Time has come to tell both sides of history

In recent years, Natchez has made a huge leap in terms of bridging the divisive gap between people of different races and ethnicities.

Using a tourism grant from Visit Natchez, the Historic Natchez Foundation is now in the process of installing new exhibits at Stanton Hall, Longwood, Auburn, Rosalie and House on Ellicott’s Hill which attempt to tell stories of individuals who were kept as slaves in historic houses.

For the first time in the history of Natchez’s pilgrimage tours, the local garden clubs are working with the Historic Natchez Foundation to tell the history of these houses in a way that is inclusive of African American history too.

These stories of individuals who were enslaved are in no way meant to be endearing to the horror that is slavery, but rather help people who resonate better with individual stories than general information about groups of people.

There is nothing good or right about one person being owned by another, therefore there is no easy way to talk about slavery.

Unfortunately, either because no one was willing to talk about it or because the perspective of people who were enslaved was not written down nearly as often as whites, their story has been left untold.

This has gone on for too long.

Rather than avoid the topic of slavery, it is better for people to talk about it so that future generations do not make the same mistakes.

We applaud the Historic Natchez Foundation and Natchez Pilgrimage for their effort to finally tell the other side of the story.