Some White People on Plantation Tours Don't to Hear About Slaves!

[PatYoung]

“Would not recommend. Tour was all about how hard it was for the slaves,” wrote one reviewer of the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana. White visitors to Southern plantations don't want to learn about the people who lived there, who were mostly black.
https://thereconstructionera.com/wa...-complaining-that-they-learned-about-slavery/

 

[Al Mackey]

They just want to hear about how life at the slave labor camp was so wonderful--for the owner and his family.

 

[Carmel]

I just read the post on your blog before visiting this site. Unbelievable!

 

[Andersonh1]

“Would not recommend. Tour was all about how hard it was for the slaves,” wrote one reviewer of the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana. White visitors to Southern plantations don't want to learn about the people who lived there, who were mostly black.
https://thereconstructionera.com/wa...-complaining-that-they-learned-about-slavery/

Note he said it was "all" about how hard it was for slaves. It's clear that he was hoping for a more comprehensive picture.

Some of the other comments confirm this:

“I felt [the African American tour guide] embellished her presentation and was racist towards me as a white person,” another McLeod visitor wrote.​

“Our guide Olivia offered a heavy bias with only the hand-picked facts that neatly fit her narrative and for a large part weren’t germane to a plantation tour,” one person said of the McLeod Plantation, according to a review posted to Twitter

“There is really nothing good you can say about slavery but I felt [the tour guide] took it too far. His information is correct but I think he left off part of the story,” one review read.​

 

[pool boy]

When folks go to see the Colosseum in Rome, the Parthenon in Athens or the Pyramids in Egypt they are overwhelmingly more interested in the edifices themselves and the people who designed and engineered them than they are about the slaves who built them.

 

[Andersonh1]

If I were going on a plantation tour, I'd want to hear about all aspects of life on that plantation, from how the slaves lived to how the plantation owners lived, the layout of the entire plantation, the economic impact of what was grown there, the history of the plantation, etc. I'd want the full picture. If all I got was "slave life was terrible" with no further facts about what else went on, I'd feel shortchanged.

 

[pool boy]

If I were going on a plantation tour, I'd want to hear about all aspects of life on that plantation, from how the slaves lived to how the plantation owners lived, the layout of the entire plantation, the economic impact of what was grown there, the history of the plantation, etc. I'd want the full picture. If all I got was "slave life was terrible" with no further facts about what else went on, I'd feel shortchanged.

Most people are like that, but there will always be the hand wringers and sky screamers among us.

 

[Jim Klag]

When folks go to see the Colosseum in Rome, the Parthenon in Athens or the Pyramids in Egypt they are overwhelmingly more interested in the edifices themselves and the people who designed and engineered them than they are about the slaves who built them.

How do you know? Maybe the guides at this plantation were a little heavy handed, but plantations only existed because slave labor made them possible. If the planters had to pay their help, these plantations would not have been as magnificent as they were. Just like the great edifices of ancient times were built by slaves, the entire southern economy was dependent on slave labor - even for those folks who owned no slaves.

 

[Al Mackey]

I highly doubt the commentor was telling the whole truth when he claimed the tour was all about slavery.

 

[Al Mackey]

“I felt [the African American tour guide] embellished her presentation and was racist towards me as a white person,” another McLeod visitor wrote.​

​

Because she didn't want to hear what white people did to black people.

“Our guide Olivia offered a heavy bias with only the hand-picked facts that neatly fit her narrative and for a large part weren’t germane to a plantation tour,” one person said of the McLeod Plantation, according to a review posted to Twitter
​

​

Yeah, a slave labor camp tour isn't supposed to talk about what the slaves endured. Olivia left out how the slaves were part of the family and the master treated them like his own family and they were loved and cherished and were happy to be slaves.

“There is really nothing good you can say about slavery but I felt [the tour guide] took it too far. His information is correct but I think he left off part of the story,” one review read.

He left out the part about how the slaves were part of the family and the master treated them like his own family and they were loved and cherished and were happy to be slaves.

