I recently got into a debate with another person about this after visiting a local former slave plantation. The place is beautiful, and hosts weddings and business receptions when it's not open to stroll the gardens. The only passing mention to the location being used for slavery was a small plaque.
When I stopped and thought of the tens of millions of slaves who died on these locations, I felt that something more was owed them. In this plantation's case it is even still owned by the same family as owned slaves so many years ago.
Contrast this with the locations of former labor and concentration camps in what used to be Nazi Germany. These are solemn places for national reflection and remembrance. I fully acknowledge several differences in slavery and the Holocaust, I am not attempting to draw a direct parallel. More time has passed, etc. It is only here to provide contrast in it's presentation.
I am only wondering if other historians agree that former slave sites should be presented in a different way other than beautiful locations for photo shoots in Southern Living with a passing reference to slavery.
Yes, I agree that the African American history should not be glossed over in favor of Gone With the Wind antebellum romanticism. It's white-washing of the most heinous caliber and is slowly being addressed by the relatively new field of African American archaeology and anthropology.
If the mansion is to be the focal point of a historic property, then I feel that the grounds should be excavated and restored to give visitors a true juxtaposition of how the slaves lived vs. how their masters lived. The mansions and gardens are the result of the slave economy and those men and women are solely responsible for providing the kind of income that made their masters wealthy enough to live in that type of style. It's disingenuous and deceptive to not give them credit and to educate the public on their lives, their families, their typical workdays, and their culture.
I think that the presentation should include artifacts from both the ancestral masters and former slaves, as well as any written documentation or even recordings of apocryphal stories from the slave's descendants if possible. The truth doesn't have to make people feel bad or shameful, but hiding it certainly insinuates that it is an embarrassment, which does no one any favors.