The plantation, originally opened in 1752, has been converted into a museum that tells the stories of enslaved people.
There are a dozen restored antebellum mansions and plantations along the west bank of the Mississippi River, on the River Road outside of New Orleans, and they are among the most popular tourist day trips from the city.
Originally founded in 1752, the plantation went through several owners before being purchased in 1998 by John Cummings, a white former trial lawyer and civil rights activist from New Orleans. Property records kept track of the purchase and sale of slaves, as well as their disposition after the owners’ deaths.
It is emotional — tour guides don’t mince words or hide the hard parts — but this important tour of American history is ultimately satisfying and helps fill in the blanks of many people’s curiosity about slavery and how it was practiced on such plantations.Like all such restored sites, people coming to Whitney Plantation see the elegant manor known as the “Big House,” but in this case they don’t learn about the master and mistress. No hoop skirts are in evidence.
Domestic slaves typically lived together in a small building behind the main house. However, they were on call 24 hours a day, and sometimes required to sleep on a pallet outside the owners’ bedrooms. Obviously, this also made it easier for masters to abuse their servants, who were unable to fight back.
These are the kinds of insights that Whitney visitors learn as they tour around the remaining 40 acres of the plantation.
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