Heritage-Tourism and the Historical Present: Africans at Snee Farm Plantation

Authors

Antoinette T. Jackson, University of Florida

Abstract

This paper examines the production of American history in public forums by exploring the impact of preserving and presenting 'historical' sites for the purpose of heritage tourism. A National Park Service project to study African communities formerly associated with Snee Farm plantation (the Charles Pickney National site) in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina provides the basis for this discussion. An analysis of interview data coiiected expose the scope, complexity, and heterogeneity of African life in American plantation settings outside of a 'Gone With The Wind' trope. The goal of this paper is to expand the context from which the African experience in plantation settings is viewed in order to enrich the construction of American history in the present at public heritage sites. Trouillot's concepts regarding power and historical production inform this discussion.

Relational Format

journal article

Recommended Citation

Jackson, Antoinette T. (2001) "Heritage-Tourism and the Historical Present: Africans at Snee Farm Plantation," Southern Anthropologist: Vol. 28: No. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/southern_anthropologist/vol28/iss1/2