Whitney Plantation

Hello from N'awlins. Today we visited the Whitney Plantation, which is in the process of being restored by John Cummings. The first half of the day was spent touring the property with John and the site historian, Dr. Seck, who answered our questions and encouraged thought provoking discussions. It started in the church, in which John told us that slavery in the United States started with the Pope signing off that Portugal may use Africans for slavery. We then viewed the granite memorial that lists the names of slaves and quotes from the oral histories collected in the 1930's. One area in particular listed the government listings of death of slave children, who often went unnamed and were identified by their race, gender, and the fact that they were slaves. One in particular that caught my eye was identified as something along the lines of an 'unbaptized slave child'. Next, we viewed the slave quarters, the main house, and numerous other buildings such as where Django Unchained was filmed, the oldest kitchen, and the only standing French barn in America. The second half of the day was spent doing work such as planting trees, filling in potholes with gravel, and cleaning the granite memorial. Overall, the most memorable part of the plantation was the quotes from real slaves about their experiences. It's difficult to watch movies like 12 Years a Slave, but hearing about conditions that are worse than you can imagine, from the people who experienced them, made this plantation unlike any other experience for me. I could tell you about the specifics here, but I would rather leave something for you to experience for the first time should you ever visit. It opens this fall, so please do consider a trip there should you find yourself in the New Orleans area. One day was not enough to fully appreciate the hauntingly beautiful ambiance that John Cummings, Dr. Seck, and the rest of their collaborators have created.