Whitney Plantation in Louisiana Dedicated to History of Slavery

[Linda Anderson]

There's a fascinating article in the NYT on the Whitney Plantation near New Orleans.

"Located on land where slaves worked for more than a century, in a state where the sight of the Confederate flag is not uncommon, the results are both educational and visceral. An exhibit on the North American slave trade inside the visitors’ center, for instance, is lent particular resonance by its proximity, just a few steps away outside its door, to seven cabins that once housed slaves. From their weathered cypress frames, a dusty path, lined with hulking iron kettles that were used by slaves to boil sugar cane, leads to a grassy clearing dominated by a slave jail — an approach designed so that a visitor’s most memorable glimpse of the white shutters and stately columns of the property’s 220-year-old “Big House” will come through the rusted bars of the squat, rectangular cell. A number of memorials also dot the grounds, including a series of angled granite walls engraved with the names of the 107,000 slaves who spent their lives in Louisiana before 1820. Inspired by Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, the memorial lists the names nonalphabetically to mirror the confusion and chaos that defined a slave’s life."

There will be a "provocative" memorial to the victims of the 1811 German Coast Uprising.

"Before leaving the grounds, Cummings stopped at the edge of the property’s small lagoon. It was here that the Whitney’s most provocative memorial would soon be completed, one dedicated to the victims of the German Coast Uprising, an event rarely mentioned in American history books. In January 1811, at least 125 slaves walked off their plantations and, dressed in makeshift military garb, began marching in revolt along River Road toward New Orleans. (The area was then called the German Coast for the high number of German immigrants, like the Haydels.) The slaves were suppressed by militias after two days, with about 95 killed, some during fighting and some after the show trials that followed. As a warning to other slaves, dozens were decapitated, their heads placed on spikes along River Road and in what is now Jackson Square in the French Quarter."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/magazi...erica.html

http://www.whitneyplantation.com/

[L Verge]

Sounds like a wonderful visit and experience. Now I want the book.

[Wild Bill]

Here is a short bibliography of the largest slave revolt in US history from a nice article in Wikipedia:

"German Coast Uprising (1811)", in Junius P. Rodriguez, ed., The Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion, Westport, CT, and London: Greenwood Press, 2007, 213–16

Rasmussen, Daniel. American Uprising: The Untold Story of America's Largest Slave Revolt. New York: Harper, 2011.

Thrasher, Albert, ed. On to New Orleans! Louisiana's Heroic 1811 Slave Revolt. 2nd ed. New Orleans: Cypress Press, 1996.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(03-02-2015 02:19 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Sounds like a wonderful visit and experience. Now I want the book.

My thoughts...fascinating, Linda, thanks for sharing!

[LincolnToddFan]

Thanks Linda and Bill, fascinating.

[Gencor]

I have grown up around the Whitney Plantation all of my life. I live in
Baton Rouge and we used to take field trips to the plantation when I was in high school and we were studying the Civil War and slavery and I can't tell you all enough about the rich history here in south Louisiana that we have preserved from the civil war and beyond. Our plantations here, some still exist, are as stately today as they ever were. Even in the north east of our state, where cotton is still grown and ginned, when you cross the river from Natchez, Miss., you cannot escape the rich history that is so perfectly preserved. For any of you who would like to take the tour, I promise you all that it would be a visit that you will never forget.

[Wild Bill]

Having lived in Baton Rouge myself I can vouch for Gencor's statements

[L Verge]

I have always wanted to do a Deep South tour.

[Gene C]

Looking at the website, it seemed a bit depressing to me.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(03-04-2015 04:19 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I have always wanted to do a Deep South tour.

My thoughts again...