Who Built This Place?

2020 and I still find myself chasing the footprints of slavery.  What started ten years ago as a simple quest to spend one night in a slave dwelling has transformed into the Slave Dwelling Project.  Ten years and 25 states later, I’m still finding and sleeping in the places where enslaved people once inhabited, built, or had their labor stolen to build these structures. Sleeping in these places alone went away long ago as I get more and more requests for people who want to join me. Gone are the days when I called historic sites pleading my case about my desire to honor the enslaved Ancestors.  The host sites now initiate most of the sleepovers, and many like Holly Springs, Mississippi, are repeats.  There are still many historic sites that refuse to interpret the lives of enslaved people.

February 2020 and I found myself less busy than I would be the rest of the year. It is as if people heard me the many times that I’ve cried the blues about cramming Black history into February. 

Tonya Staggs formerly of Travellers Rest in Nashville, Tennessee, called and gave me an offer I could not refuse.  Tonya offered me the opportunity to spend a second night at Travellers Rest. Early in the planning process, we picked up Brigette Jones formerly of Belle Meade Plantation. I had read and heard about Brigette’s ground-breaking work of interpreting the lives of the enslaved people at Belle Meade. Rachael Harrell Finch of the Franklin Masonic Hall in Franklin, Tennessee, also got in on the action.

Belle Meade Plantation

I always love it when my host organizes panel discussions and make me one of the panelists. The panel discussion at Belle Meade was titled: The Price of the Story: A Discussion on the Ethical Responsibility of Plantation Museums to Black Communities Today.  It was an honest discussion on the overlooked ethical and financial obligations of plantation museums to the modern Black community.   

The other panelists for the discussion were: Tori Mason, Historic Site Manager, The Croft House, Nashville Zoo; Erica Dahlgren, Director of Interpretation, Belle Meade Plantation; and Mike Zimmerman, Director of Interpretation, Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage.

I try my best to avoid traveling to historic sites during the Winter.  Mother Nature often reminds me that I am only human.  The first time that I spent a night at Belle Meade Plantation, being cold at night was not a concern.  This time would be different.  Tennessee in February is a roll of the dice, and the forecast for the sleepover on this night was 19 degrees, not a night for sleeping in a building that was not climate controlled.  Our solution was to have me sleep in the carriage house.  I slept in this cavernous building alone.

But, before sleeping, there are always conversations about slavery and the legacy it left on this nation.  There were about ten participants, three of whom would sleep at the site. We dove deep into the matter of interpreting slavery at plantations.

The very cold morning after the sleepover, my search for fingerprints in the bricks in the outbuildings proved fruitless. 

The contributions of our enslaved Ancestors to horse racing was vast. Give this video a look/see for details.

Brigette Jones,

Former Director of African American Studies

Belle Meade Plantation, home to what was at one time the premiere thoroughbred nursery in the nation. The then, 5,400 acre plantation was named for its’ geographical terrain as Belle Meade means “beautiful meadow” in both French and Old English. The beautiful backdrop and historic legacy nestled around 100-year old magnolias are only tarnished by one thing… the 136 enslaved individuals that called the place their involuntary home until 1865 at the conclusion of the Civil War. This side to the history of the home and the Harding-Jackson family who owned the property has often been told from the “top-down” perspective but now with the prospering of the Journey to Jubilee: Uncovering the African American Story program, visitors can finally get a glimpse into the minds, perspectives, and narratives of the African Americans who built and kept the place running.

The rise of Journey to Jubilee gave Belle Meade leadership the ability to push the envelope concerning the methodology of interpretation. To clarify, not only does Belle Meade discuss enslavement, Belle Meade also discusses enslavement in relation to modern-day race relations; this type of interpretation is causing shock waves through the historic preservationist community. As a result, Belle Meade leadership thought it would be great to invite the Slave Dwelling Project to Nashville to further push the conversation forward. Joe offered excellent advice and commentary to a conversation that many Tennesseans are still shying away from and all that were there to hear him at both the panel and campfire conversation left with more than enough to think about moving forward. We covered everything from hiring practices, to weddings and slave burial grounds; and we were happy to have a group of people come to listen and hear better ways to preserve and accurately interpret the history of African Americans on plantations.  We at Belle Meade are grateful for the work that Joe is doing and we look forward to seeing his brand expand and grow!

Franklin Masonic Hall

To most effectively carry out the mission of the Slave Dwelling Project, sleeping in extant slave dwellings are necessary.  If I were to be sincere about my original intent for starting the project, buildings such as jails, freedmen’s cottages, mansions, churches, and commercial buildings would not make the cut. 

In this journey, I have slept in examples all the aforementioned buildings, because the stories of the enslaved Ancestors run deep.  It was the enslaved Ancestors stolen labor that allowed those buildings to exist.

To that end, I accepted an invitation to spend a night in the Franklin Masonic Hall in Franklin, Tennessee. The Masonic Hall of Hiram Masonic Lodge No. 7 is a historic Gothic revival building on South 2nd Avenue in Franklin, Tennessee. Constructed in 1823, it is the oldest public building in Franklin. It is nationally significant as the site of negotiations leading to the Treaty of Franklin, the first Indian removal treaty agreed after the passage of the 1830 Indian Removal Act. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973. It continues to serve the local Masonic lodge.

It is highly unlikely that enslaved people slept in the Franklin Masonic Hall, but it is highly likely that the many fingerprints found in some of the bricks are of the enslaved people who made those bricks.

Along with the challenge of not spending a night in a slave dwelling, the Franklin Masonic also provided many opportunities.  One was the opportunity to spend the night in a climate-controlled building, which proved beneficial because the temperature would drop to 19 degrees.  Another advantage was having access to wifi, which allowed me to show the audience my TED Talk that I did in 2018.

The biggest challenge that we faced was conducting the sleepover on Valentine’s Day.  Despite that challenge, a respectable diverse group showed up and engaged in one of the best discussions about slavery and the legacy it left on this nation.

So, I always ask those who participate in the sleepovers to contribute to the blog that I write. I give the participants the latitude to do what is comfortable to them.  I explain to them that some contributors submit poems; some contribute one paragraph while some contribute dissertations.

Then there is this: Who Built this Place?

Travellers Rest

My trip to Nashville, Tennessee, would not have happened if it were not for Tonya Staggs formerly of Travellers Rest.  Tonya has since moved on to another historic site in Tennessee, but she was there for all of the activities at Travellers Rest.

Our plans to have a campfire conversation outside at Travellers Rest was nixed.  The temperature the two previous nights had fallen below 20 degrees.  Attempting to conduct a two-hour conversation outside in freezing weather would have been foolish. Also working against us was the noise of the bordering railroad yard.  We opted for self-preservation instead and conducted the fireplace conversation inside instead.

This sleepover would be my 2nd at Travellers Rest.  I slept in the Weaver’s cottage all alone.  I had the option to sleep there again, but I opted out because I can only count a site once when including it in the portfolio of the number of places slept.  Although the Weavers’s cottage is climate controlled, sleeping in the larger space was our best opportunity for keeping all the participants together. 

Conclusion:

2020 is the tenth year of existence of the Slave Dwelling Project.  It is seldom that I can take a trip to an area and conduct programs at three different historic sites.  Belle Meade, Travellers Rest, and the Franklin Masonic Hall gave me that opportunity.  A special thank is in order for all the organizers and all who were in the audience at all three sites.

I left there knowing that I will be going back to that area again in the future to spread the mission of the Slave Dwelling Project. Please access this link for our 2020 schedule.