The Persistence of Whitewashing

In early April, Southern Charm—a reality show about Charleston's aristocracy—invited viewers for a fifth season inside “the gates of their centuries-old plantation homes.” It is a disturbing thought for anyone who stops to consider the experiences of the men and women who were enslaved there. Yet this form of nostalgia remains surprisingly common. Until recently, you could rent Southern Charm star Thomas Ravenel's manicured Brookland Plantation, whose slave cabins were abandoned during “the War Between the States,” according to the architect who renovated it. You can still “add a little southern elegance” to the happiest day of your life with a plantation wedding, at a venue such as Boone Plantation, where parts of The Notebook were filmed and nine slave cabins (of 27) still stand.