Whitney Plantation: America’s First And Only Slavery Museum

Whitney Plantation is located nigh Wallace , inwards Louisiana , on the historic River Road inwards St. John the Baptist Parish , less than an hr from New Orleans. Founded inwards the days earlier the Civil War , this onetime saccharide cane plantation is today America’s only museum dedicated alone to slavery.

The belongings was originally known equally Habitation Haydel , later its possessor Ambroise Heidel , a High German immigrant , who came to Louisiana together with bought this tract of the world inwards the 1750s. Heidel originally grew indigo earlier his boy Jean Jacques converted the plantation to saccharide inwards the early on 1800's. It was Jean Jacques who built the historic French Creole raised-style primary house. Back inwards those days , saccharide plantations , simply similar whatsoever other plantation inwards the province , employed generally African slaves equally labor. Some 350 slaves are recorded to bring lived , sweated , toiled together with beaten here.

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Photo credit: Corey Balazowich/Flickr

It wasn’t until later the belongings was sold to a Northerner , Bradish Johnson , later the Civil War , that the belongings was named Whitney past times the novel possessor inwards respect of his grandson.

In 1999 , the plantation was bought past times New Orleans lawyer named John Cummings. For the side past times side xv years Cummings invested $8 1 M m of his personal coin together with fourth dimension to railroad train the belongings into America’s get-go museum of slavery , inwards an endeavour to unlock the grim storey of America’s greatest shame.

There are a break of memorials together with exhibits on the grounds of the museum , also equally fine art works together with sculptures. There is 1 "Wall of Honor" engraved alongside the names of the 350 slaves who spent their lives inwards the plantation. There is or then other memorial dedicated to 107 ,000 people enslaved inwards Louisiana. In the center of a champaign inwards or then other corner of the belongings is a bronze sculpture of a dark angel carrying a babe to Heaven. Surrounding the sculpture are granite slabs alongside the names of 2 ,200 Louisiana slave children who died earlier their tertiary nativity date. While no records of decease rates were kept inwards the plantation , historical documents reveal that 39 children died on this plantation from 1823 to 1863 , only vi reaching the historic menses of five.

It was at Whitney Plantation where the 2012 Quentin Tarantino flick Django Unchained together with the 2013 flick 12 Years a Slave were filmed. The historic belongings at 1 time contains an overseer's household , the rare French Creole primary household , a plantation shop , a 2 storey tall pigeon-house , slave quarters , together with other structures. Parts of the the world are yet used to grow sugarcane.

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