BootsnAll Travel Community

I'm intensely interested in exploring parts of US history that we should be ashamed of and I feel most people try to gloss over; hence, I'm really interested in slavery and the Confederacy. I've already been to the Atlanta History Center, and they have an awesome Confederacy/Civil War wing, but I don't know where I can go to learn about slavery, and possibly visit a plantation. I live somewhat near Atlanta, by the way.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Also, on the 'things we should be ashamed of' thread, does anyone else have any more suggestion on what I should research?

Read "Walking with the Wind" by John Lewis. Explore the places where the Civil Rights movement made a positive change. And you can even explore where people made shameful decisions along the way.

Explore the treatment of Native Americans by visiting various reservations. Learn about the ongoing mistreatment of Mexicans, including the opening and shutting of borders when it is convenient. Come to the West Coast to find out about the internment camps for Japanese Americans during WW2. See how the Italians were also forced out of their homes and into various areas during this time. Learn how many people were treated during the building of the transcontinental railroad.

Rather than feel shame, learn from these issues. Feeling shame is a little pointless unless you can move forward and affect positive change. Again, read Walking with the Wind, it will change your life.

Another study that would be interesting is how we got the Hawaiian Islands. They didn't teach that in American History.

A quick Google search yielded this top result:
http://www.draytonhall.org/
Looks interesting enough. It dates back to America's Colonial Period, and it was one of three plantation houses that survived the Civil War.

On your quest don't forget to visit some Civil War battlefields; and of course Fort Sumter.

OMG, Drayton Hall is perfect! Thank you.

@Anniebanannie: Wow, we....screwed over everyone, didn't we? So much to research...

The plantations are interesting to visit, but I think that you will find (like I did) that most of them do not address the topic of slavery in the history that is presented to tourists. The main attraction at Drayton is the house. Magnolia Plantation, which is nearby, has gardens and a house tour. South Carolina is not known for addressing the ugly parts of its history- you'll have to dig a little deeper to find the stories you're looking for there.