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A Comfortable Slave Narrative

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UHON 3510

Professor Michael Thompson

March, 28, 2018

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Information concerning slavery has to be actively sought out; in cases when this

information about the nature of slavery and its history are presented, it is problematic. It is

almost as if the truly vast history of slavery is hidden from the public, and when such

information is revealed, it is often misrepresented. Why is it that a thorough and accurate

representation of the history of slavery is not easily accessible and readily presented? Why is it

that when the topic of slavery is given a chance to be presented, it is often disappointing,

incomplete, or inaccurate? It is commonly found that when slavery is presented, accurate

depictions of the foulness of slavery are missing. How is it possible that the subject of slavery

can be presented, but the evidence of its evil are left out? The perpetuation of a slave narrative

that is congenial to the conscious of a great number of Americans who refuse to acknowledge the

massive transgression the institution of slavery truly was, is an additional injustice to those were

enslaved and their descendants. It is unfortunate that the presentation of slavery varies based on

who the presenter of this information is. This was the case for all of the destinations on our

itinerary for the spring break study trip in Charleston, South Carolina. Many of the locations we

engaged with had obvious shortcomings, however, there were locations that did a decent job

presenting slavery in an accurate light. This may be because “The clash between memory’s

ownership and history’s interpretation takes place in the public arena of historic museums,

memorials, and historical sites,” stated in James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton’s book,

Slavery and Public History.1 The presentation of slavery is critical to the understanding of

American slavery visitors of these historical sites walk away with.

1James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, Slavery and Public History (New York: The New
Press, 2006), xi
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In particular, one common aspect among locations on the spring break study trip that had

many shortcomings presenting slavery in a thorough manner is that they were exceptionally

aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The fact that these locations were elegant and pleasing to look

at was not the issue in and of itself. The issue was that when possible, the true nature of the evils

of slavery were made to seem not as unpleasant as they actually were or were avoided altogether.

These locations include Middleton Place National Historical Landmark and the Nathaniel

Russell House. Additionally, the location of the Denmark Vesey monument was quite

disappointing. With regards to Middleton Place, the location and its brochure did a fair job at

acknowledging slavery and the role enslaved people played in creating the beauty that exists as

Middleton Place. 2 In fact, its presentation on the lives its enslaved residents are impressive in the

Eliza’s House exhibit, documenting the names of slaves along with their price, the black

experience during the Revolutionary and Civil wars, accounts of slaves becoming freed people, a

glimpse into the culture of the enslaved, and the origin and initial enslavement of Africans. There

was little to no mention of the suffering the enslaved people endured at the hands of the

Middletons, leaving room for visitors to believe that the Middletons were “good and nice”

slaveholders, as many people want to believe. No definitive statements were present that

recognized the evil of slavery, rather, much of the material was restrained. Nevertheless, with

Middleton Place being a planation site, it had no choice but to acknowledge slavery, but it did so

only when it was obvious to do. In its brochure, Middleton Place is advertised as “a feast for the

senses and a true journey back in time”, only including one brief and ambiguous mention of

slavery as stated before. Mary, our tour guide who lead us through the house and gardens, only

2Concerning slavery, the brochure stated “Much of the wealth that built Charleston as a great
colonial city came from the early plantation system. Here is a rare opportunity to see and hear
what plantation life was like in the 18th and 19th century.”
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began to focus slightly more on mentioning facts about the enslaved when we asked questions

pertaining to slaves. This goes back to a statement I made earlier on how the presenters dictate

the way slavery is presented and how much of it is presented. It seemed as though it was only

certain information on the lives of the enslaved that were encouraged to be shared. At Middleton

Place, the markers on slavery were present, but no one intentionally drew our attention to them.

