Middleton Place : Re: Beautiful

» Kirk_Johnson - Re: Beautiful

In response to message posted by Nichel:

I was uncomfortable writing that article for Black History Month, especially since I am white and descended from slave owners, but I think that it is important to remember that a lot of what is seen as the white culture of the old south is really also black culture, albeit with a white European veneer.

The gardens of Renaissance Italy were designed for an elite, but the elite didn't do the actual work. The peasants who actually created and maintained the gardens of Renaissance Italy may not have appreciated all of the classical allusions, but I expect that they saw those gardens as beautiful and that they were proud of their work. I expect that the black slaves who created and maintained the gardens of Middleton Place were also proud of their work and sensitive to the garden's beauty. To think only of their sweat and opression is almost to deny their humanity.

-- posted by Kirk_Johnson