A Louisiana plantation-turned-resort burns, prompting a reckoning

Main Idea: A fire at Louisiana’s Nottoway Plantation has renewed debate over how former slave plantations should be remembered and used today.

Key Points:

• Nottoway was promoted as a resort and wedding site, but critics said it downplayed the history of the enslaved people who lived and worked there.
• Tammika Thompson, who believes her ancestors were enslaved at the plantation, said the fire felt personal and raised questions about rebuilding it.
• Current owner William Dan Dyess said the fire may have been electrical and said he hopes to rebuild, while distancing himself from the site’s racial past.
• The Whitney Plantation offers a different model by centering slavery in its museum and tours, showing how some believe plantations should tell a fuller history.