Just as burned business districts in Washington, DC’s Black neighborhoods came back from the 1960s riots, with some Blacks clapping and jeering the destruction, the Nottoway Plantation in Louisiana is coming back after many Blacks clapped and jeered its destruction.

However, instead of generations later, the Plantation is hiring less than three months after a roaring fire reduced the artistry of enslaved Africans and the South’s largest antebellum mansion to a smoldering ruin.

Randolph’s Restaurant, once a centerpiece of fine dining on the Plantation’s grounds, will reopen with Executive Chef Matthew Morgan leading the effort to revive the kitchen. He is calling on experienced servers and cooks to help bring the restaurant back to life.

Where does that leave Black people who attended the Nottingway-Plantation-is-Burning Cookout? Perhaps with a credit card bill for the groceries purchased, at Target of all stores, for the festivities.

In a Times article "The Burning of Nottoway Plantation," Maurice Carlos Ruffin wrote, "Reconciliation cannot come before recognition and mourning. If Nottoway Plantation had been serving the community it was based in, I'd be the first one devastated by its loss. But as it stands, my face is completely dry."

Ruffin’s face is completely dry, but what about the Blacks who faced higher insurance rates and unemployment? Wouldn't it have been better if he had wiped his face with the words of journalist Tony Brown: "If you want freedom, but it?"

Learning from Gary’s former mayor Hatcher about the power of economics, Ruffin could have focused on business rather than emotional savvy and bought the plantation.  Ruffin and others could have saved the work of Black artisans, increased the employment of Black employees at the plantation, changed the narrative, and forged a new economic and social destiny, blazing a trail toward financial freedom.

Instead, Nottoway will be just like U Street, NW; H Street, NE; and maybe King Avenue, SE.  With Black history as a foundation for economic revival and the finances controlled by non-Blacks.  In DC, the historical foundation is has inputs from Blacks because of DC’s local political climate. However, do you expect the same in Louisiana?

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From our Archives: Nottoway Plantation: A Burned Path to Economic Freedom