
How can a museum help visitors grapple with a very uncomfortable aspect of their nation’s past?
Ibrahima Seck, a member of the History Department at the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, author of the book, Bouki Fait Gombo: A History of the Slave Community of Habitation Haydel (Whitney Plantation) Louisiana, 1750-1860, and the Director of Research of the Whitney Plantation museum, leads us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Whitney Plantation and the history of slavery in early Louisiana.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.
Episode Summary
Ibrahima Seck is a member of the History Department at the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, the author of Bouki Fait Gombo: A History of the Slave Community of Habitation Haydel (Whitney Plantation) Louisiana, 1750-1860, and the Director Research of the Whitney Plantation Museum in Louisiana.
As we go behind-the-scenes of Whitney Plantation and through the history of slavery in early Louisiana, Ibrahima reveals details about the creation of the Whitney Plantation Museum; Strategies the Whitney Plantation Museum employs to help its visitors grapple with the very tough subject of slavery; And, lots of information about the history and development of Whitney Plantation and about the enslaved who worked and lived on the plantation.
What You’ll Discover
- The creation of the Whitney Plantation Museum
- The need for a museum to interpret the lives of the enslaved
- Ambrose Heidel, Founder of Whitney Plantation
- German settlement in French Louisiana
- Crops of the Whitney Plantation
- The indigo plant
- How sugar plantations came to Louisiana
- The origins of the enslaved of Whitney Plantation
- Rice and its importance in early Louisiana
- West African contributions to early Louisiana agriculture
- Slave drivers or commanders
- French record-keeping
- Daily life routines for the enslaved at Whitney Plantation
- Different types of work performed on Whitney Plantation
- Local plantation economy
- Domestic lives of the enslaved
- African cultural contributions to colonial Louisiana
- How African culture helped to build the culture & identity of the United States
- A tour of Whitney Plantation
- Memorials at Whitney Plantation
- Work of enslaved children
- 1811 German Coast Louisiana slave revolt
- Slave resistance
- Runaway slaves and maroons
- Why the United States needs to grapple with its slave past
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Whitney Plantation
- Bouki Fait Gombo: A History of the Slave Community of Habitation Haydel (Whitney Plantation) Louisiana, 1750-1860Louisiana, 1750-1860
- Ashley Rogers, Executive Director, Whitney Plantation
- Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
- Louisiana Slave Database
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Complementary Episodes
- Episode 017: François Furstenberg, When the United States Spoke French
- Episode 124: James Alexander Dun, Making the Haitian Revolution in Early America
- Episode 125: Terri Snyder, Death, Suicide, and Slavery in British North America
- Episode 137: Erica A. Dunbar, The Washingtons’ Runaway Slave, Ona Judge
- Episode 167: Eberhard Faber, The Early History of New Orleans
- Episode 281: Caitlin Rosenthal, The Business of Slavery
- Episode 282: Vincent Brown, Tacky’s Revolt
Time Warp Question
In your opinion, how might the history of Whitney Plantation and slavery in Louisiana have been different if the German Coast Uprising had been successful?
Questions, Comments, Suggestions
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