Stephen Small is professor in the Department of African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent book is 20 Questions and Answers on Black Europe. He is coauthor of Representations of Slavery: Race and Ideology in Southern Plantation Museums and coeditor of Global Mixed Race, New Perspectives on Slavery and Colonialism in the Caribbean, and Black Europe and the African Diaspora.
In the Shadow of the Big House engages in an important discussion
about changes in heritage tourism at plantation museums in a region
that has received less study than other areas of the US South.
Through the production and reproduction of historical narratives,
provided especially through interpretation and exhibit text, this
book explores how the inclusion of cabins and other places the
enslaved lived and slept is not enough to elevate the voices of
Black men and women whose stories have been marginalized in such
spaces, preventing a full narrative from being presented to
visitors (even if they may be reluctant to hear it). In the Shadow
of the Big House is a contribution to the research on plantation
tourism that will be beneficial to scholars and public historians,
especially those working to explore the possibilities of going
beyond basic inclusion and aim to truly elevate the "Black voices
and Black visions" that shape our memory landscapes.--Katrina Stack
"The Public Historan"
Readers interested in how the tourism industry and public memory of
the Civil War have developed will find In the Shadows of the Big
House worth reading... This is an area ripe for study--in a moment
when there seems to be increasing opportunity for academic and
public historians to work together to advance popular understanding
of history. This well-written and thoughtful book is an excellent
start.--Cecily Nelson Zander "Emerging Civil War"
In the Shadows of the Big House: Twenty-First-Century Antebellum
Slave Cabins and Heritage Tourism in Louisiana is a fine
contribution to the literature on plantation museums and tourism,
pushing forward questions about more wholly representing Black
stories and experiences in the pre- and post-Civil War US
South.--Katrina Stack "The Public Historian"
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