NPR reports that Virginia Governor’s Mansion tour in Richmond no longer mentions slavery. Up until the late 20th Century the tours of the historic home presented a Lost Cause view of the antebellum mansion’s history. In the modern era that began to change and the stories of the enslaved Black people who labored there was incorporated into the presentation on tours. Now those references to slavery have been removed.
When Governor Glenn Youngkin came to office this year, he stood in opposition to those who were trying to remove the gilding of the Lost Cause from the way Virginia retells its history. His historical advisor defended the Confederacy which was created to preserve and expand slavery. He opposes the removal of Confederate statues. Now it appears, even the story of the house he lives in is being distorted.
Also, prior to the Pandemic, visitors to the mansion were also taken to a building on the grounds where enslaved people lived. That is no longer part of the tour.
Virginia Public Media reports that historians are questioning the omissions.
Historian Joseph McGill argued these people should be front and center. He spent the night in the carriage house last year as part of his work as director of the Slave Dwelling Project. McGill also serves as a history consultant for Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, South Carolina. McGill argued Youngkin was attempting to whitewash history by halting a project that had already been in motion.
“The missed opportunity is telling the stories of the people who made all that possible, the people whose labor was stolen for all of that to exist, the people who built that place physically,” McGill said in an interview. “You can call it racism, you could call it white supremacy.”
You can listen to the NPR story below.
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That sounds about right.