Ancestral Footsteps: King Retreat Plantation, St. Simons Island, GA*
Tracing Grandmother's footsteps
One sentence in the early part of “Politics,” Chapter 7, written by Jamelle Bouie, in Nichole Hannah Jones’s The 1619 Project, stirred painful memories of my trip to Sea Island and St. Simons Island, GA, where I first saw the ruins of a plantation and slave hospital. That sentence revealed which enslavers benefited most politically from ownership of large plantations.
Rich enslavers were essentially the only people who could participate in the highest levels of government.
Thomas Butler King, whose wife Anna Matilda Page inherited the plantation from her father, William Page, was the actual owner. Thomas Butler King “was a member of Congress from 1839 to 1850 and a prominent figure in Georgia and national politics.” King and his wife exemplified Jamelle Bouie’s description of rich enslavers though King wore the political pants.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Dr. Mary Marshall's Collection to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.