NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Discussing United States history with slavery can get uncomfortable.
I always aim to help you understand something better, so I spent time asking people about the slavery tour at the former plantation in Belle Meade. It was brought to our attention that tour guides could be pulling some of the more troubling slave stories.
On Sunday, Brigette Jones — the first manager of African American studies at Belle Meade Historic Site & Winery — posted about rumored changes coming to the Journey to Jubilee tour. Jones helped create that tour in 2018.
I just found out that Belle Meade is rewriting my AWARD WINNING Journey to Jubilee tour because it’s “trauma dumping” and too “discussion based”. It’s wild because the tour is about SLAVERY. I knew when that racist lady took over, it was gone be some BS.
— Da Hood Historian (@ADA_bow) September 22, 2024
I tracked down Jones to ask more about what she was told and how it made her feel.
"I told the tour. I told the story in a way that gave respect to the people who couldn't tell their story in that time period, so I was never aiming to make it comfortable. In fact, I was aiming to make people feel uncomfortable," she said.
Last year, Jones took a job in Atlanta.
"This idea of having to find a 'fun fact' to add, to lighten the mood of Journey and finding 'nicer ways' to say the enslaved people there didn't have a choice — there is no fun fact about enslavement," Jones said. "There is no nicer way to discuss enslavement. Enslavement is what it was."
According to a statement from the site's director of historic interpretation and education, they are always evaluating their content, and recognize as a public historical institution tours need to be accurate, engaging and thought-provoking.
The Journey to Jubilee Tour is a foundational part of the Belle Meade Historic Site experience, along with our Mansion Tour and newly launched Battle at Belle Meade Tour. Keeping in line with industry standards and best practices, Belle Meade has the responsibility of a public historical institution to ensure that all of our tours are historically accurate, engaging, and thought-provoking.
In recent years, historical institutions have grappled with how to share the voices of the previously voiceless in an accurate and authentic manner. And many of them face similar challenges: a lack of primary documentation, and institutional capacity. At Belle Meade Historic Site, years of research have produced primary documentation, oral histories from descendants, and more that have previously not been known to provide the foundation of the new Journey to Jubilee Tour. These are the stories we want to tell.
Belle Meade is dedicated to preserving the history of the original Belle Meade plantation. Like any other historical institution, we are always evaluating our content as the years pass on and new information is uncovered. Our content will continue to reflect our core values and our mission of education through immersive history.
There were 136 people enslaved on the plantation. Jones helped uncover their forgotten stories.
"Until Belle Meade and other plantation museums like them get to a point where they understand that telling the full truth — the uncomfortable truth — is more important than customizing a tour to make sure it matches the aesthetic of the rest of the plantation then we won't get anywhere," Jones said.
In 2019, NewsChannel5's Kelsey Gibbs visited the historic site and took the tour with Jones.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
