was easily accessible, interacting, and an honest representation of history only suggestion would be to have the entries on the timeline be slightly more detailed. Most of the entries were brief overviews, many of which could have benefited for more explanation.

The last structure I visited was the School House/Gift Shop. I have to admit, I was weary of a plantation gift shop. However, all the items available for purchase were very appropriate. they ranged form picture renderings of the property, to books about relevant, historic figures. The school house was a simple, one room structure built to educate the white children who lived on the plantation, one of which was President Thomas Jefferson. The online education detailed as much.

Finally, I arrived at the three graveyards that housed the three prominent families who owned the plantation at one time or another. The resting places were very respectful and well taken care of. The cemeteries were in the heart of the numerous gardens that filled the present dar property. I found it particularly odd because the wedding ceremony taking place was adjacent to the graveyards, in the middle of the gardens. A wedding guest would have to walk past the graves to get to the cocktail reception. Something about that was all very odd.

The Tuckahoe plantation was certainly a different experience from that of the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail. I am looking forward to many more unique experiences!

[curtismagellan2022]

Richmond, VA Day 1: Lumpkin’s Slave Jail

Today began with a trip to Lumpkin’s Slave Jail. I went with high hopes to this site and expecting a museum devoted to the preservation of the history of the site. The Lumpkin property was the home to four structures that served as a house, a hotel and tavern, a kitchen, and a slave jail. When I got there, I found the Richmond Slave Trail, not a museum. The trail meanders throughout downtown Richmond and is marked my plaques, denoting significant sites and works of art. Above is the one telling about the Lumpkin property. A glance tells readers that in 2006 an archeological team began efforts to uncover the site and the remains of the structures and that Richard Lumpkin was particularly successful due to the slave trade connections in Richmond, VA. It says that slaved referred to the Lumpkin compound as The Devil’s Half Acre because of the abhorrent treatment they received.  It was slightly disappointing to see the history of the site glossed over in a plaque when there could be an entire museum.

In an effort to make lemonade out of lemons, I continued along the trail for about an hour to take in the other features. The trail wound around the 95 Highway and the Main Street Train Station ended by crossing the James river with very little curb appeal or effort to draw people in. Pictured above is the path to what plaques refers to as an African Burial Ground. While there were no grave markers, there were a number of murals, trinkets and even an obelisk dedicated to the Africans who were buried at the site. It was quite obvious that the public took it upon themselves to maintain the site and pay their respects.

Above is a plaque that a member of the public went over with permanent market to ensure that it was still legible. Unfortunately, a number of features were in disrepair like this one. 

On the northern end of the trail was this collection of art and info-graphics. This part of the trail was also in slight disarray, but it beautifully commemorated Gabriel Prosser who organized a slave rebellion and was executed at the gallows on this very site. The displays were even interactive with phone numbers you could call and hear various speeches about “Brother General Gabriel.” You could also see the stones that once laid the foundation for the gallows as they are now apart of the highway next to the art. 

Traveling south along the trail, toward the James River, I came across this art marked, Reconciliation Triangle. The statue depicts two figures embracing at the top and various pieces of art at the base. The art represents the three major stops in the Triangle Trade route the brought slaves to Virginia: Richmond, Liverpool, and Benin. The sentiment of the artwork was lovely. However, the script and the artist from which it came gave me pause. The art was created by a white, British man, and contains a quote opening with “Acknowledge and forgive the past.” It seemed inappropriate for a white man to include a message urging forgiveness for the atrocities of slavery.

In the end, the day wasn’t what I expected. I did, however, like idea of a trail that delivered small bits of history as people walk along. I’m looking forward to what the next days hold.