While Hampton Roads is steeped in history, many historic sites have to carefully consider how some stories are told.
“There have been changes to the approach as the museum field has expanded their methodology, and the Standards of Learning have changed to better reflect our shared history,” said Felicia Abrams, education officer and supervisor of on-site education at the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
It was only 40 years ago when Colonial Williamsburg first started African-American historical interpretation and this year, Jamestown Settlement has commemorated the arrival of the first slaves to Virginia.
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But as society changes to accept more slave narratives, so have the historic sites that tell them.
“Since I started managing Shirley a few years ago, we have expanded the tour to include more about slavery and the important role of the enslaved in building and maintaining the plantation,” said Lauren Carter, general manager of the Shirley Plantation Foundation in Charles City, in an email.
Carter said telling the stories of enslaved people can be a challenge because there are very limited primary sources off which to base research. At the Shirley Plantation, researchers mostly work off information passed down through the family collection, but this is all from the perspective of slave holders.
“We add to what we know from other historic sources and what archaeology has uncovered,” Carter said. “But part of the challenge in giving comprehensive perspective is the absence of firsthand accounts from the enslaved themselves.”
The plantation features a guided walking tour of the grounds that is solely for the purpose of discussing the enslaved. Guests on the tour learn about where they came from, their lives and the family’s role in slavery.
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There is also an exhibit that’s dedicated to telling stories of the slaves and teaching about the archaeology of the slave quarters. Carter said this exhibit continues to evolve and develop over the years.
Carter said it’s important to tell the stories of the slaves at the Shirley Plantation because they played an important role in the building and maintaining of the plantation.
Under the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, there are two living-history museums which also tackle this topic with sensitive dedication.
“Those education programs and conversations, whether with adults or children, are based on primary sources and historical fact, which is the backbone to any program we create,” Abrams said.
At the Jamestown Settlement, a gallery of exhibits opened in 2006 which tells the story of the first Africans to arrive in 1619, their home in west central Africa and the development of the transatlantic slave trade in the 17th century, said Tracy Perkins, media relations manager for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
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At the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, there is a special exhibition, “Forgotten Soldier,” that explores African Americans on both sides of the war, she said. In addition, there are extensive gallery exhibits that tell the stories of citizens and soldiers during the war. Outdoors is a re-created, revolution-era farm where visitors can see a building to represent quarters for enslaved people.
According to a news release from December 2018 from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, before 1979 African-American employees at Colonial Williamsburg worked as interpreters throughout the historic area, but only portrayed anonymous servants.
But when students from Hampton University came to Colonial Williamsburg 40 years ago, they attempted to engage visitors as African-American characters.
Colonial Williamsburg did not immediately respond to comment for this story.
As society changes and slavery becomes a more widely-discussed topic, these historic places have adapted to tell the full story of these enslaved members of history.
“We think it is necessary to be open and honest and share what information we have because it is everyone’s history,” Carter said.
