Photo courtesy of the Whitney Plantation on Instagram
A Black family in Louisiana sought shelter from Hurricane Ida at the Whitney Plantation, where their ancestors were once enslaved.
Like many other Louisianans, the Banner family needed somewhere sturdy to take cover from Hurricane Ida. The Big House at the Whitney Plantation was the best option. It was also an ironic choice since their enslaved ancestors built the house.
The significance of this turn of events was not lost on the Banners.
“Just being back here and going through the experience of being in the hurricane in that house, literally, that was our place of refuge,” Joy Banner, director of communications at the Whitney Plantation, told
NPR. “It’s really made me appreciate the skill, the craftsmanship of the enslaved people. They were not able to have this kind of house for their own protection when a hurricane hit them.”“It’s so ironic to run to the Big House. I never imagined as a descendant of the enslaved, that we’d be runnin’ to this house,” Jo Banner, Joy’s twin sister, told the outlet.
The Whitney Plantation is different from other plantations. Plantations are often repurposed as farms or event venues and their devious legacy is often overlooked. The Whitney confronts this history head-on by operating as a museum dedicated to the memory of the people who were held captive on its grounds. It is the first plantation to serve this purpose and weddings are not permitted at the plantation.
In June 2020, an Instagram post Joy wrote
to explain the policy went viral, per Glamour Magazine.“Our tour has always focused on the brutal labor and stolen freedom of those that created vast economic wealth for the enslaving families. We do not glamorize the Big House or the grounds. In addition to our mission to educate visitors and the larger community about slavery and its legacies, our site is a place of memory and reverence,” she wrote.
She concluded the declaration with a vow to never change the ban on weddings at the Whitney Plantation.
“For these reasons, the Big House has never been nor ever will be a wedding venue,” the post continued. “Plantations are sites of immense cruelty and violence. We do not allow any event that would overshadow this reality and disrespect the memory of all those who suffered, labored, and died here.”
Hurricane Ida passed directly over the plantation and caused some major damage. Two former sharecropper cabins were squashed by the storm. The Whitney Store and the historic Antioch Baptist Church, which was built by new emancipated Black people, were also hit. The staff is seeking donations to assist with repair costs.