Removing books about slavery is wrong

There’s a sad irony to a historical commission removing a book of slave remembrances, titled “Remembering the Days of Sorrow,” from a plantation’s gift shop.

Yet, that is one of 25 books, some about slavery and nearly all dealing with race and written by Black writers, that the Texas Historical Commission has removed from the gift shops of two plantations. As Texas Monthly has reported, the books were removed at the behest of amateur historian Michelle Haas. Late last year, she began objecting to books she saw for sale at the Varner-Hogg and Levi Jordan plantations in Brazoria County.

In touring these sites, Haas believed that too much emphasis was put on slavery and not enough on Texas history.

Haas runs a nonprofit advocacy organization called Texas History Trust and rails against what she calls “woke education” and “critical race theory.” In a December 2022 video posted on her website, she sarcastically dismissed the books as, “Children’s books about diversity and inclusion” (as if that’s a bad thing), “modern Black radical memoirs” and “modern books about systemic oppression.”

She also criticized the Varner-Hogg plantation for failing to emphasize that white people did not commit all the beatings and torture of the enslaved, but that a Black overseer, who was also enslaved, committed some of the brutality. It’s as if Haas believes that forcing one enslaved Black person to commit violence against other enslaved Black people abdicates the white slave owner ordering the acts of violence.

She shared her objections to these books with David Gravelle, a board member of the Texas Historical Commission, which oversees Texas historic sites. For most of this year, while Haas continued to advocate for the removal of these books, Gravelle did the same with his Texas Historical Commission colleagues. Both shared the belief that since most of the books weren’t about Texas, they shouldn’t be sold at those sites. They succeeded. As of last month, none of the 25 books were being sold in the two plantations’ gift shops. Those books include “Remembering the Days of Sorrow,” a collection Texas slave narratives from the 1930s compiled by the Works Progress Administration; “Roots,” Alex Haley’s novel about slavery; “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” an autobiography by Harriet Jacobs, who was enslaved before she ran away; “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” by Isabel Wilkerson; “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America,” by Clint Smith, which happens to be about how monuments and landmarks tell the story of slavery.

Other books removed include classic novels such as Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” generally recognized as one of the greatest American novels written in any century.

Removing books about slavery from plantation gift shops is like removing books about the Civil War from the Gettysburg Museum Store.

In a curious twist, after Texas Monthly published its story about the Historical Commission’s removal of the books, Haas told the magazine that she opposed the removal of some of the books, saying, “Slavery is the most historically significant part of the history of those sites. Hell no, I didn’t want the removal of books on the subject.”

But they were on the list she sent to the historical commission.

Citing “Remembering the Days of Sorrow,” Haas actually said, “If THC, under its new retail policy, has decided not to sell, for example, the WPA slave narratives, I will rally for the return of that title.”

Again, it was on the list of books Haas sent to the historical commission along with the publisher’s description, which included the words, “Excerpts from Texas WPA slave narratives.”

The Varner-Hogg and Levi Jordan Plantations were trying to tell fuller and more accurate stories about their history; doing so requires including stories about the lives of the enslaved and what they endured.

They should be commended for showing how historical understanding can’t be formed in isolation. They should be commended for selling (until recently) books that explain slavery’s enduring and undeniable legacy.

We hope that Haas follows through on her pledge to “rally” for the return of some of those titles. We also hope she reads them.

Texas Historical Commission goes off course by banning sale

of items at plantation gift

shop

Staff file photo State officials recently removed a number of books from the gift shops at Varner-Hogg, above, and Levi Jordan plantation historic sites because the texts deal with slavery. Officials should put the books back on the shelves.