“A Pledge of Allegiance to the South”

Abstract

Research examining representations of the institution of slavery at historic house museums in the United States has overwhelmingly privileged southern plantation museums. Increasingly, however, there is a call to resist the urge to center discussions of enslavement only in the South and to expand our understandings of how slavery permeated all aspects of US society. Utilizing interviews, narrative mapping, and visitor surveys, this study seeks to show how two house museums in Kansas City, Missouri, are commemorating enslavement. This research is part of the larger initiative of Tourism RESET (Race, Ethnicity and Social Equity in Tourism).