Had we not been a group whose course is focused on American slavery, we would not have been

as attentive to markers like these. We had to request to see the slave cemetery which did have a

marker, but for reasons unknown was not part of the original tour. We had to pay an additional

fee to experience the Beyond the Fields: Slavery at Middleton Place tour which included the

Eliza House exhibit.3 Granted, it is a positive that the tour is even an option. The Eliza’s House

marker stated that it “…now serves as the headquarters for the African-American history that can

be found in every aspect of interpretation at Middleton Place.” Unfortunately, I did not find this

statement to be true. While a separate tour that solely focuses on the African and African

American experience at Middleton can mean that the topic of slavery is being taken seriously

enough to devote efforts to communicating to the public the important role of the enslaved in

relation to slaveholders, it can also mean that much of this information is not presented in the

general tour because it is not perceived to be of interest to the public. The separate tour can

indicate that it is reserved for those who are eager to learn about the lives of the enslaved,

however, this is pertinent information that should be included in the general tour in order to

3 On the back of the Eliza House brochure, Beyond the Fields is described as “…an African
American historical exhibit center using as much site-specific material as possible. Beyond the
Fields commemorates and documents in a most personal way the lives, families, and
contributions of some seven generations of African Americans at Middleton Place. By
identifying by name 2,612 slaves and connecting many of them with family units, the exhibit
solidifies their history into a tangible reality and should be considered a 21st-centuray extension
of the Civil Rights Movement of the last century.”
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educate the public on this topic. This is an issue because many Americans will not take it upon

themselves to become educated on the history of slavery. In response to the general public not

willing to educate themselves on the issue of slavery and come to terms with the America’s

wicked past, many historical sites shy away from overtly presenting such tough information.

With that being said, historical sites should instead always take the opportunity to relay

information on the topic of slavery to its audiences. Mary made it a point to repeatedly mention

that Middleton Place was not a working plantation, as if she was attempting to distance the

location with the common horrors of slavery. With historical sites such as this one, the complete

truth about slavery must be told. In first chapter of Slavery and Public History concerning

coming to terms with slavery in the twenty-first century, it is said that “No understanding of

slavery can avoid these themes: violence, power, and the usurpation of labor for the purpose of

aggrandizing a small minority” (6). 4 During the house tour, Mary told us that Caesar, an

enslaved man at Middleton Place, would regularly shave Henry Middleton’s beard. She implied

that Caesar could have very well slit his master’s throat, but chose not to but of their “trusting

relationship” she stated they had. This anecdote reminds me of Peter Kolchin’s observation in his

book, American Slavery, that the “exploitative, brutal, and unjust system [slavery] developed

under conditions that at the same time left slaves room to…[produce] particularly intense, and

contradictory, relations between masters and slaves, relations that were marked by affection and

intimacy as well as by fear, brute force, and calculation of self-interest” (168). 5 Mary

oversimplified and mispresented the master/slave relationship. She also seemed proud to say that

Henry Middleton freed Caesar from a life of slavery upon his death. This seemed to be a

4 Horton & Horton, Slavery, 6

5 Peter Kolchin, American Slavery, (New York, Hill and Wang, 1993), 168
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common feature at Middleton Place, to mollify the brutality inflicted upon the enslaved and the

complete lack of power the enslaved actually had by heavily showcasing and focusing on the

charming gardens. The dismissal of the horrific nature of slavery is a disservice to the veracity of

historical sites that are related to slavery.

The Nathaniel Russel House Museum is another example of a location that was

aesthetically impressive, but lacking in thorough presentation of the lives of the enslaved who

were forced to serve the residents of the house. Although there is a reference to the enslaved

individuals in the brochure, it is minimal. 6 Our tour guide, Mary Ann, was more concerned with

sharing details about the furniture than about the interactions between the residents of the house

and the enslaved individuals who served them. Initially, Mary Ann referred to the slaves as

“butlers” and “servers” until a fellow classmate in our group corrected her. Like many other

