Sleeping in Former Slave Quarters: Bed and breakfasts in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and NC

[Recursion]

http://bandb.about.com/cs/uniquegetaways/a/slave_quarters.htm

The idea of converting former slave quarters for use as guest rooms in bed and breakfasts -- which has happened at some Southern U.S. inns, as well as a few in other countries -- is controversial.

Some people decry it as "a slap in the face" to the reality of history; others say the owners of these properties have a right to do the renovations and claim that those offended by it are over-reacting.

In an Associated Press article, Angela da Silva of the National Black Tourism Network said, "That's truly whitewashing slavery." In the same article, Jean-Luc Maumus, the French-born manager of Louisiana's Monmouth Plantation, said, "These are buildings with some history. We are not responsible for the history. The history's there ... Either you live with your past or you destroy it."

At NiaOnline, columnist Jill Kelly pointed out that some inns refer to the slave quarters as "servants' quarters," "carriage houses," or "dependencies."

Oy

[malaise]

1. In Denmark they have converted prison dungeons

into bed and breakfasts.

[Recursion]

2. And East Berlin has a Stasi Holding Cell theme park

*shrug*

[FirstLight]

3. do you get a whippin with that?

eeesh!

[AnnieBW]

10. Only when the BDSM Convention is in town

Or if someone is really into kinky sex.

[obamanut2012]

4. And, the Triangle Shirtwaist building is now part of NYU

And tenements and slums are now co-ops and condos. Prisons have been made into homes and work spaces. And, conversely, the sacred have been turned into the mundane.

The only problem I have with this is calling them former "servants'" quarters.

[Ian David]

5. "Mommy! I didn't know slaves had flat-panel TV's and heart-shaped hot tubs!" n/t

[jwirr]

7. Exactly.

[Tutonic]

6. And Dascuau is now a memorial site.

So why not join in with the other revisionists and celebrate the glory of humiliating and demeaning an entire race of peoples? C'mon DU, if they can do it in Norway or Denmark, why can't we be perverts too? DU, you need to cleanse this site of adults with an IQ that matches their age.

[kestrel91316]

8. I think it's fine and could be done quite respectfully

if it were used as a way to educate the public.

Especially since the RW works so hard to deny that slavery was as horrible as it was.

And a portion of proceeds could be donated to a related charitable cause.

[Taverner]

9. I see no problem as long as there's some kind of historical marker

Tells the history, the conditions, etc.

Education can always be a good thing

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. +100