The trip to Charleston was quite an eye opening experience for me. I had never been to a plantation prior to this trip, so it unique and quite disconcerting. It took quite a bit of reflection for me to see how little the African American focus tour showed and through discussions with friends outside of class, how much plantations are romanticized and how big of a problem this actually is. I found the plantation tour to be disappointing, but the Gullah Tour was INCREDIBLE!
Recently, I was discussing this trip as well as the trip to Kingsley with two of my friends that are education majors. One is currently doing her internship at a local high school in one of the poorer sections of the city. She is planning on becoming a history teacher, is of Haitian descent, and has been to several plantations. Discussions with her have really opened my eyes to popular opinions regarding these historic sites. She feels that plantations are beautiful, exciting, and essentially a "fun time". I think this is part of the problem. People don't realize or are unwilling to accept the historic, and often painful, past of plantations and see only the outward beauty. This confuses me...it is not as though you would go to Auschwitz for a tour and talk about how amazing it is....
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