23/05/2021
From Son of Baldwin -
Ask the Indigenous/Native/First Nations people. Ask Black people. Ask so many and we'll be able to tell you that America is haunted.
And we could tell you why.
"How were the houses a part of the slave system? In every way. They would not stand were it not for the labor and lives of enslaved people. Enslaved people extracted lumber and clay from the land and converted them into building materials. Enslaved people helped import the materials that did not come from the land. Enslaved people cut, laid, erected, and pieced the materials together. Enslaved people built the houses.
Enslaved people made and brought in the items that furnished the houses once construction was done. Enslaved people cleaned and maintained the houses once they were furnished. Enslaved people helped expand and renovate the houses when their owners wanted more. And this is to say nothing of the blood, sweat, tears, families, and lives lost as enslaved people worked to produce the crops that made the owners of the houses rich."
Dr. B. Brian Foster, "Antebellum Houses of the American South: What Happens Now?"
https://www.veranda.com/decorating-ideas/a36422167/antebellum-houses/
Image description: A plantation Big House seen in black and white, Columns and veranda in front. Trees in the foreground.
In the wake of the country's seismic racial reckoning, writer and sociologist Dr. B. Brian Foster travels to the once cotton-rich town of Natchez, Mississippi, seeking answers.
