B(l)ack on a Plantation: Virtual Panel Archive Series

Research & Relevance is a series of webinars centered on the research we continue to collect about Menokin's cultural landscape and its people, and its relevance in our modern lives.

In June 2021, we hosted B(l)ack on a Plantation, a Research & Relevance webinar focused on the Black person’s experience of plantation sites. From 1769 to 1865, Menokin was residence to over 200 enslaved people. From the Lees to the Hardwoods, each family that owned Menokin was dependent on the forced labor of these enslaved men, women, and children to ensure that Menokin remained successful and profitable while also having their personal needs attended to. Menokin honors the lives and legacies of the people that were so essential to not only its creation but its daily operation.

This program featured panelists Wisteria Perry, an educator and historical interpreter from the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, VA; Reginald Pearman, a Menokin Board Trustee, educator and photographer; Frank Johnson, a Menokin Board Trustee, descendant of enslaved people who lived at Menokin, and current Chair of the local Richmond County History Museum; and Justin Reid, Director of Community Initiatives at Virginia Humanities, as moderator.