DOC The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson by Jeffrey Toobin in History

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“A tour de force. Moyer goes beyond critique to give us a richly contextualized study; demonstrating that inclusive interpretation of plantation and other historic house museum sites can be done and that the failure to do so is a political act rooted in systemic racism.”—David T. Palmer; University of Louisiana at Lafayette “An uncommonly detailed; frank; and balanced discussion of racialized practice at a historic site museum.”—Kirsti Uunila; historic preservation planner; Calvert County; Maryland Enslaved African Americans helped transform the United States economy; culture; and history. Yet these individuals’ identities; activities; and sometimes their very existence are often all but expunged from historically preserved plantations and house museums. Reluctant to show and interpret the homes and lives of the enslaved; many sites have never shared the stories of the African Americans who once lived and worked on their land. One such site is Mount Clare near Baltimore; Maryland; where Teresa Moyer pulls no punches in her critique of racism in historic preservation. In her balanced discussion; Moyer examines the inextricably entangled lives of the enslaved; free blacks; and white landowners. Her work draws on evidence from archaeology; history; geology; and other fields to explore the ways that white privilege continues to obscure the contributions of blacks at Mount Clare. She demonstrates that a landscape’s post-emancipation history can make a powerful statement about black heritage. Ultimately she argues that the inclusion of enslaved persons in the history of these sites would honor these “ancestors of worthy life;” make the social good of public history available to African Americans; and address systemic racism in America.