Semester of Graduation

Fall

Degree

Master of Mass Communication (MMC)

Department

Mass Communication

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the widespread public protest of racial injustice created a groundswell that prompted corporate and media responses, so much so that by the end of the summer of 2020, it seemed as if "Black Lives Mattered" everywhere and to everyone. Public response incentivized subsequent corporate response in financial pledges and other commitments to racial justice initiatives until 2020, which became known as the year that America confronted racism or the racial reckoning of 2020. While the public demanded acknowledgment of the many forms of contemporary racial injustice, there was little to no public scrutiny placing plantation sites within the context of the Racial Reckoning, despite plantation homes being the birthplace of racism in America. The current study aims to explore this under researched area by using an ethnographic approach to understand the role that plantation tourism in Louisiana, has played in perpetuating a form of racism specific to the U. S. South. Gathering data from guided and self-guided tours of four South Louisiana plantations that serve as tourist sites: Destrehan Plantation, Houmas House Plantation, Oak Alley Plantation, and Whitney Plantation, I experienced the respective tours and messages that tour guides and plantation owners have constructed to engage tourists and educate them about the houses that were maintained and built by enslaved individuals. As both spaces of white supremacist ideologies and transmitters of historical and cultural messages, there is political and social relevance in debating the place of plantation museums following the racial reckoning, as they can reflect and influence our social norms.

Date

11-1-2024

Committee Chair

Harris, Tina M.

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