Read on Twitter
As Confederate statues come down, I'm reminded of what still needs to go up. Encourage @Reagan_Airport & @Amazon to memorialize those enslaved at Abingdon: "The Virginia portion of Amazon’s HQ2 should acknowledge what lies beneath" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2018/11/27/virginia-portion-amazons-hq-should-acknowledge-what-lies-beneath/ #slaveryarchive #DC
If you visit Abingdon ruins today, you will be transported to the past - but not to the era of slavery -- to the 1990s. At this site of a former plantation, there is no mention of the enslaved, slavery, or enslavement. Signage is entirely about enslavers. #AbingdonEasyFix 2/10
Inside the old terminal's exhibit hall, at the bottom corner of one display case, you can find the only reference to slavery. #AbingdonEasyFix 3/10
Inside the airport, you'll find instructions to a host of shops but no mention of Abingdon. Need @Spanx or a @BrooksBrothers shirt? You're covered. #AbingdonEasyFix (On Brooks Brothers see this post by @kelwinsbigideas https://medium.com/@kelwinharris1/like-many-young-professionals-establishing-a-business-wardrobe-i-wanted-a-certain-timeless-aee318d5deb9) 4/10
The website for @Reagan_Airport includes no mention of slavery at Abingdon. https://www.flyreagan.com/dca/history-reagan-national-airport #AbingdonEasyFix @MWAAHQ 5/10
Signage outside includes an altered portrait of the family of #GeorgeWashington. The original painting included an enslaved man. #AbingdonEasyFix 6/10
At the exhibit inside, a video evokes the sentiment of #GoneWithTheWind with a slide and statement about the end of the era of slavery: "The pastoral landscape faded." #AbingdonEasyFix 7/10
One of the surviving building ruins was once a kitchen. Recommended reading: Kelley Fanto Deetz's, "Bound to the Fire: How Virginia's Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine" @Professordeetz 8/10 https://www.amazon.com/Bound-Fire-Virginias-Enslaved-American/dp/0813174732/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
The plantation had many owners over the years. What happened to enslaved people when the property changed families? Most often, in such instances, families were broken up and individuals sold. An 1850 inventory of household "property" included men, women, and children. 9/10
Please retweet and encourage @Reagan_Airport & @Amazon to memorialize those enslaved at Abingdon. #AbingdonEasyFix 10/10 @MWAAHQ @NMAAHC @MountVernon @ncph #twitterstorians @OAH #slavery