 

[pool boy]

To be fair, the Whitney Plantation is set up and dedicated to telling the story of the slaves that lived and worked there. It is not intended to be anything else but that.

 

[Andersonh1]

​

Because she didn't want to hear what white people did to black people.

​

Yeah, a slave labor camp tour isn't supposed to talk about what the slaves endured. Olivia left out how the slaves were part of the family and the master treated them like his own family and they were loved and cherished and were happy to be slaves.

​

He left out the part about how the slaves were part of the family and the master treated them like his own family and they were loved and cherished and were happy to be slaves.

You have the full context of what the tour guide said and what these individuals were thinking to back up your opinions, right?

 

[Jim Klag]

The Whitney Plantation makes no secret of the fact that their exclusive focus is to tell the story of slavery. Given that, why would white folks complain about not hearing more about how Massah and Missus lived?

 

[Al Mackey]

You have the full context of what the tour guide said and what these individuals were thinking to back up your opinions, right?

I've been on enough tours to know how they go.

 

[Al Mackey]

I highly doubt the commentor was telling the whole truth when he claimed the tour was all about slavery.

I inadvertently skipped over the note that this was at the Whitney Plantation, so I take this comment back. He was telling the truth and the tour was all about slavery.

Here's what their website says: "Whitney Plantation is the only plantation museum in Louisiana with an exclusive focus on the lives of enslaved people."

https://www.whitneyplantation.com/

By the way, here is a photo from their website:

This reminds me of the set that was was used in the series, Underground about the Underground Railroad. In the series, the slave owner promises the mother of a young enslaved man he wouldn't do anything to him for trying to run away, but his political backers told him he would be more popular if he took action.

So then he gave a speech that night from his porch.

 

[Al Mackey]

https://afroculinaria.com/2019/08/09/dear-disgruntled-white-plantation-visitors-sit-down/

"The Old South may be your American Downton Abbey but it is our American Horror Story, even under the best circumstances it represents the extraction of labor, talent and life we can never get back. When I do this work, it drains me, but I do it because I want my Ancestors to know not only are they not forgotten but I am here to testify that I am their wildest dreams manifest."

 

[Viper21]

https://afroculinaria.com/2019/08/09/dear-disgruntled-white-plantation-visitors-sit-down/

"The Old South may be your American Downton Abbey but it is our American Horror Story, even under the best circumstances it represents the extraction of labor, talent and life we can never get back. When I do this work, it drains me, but I do it because I want my Ancestors to know not only are they not forgotten but I am here to testify that I am their wildest dreams manifest."

"Dear Disgruntled White Plantation Visitors..."

Seems like a racist opening line to me.... (nowhere in the copied tweet does the woman declare she's white).

Whole lot of finger pointing, & assumptions in the authors article.

 

[Al Mackey]

"Dear Disgruntled White Plantation Visitors..."

Seems like a racist opening line to me.... (nowhere in the copied tweet does the woman declare she's white).

Whole lot of finger pointing, & assumptions in the authors article.

Wrong. Her ancestors are from Sicily and her husband's ancestors are from Germany. She talks about how it was about how white people treated slaves and that she felt she was being bashed about slavery. Whole lot of sloppy reading there.

 

[Andersonh1]

"Dear Disgruntled White Plantation Visitors..."

Seems like a racist opening line to me.... (nowhere in the copied tweet does the woman declare she's white).

Whole lot of finger pointing, & assumptions in the authors article.

As well as a very mocking tone. The title makes some race-based assumptions: "some white people...". Apart from the one person who identifies as white (and if I missed anyone, let me know), do we know what the race of those commenting actually is? Or does the writer just assume that only white people would object to learning about slavery?

 

[Viper21]

Wrong. Her ancestors are from Sicily and her husband's ancestors are from Germany. She talks about how it was about how white people treated slaves and that she felt she was being bashed about slavery. Whole lot of sloppy reading there.

So.... only white people have ancestors from Sicily & Germany..? No other possibilities at all huh..? Again, sounds pretty assuming.

Again, I read the entire tweet, & the entire article. Perhaps, I made a mistake, & you could point to where she said, she was white..? I'll wait...