Browsing by Author "Sowell, Sarah"

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    Recommendations for Main House Redesign at Varner-Hogg Plantation
    (Rice University, 2021) Sowell, Sarah; Gao, Sophie; Afsan, Hafsa; Jamal, Daanesh; Center for Civic Leadership; Anthropology
    As a community heritage site, Varner-Hogg Plantation (VHP) has been an integral part of transmitting the narratives of enslaved people. Our work on the Main House can expand the exhibited narratives further with a holistic, social history approach. The Houston Action Research Team (HART) designed a six-room exhibit for the Main House of the VHP. Synthesizing anti-racist museum curation practices, history, archaeological research, and existing displays at Varner-Hogg, the exhibition was developed to center the culture of enslaved Texans and their modern-day legacies. Furthermore, the proposed Main House redesign features a focus on cultural independence as a form of resistance. The 6 rooms of the exhibit are 1). an orientation space, 2). a day-to-day life room, 3). a food room, 4). a religion room, 5). an oral tradition room, and 6). an interactive reflective space. The reflection space guides visitors through the process of incorporating the narratives of enslaved life they just learned into larger narratives about Brazoria County, Texas, and the United States, particularly the connections of enslavement and convict leasing to the modern day. The entire exhibition is meant to serve as a collaborative tool to help visitors in the production and synthesis of knowledge. The reflection room is the apotheosis of that collaborative mindset. Drawing upon case studies of other museums, the exhibit prioritizes interactive opportunities, the centrality of enslaved life beyond their captor, and visitor reflection. It is our hope that this exhibit will shift understandings of plantations away from one-dimensional romanticization and act as an educational space for local schools. The aim of this project is to further the VHP’s function as a community resource and to preserve the Texas History of enslavement for generations to follow.