Americans, Mary Ann chose to use those words to avoid the discomfort associated with

discussing slavery, using words that minimized the harshness of the word “slave” and avoiding

the shame of America’s past. It was safe to assume that was how she regularly referred to slaves,

if at all, during her tours. This made it clear that this site’s focus was on the architecture and

furniture of a glorious time period for the white elite in America. The enslaved people who made

this glorious time possible were an afterthought, secondary to the focus of the tour only if a tour

guide chose to make any mention of it. It is entirely possible that visitors of the house can be

misguided to think these “butlers” and “servants” where free white individuals instead of

enslaved black individuals, especially if they did not read the educational panels on the enslaved

6 Regarding the slaves that labored at the house, the brochure stated “Eighteen enslaved Africans
lived on the property during the Russell occupancy, and an exhibit in the original kitchen house
features archaeological artifacts, educational panels, and stories of the people who lived and
worked on the property in the early 19th century.”
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people that were located in an obscure and likely less visited portion of the house. Admittedly,

the educational panels present were exceptionally informative on what one may expect the lives

of the enslaved people at the Nathanial Russel House Museum to entail. Even so, it is

disappointing that our tour guide was unable to tell us about this information from her own

preparation, instead she briefly mentioned the enslaved when we made our way back to the lobby

area and directed us to the panels. Should historical sites similar to the Nathanial Russel House

Museum rely on its visitors to seek out the information on slavery themselves? This is

problematic due to the fact that the way in which the museum is advertised and the material

covered during the tour likely lead visitors to believe the sole. The site is not attracting

individuals who are eager to learn about the lives of enslaved people, but rather those who are

intrigued by the beauty of neoclassical 18th-century homes. It is possible that the mention of

slavery is reserved for the educational panels because it gives people the choice of whether or not

they want to read about slavery instead of visitors being forced to listen about it from a tour

guide. This goes back to the previous statements about the complacency many Americans have

with avoiding the discomfort associated with discussing slavery. Due to this discomfort felt by

many Americans, oftentimes, historical sites do not want to put-off their visitors on their

vacation and for that reason tend to steer clear of evoking strong negative feelings that would

result from a true presentation of the inequity that was slavery.

In comparison to the Nathanial Russel House Museum, the Aiken-Rhett House Museum

is strikingly different in the way it presents the house itself and the matter of slavery. The Aiken-

Rhett House Museum is an example of a location that more accurately and openly illustrates the

lives of the enslaved who labored there. As Ms. Sherese Williams shared in our class discussion,

one highly plausible reason for this is that due to the existing slave quarters which provides
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evidence of slavery so blatant and undeniable that discussion of it could in no way be avoided. In

fact, the brochure of the house stated “The slave quarters, virtually untouched since the 1850s,

reveal the everyday realities of the enslaved African and their descendants who lived and worked

on the property.” Subsequently, the slave quarters displayed information on items the enslaved

are believed to have used daily. One shortcoming of the Aiken-Rhett House Museum is its

insubstantial amount of information on the relationship between the slaves and the Aiken family.

It is possible that there is simply no information regarding this matter, but such information is

important in order to leave no room for visitors to ask common questions like “Were they nice to

their slaves?”. Questions similar to this convey that a number of Americans so desperately aim to

find ways to alleviate any responsibility, guilt, or shame they may feel towards slaves and their

descendants. It is also plausible that questions like this are asked out of sheer ignorance that

stems from miseducation or lack of education on the appalling nature of and complexity of

slavery. In response to the question, the tour guide said she likes to quote Frederick Douglass,

“The feeding and clothing me well could not atone for taking my liberty from me.” I appreciate

that she responds with this and it The apparent evidence of enslaved individuals made it easier to

discuss slavery because there was no space for ambiguity. I was impressed by how much our

guide talked about the enslaved, even sharing how the house slaves were more likely to be

abused because they were in close quarters with the masters. She even discredited a common

misconception many average Americans have about life as a slave: it was in fact not easier to be

a house slave than it was it was to be a field slave. Life as a slave was no easier for a male or

female, northerner or southerner, or a house slave or field slave, or in the rural areas or urban

areas. This relates to our frequent discussion on the complexity and diversity of slavery, and the

fact the it was not monolithic. The Aiken-Rhett House Museum presents a relatively decent
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presentation of slavery because it is marketing to the demographic of Americans who are

interested in the slave quarters and the lives of the enslaved instead of the architecture of the mid

-19th century house. Because of the conservation approach taken, as opposed to the restoration

approach by the Nathanial Russel House Museum, the most of attention of the visitors to the site

is heavily drawn to the slave quarters. It is possible that this is intentional because had the house

been restored, visitors would spend more time inside and become less interested about what lies

outside.

