Americans are questioning ?who we are as individuals, a region, a country? A grand, Regency-style manse on Savannah, Georgia?s Oglethorpe Square, the Owens-Thomas House, prides itself being a time capsule.
In a city known for Spanish moss and tree-lined streets, the historic home museum offers a window into the world of the Antebellum south, and the life of famous 19th-century Georgians. Named after George Welshman Owens, a former Savannah mayor, the home, built in 1819, once hosted the Marquis de Lafayette.
On November 17, when the museum reopens after a multi-year redesign and reorganization, the focus will turn to less famous names, like ?Emma.? A former enslaved woman who lived in the home, Emma will have her life highlighted in an expansive new exhibit, a key element of tours at the newly renamed Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters. According to Shannon Browning-Mullis, a curator at the Telfair Museums, the institution that operates the Owens-Thomas House, the new exhibits?including the restoration of former living quarters for the enslaved?offer a more expansive picture of the home?s history. The new displays provide a deeper understanding of the pervasiveness of slavery, especially in urban areas, and goes beyond the traditional focus of historic homes: decorative art, architecture, and the lives of wealthy Americans.
It?s indicative of how historians and museum visitors have been digging more deeply into the history of everyday people for decades, she s...