On Thursday, flames engulfed the Nottoway Plantation in Iberville Parish, Louisiana—one of the largest remaining antebellum mansions in the South. The fire raged for hours, ultimately reducing the 165-year-old structure to ashes. And while local officials mourn what they describe as a “cornerstone of our tourism economy,” many of us—especially those descended from the enslaved—felt something else entirely: release.
The ancestors are speaking. Can you hear them?
To be clear, no one celebrates destruction for destruction’s sake.… Read more