Jeff Darren Muse

Interpreting “difficult History”

Featured in Dear Park Ranger: Essays on Manhood, Restlessness, and the Geography of Hope

From “White Man, Fragile,” a self-interrogating essay based on my work as a historical interpreter in Charleston, South Carolina:

“It’s time for the 10:30 a.m. tour at McLeod Plantation Historic Site. I’ve got my hearing aids in with the noise filter on because the input is overwhelming: ambulance sirens, commuter traffic, jetliners, military planes and helicopters. I can literally feel the pounding of pilings for another pier, another hotel, another house built in flood-prone soil. And leaf blowers, of course. It wouldn’t be Charleston without leaf blowers. Everywhere around town, I hear an incessant, full-throttle scream.

“I’m also wearing a headset—a microphone attached to a small speaker strapped to my belt. The microphone reduces the throat irritation caused by acid reflux, which can afflict anyone who repeatedly and forcefully projects their voice. My larynx has become surprisingly delicate, like the disposition of some of the people I serve. What I mean is, I’m now interpreting ‘difficult history,’ mostly for White tourists, though increasingly for diverse audiences who’ve heard that McLeod is not your typical Gone with the Wind affair.

“‘Slavery here,’ I start off, paraphrasing Adam Domby, a history professor at the College of Charleston, ‘was the ownership of Black people. It was oppression through violence and the threat of violence in order to extract free labor.’”

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