The Way of Imagination by Scott Russell Sanders

Author:Scott Russell Sanders
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781640093669
Publisher: Counterpoint
Published: 2020-05-22T00:00:00+00:00

The Suffering of Strangers

It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of sorrow.

—THOMAS PAINE, Common Sense

A FEW YEARS AGO, I visited two plantations on South Carolina’s Ashley River, just upstream from Charleston Harbor, which was the entry point for about 40 percent of the enslaved Africans brought to North America and the flash point for the start of the Civil War.

The tour on Magnolia Plantation—established in 1676 and still owned by descendants of the founders—emphasized the opulence of the main house, with its fine furnishings and gala balls, its belles and beaus, and its sumptuous gardens. This was a seat of high civilization, according to the guide, who made passing reference to “servants” but never to “slaves.” Nor did slavery feature in the Rice Field Boat Tour (with views of alligators), the Zoo & Nature Center, the Swamp Garden, the Peacock Café, or the Gift Shop. If one wished to learn anything about the captive workers who had sustained and enriched this place for two centuries, one could pay an additional fee and tour a cluster of slave cabins.

These cabins, recently restored, were spick-and-span, with fireplaces, whitewashed clapboard siding, and metal or shake roofs. The exhibit conveyed the impression that life here, though frugal, might have been bearable—bearable, that is, had the inhabitants not been prisoners, without the right to marry or learn to read, without property, without claim to their children or their own bodies.

The guide’s commentary was mildly apologetic, in keeping with the tone of the Magnolia website, which notes “the vital role that Gullah people and culture plays [sic] in any interpretation of Lowcountry history. By addressing this often-overlooked part of the region’s narrative, Magnolia seeks to respectfully afford credit where credit is due. Visitors have the option to take a shuttle to the cabins, where they will experience an engaging and interactive discussion of the dynamic issues that shape this delicate inquiry.”

The language betrays a reluctance even to bring up “this often overlooked part of the region’s narrative”—the fact that the glamor and comfort of those living in the main house depended on the squalor and misery of enslaved human beings, who were prevented from fleeing the plantation by chains, whips, vigilantes, and hunger.

This core truth, barely touched on in the “delicate inquiry” at Magnolia, was forthrightly addressed at the neighboring plantation of Drayton Hall, which I visited next. Once the property of the same family that owned Magnolia, Drayton Hall had been acquired, restored, and opened to the public by a nonprofit trust.

Here, the guide, an African American woman, stressed that the grand architecture and equally grand lifestyle of the main house, once known as Drayton’s Palace, were the fruits of slave labor. She spoke of the many skills the captives had brought from Africa, including knowledge of rice cultivation, and she described the harsh living conditions they had endured, the malaria and malnutrition, the broken families, the children sired by masters. I concluded my visit by exploring a cemetery

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.