Hermann-Grima House Urban Enslavement Tour
"Zoom out. What’s the big picture here? This tour is a new offering from the well-established Hermann-Grima House, a historic house museum in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It runs five times per day, with reservations required and group sizes capped. There were three people with me on my tour, which was perfect for seeing the property and grounds, and it made for a more personal experience, with guide Dawn being able to field questions and present information in an accessible, conversational style. Tell us about your fellow tourees. My companions were history students with a special interest in the subject matter, and therefore very detailed questions, which Dawn handled brilliantly. Anyone wanting to take a deeper dive into New Orleans’ history during the time of slavery will glean a lot from the tour, and guests such as myself will also like the general historical context. How are the guides? The tour covers difficult and disturbing subject matter, but Dawn pitches her delivery perfectly and is sensitive to the effects that some of the stories may have on the audience. She’s a history graduate and her knowledge is impressive, both in the scripted parts and in the off-the-cuff questions that are asked of her. It’s not the easiest, most feel-good tour to give, of course, but the subject matter is given due reverence and respect; it's insightful and informative while remaining engaging. Anything you’ll be remembering weeks or months or years from now? The tour covers the differences in rural and urban slavery practices, pairing the general social and political climates of the time with deeply humanizing details of everyday existence in the house. We learn the names of those people that lived here, their familial relationships and role in the household, and we see where people slept and ate. Slavery is presented in all its brutal truth, given its full historical context and in the end, presented as a lesson for modern day aspects of systems of labor and incarceration. It’s a skillfully woven presentation of a very evocative subject. So: money, time—how can we make the most of both? Explanations of historic architecture and many elements of social history mean that there’s a wealth of angles that people might appreciate here beyond the main subject matter. Of course, the lives of those enslaved here is the matter at hand, but incidental details give a vivid picture of the times. The house itself is an interesting example of how the upper classes lived, and it has been well conserved with all the original decadent fixtures and fittings. These, if anything, underline the stark contrast at play during this dark time, and it’s a sobering, impactful tour for anyone." - Paul Oswell