The same notion of an overt presentation of slavery that was present at the Aiken-Rhett

House Museum was even more evident at the McLeod Plantation Historic Site. It was clear from

the brochure that this plantation would focus primarily on the lives of the enslaved. Surprising,

the tour guide stated that she oftentimes gets visitors who do not expect to hear about slavery and

the same people walk away when she goes into depth about the poor treatment of slaves at the

hands of their masters. This is interesting because it brings into question what motives those

people had for visiting the planation, if not to hear something about slavery. Visitors to historical

sites need to be confronted with the truth of slavery as it constitutes a critical amount America’s

history. The tour guide at the McLeod Plantation Historic Site spent a considerable amount of

time discussing the slave cabins, which gave us a look into the lives of the enslaved. This

location depicted slaves as agents, instead of passengers or passive victims, who could make

decisions in influence their own futures. For example, the tour guide discussed how at the

beginning of the Civil War, some slaves ran away and others did not. She also emphasized that it

is crucial to talk about the humanity of slaves. Regarding this, in Slavery and Public History,

James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton state “…the history of slavery is not only that of

victimization, brutalization, and exclusion. If slavery was violence and imposition, if it was
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death, slavery was also life…They refused to be dehumanized by dehumanizing treatment” (6).7

In humanizing the enslaved, the slave narrative comes alive with feelings of sympathy and

understanding. The importance in this is remembering that slaves were human beings and their

descendants are still living the effects of the institution of slavery. Historical sites may not

always do the best job at this because of the fear of emotionally upsetting visitors or by using

unknowingly using a passive and distant manner in the presentation of slavery. However, it is

important to do so in order for the general public to truly comprehend that just how distant

slavery is not, how real it was then, and how real the impact of slavery is still being experienced

by African Americans.

One common shortcoming all the locations had was the disconnect between slavery and

its impact on African Americans today. Many Americans do not understand the link between

slavery and its continued influence on the state of African Americans today, including race

relations in the twenty-first century United States. It is imperative for visitors of historical sites

that deal with slavery to comprehend the relevance slavery has today and how it has shaped our

world. Without depicting the African American journey after the end of slavery, one cannot

completely understand the grave repercussions of slavery that are present in American society. In

his introduction of The Slave Ship, Marcus Rediker discusses the importance of further the study

the salve ship because the lack thereof has “…has rendered abstract, and thereby dehumanized, a

reality that must, for moral and political reasons, be understood concretely” (12). 8 Rediker then

goes on to quote Barry Unsworth’s description of what he called a “violence of abstraction” that

has acted as a disservice to the study of the slave trade. These statements can be applied to the

7 Horton & Horton, Slavery, 6

8 Marcus Rediker, The Slave Ship, (New York, Penguin Group, 2007), 12
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presentation of slavery at historical sites. The inaccuracies, ambiguity, and often concealed

narratives of the enslaved must become coherent, straightforward, and pronounced. Is it not

peculiar that a thorough history of an institution, one of substantial importance to the success of

the nation for hundreds of years is not considered important enough to be accurately presented to

the public? When the history and proposed nature of slavery is presented, it is often lacking in

detail and complete truth. Oftentimes, slavery is presented in such a manner that makes it

comfortable, meaning to not evoke feelings of shame. It is imperative that slavery be presented

in a manner that is not passive, inconsequential, and distant. The daily trauma the generations of

African and African Americans lived through must be realized, accurately presented, and be

evident in doing so.