Public history is a unique field for the wide range of mediums that it can utilize to share information to the public. However, it is incredibly important to understand what narratives are being disseminated, and perhaps even more crucial: whose stories are not being shared as part of that larger narrative. According to Thomas Cauvin, when specifically dealing with the preservation and restoration of historical landmarks, especially those with connections to difficult histories and the oppression of minority communities, one must acknowledge all aspects of the history on these sites.

In discussing the Chief Vann House in Tiya Miles’s The House on Diamond Hill, it was surprising to learn about the house’s origins and the ideas surrounding public memory of the space along with the unique opportunity to have a site so uniquely situated in space and time to have the opportunity to discuss the different diverse narratives that occupied the plantation.

One aspect of historic preservation I would like to also take note of, is the difference between reconstruction and original buildings. I am a strong believer in the power in original structures and the emotions that they can evoke. However, I also believe that reconstructions are necessary. Especially in today’s climate of elevating the lives of minority groups that have often had their original structures torn down, like enslaved people on plantations. Recreating the material conditions that these groups lived in deserve to exist alongside the houses in which their oppressors lived.

Bibliography

Cauvin, Thomas. Public History: A Textbook of Practice. New York, NY: Routledge, 2016.

Miles, Tiya. The House on Diamond Hill: A Cherokee Plantation Story. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2010.