ABSTRACT
Thousands of plantation museum sites containing buildings and structures constructed during the antebellum period or earlier still exist across the US South at the start of the twenty-first century, and many of these sites house original slave cabins. This chapter highlights how multiple methods can be deployed to collect primary data on the lives, experiences, and aspirations of black people under slavery. It begins with a literature review and online research, including social history, museum studies, archaeology, and historical architecture. The chapter then argues that a sustained focus on slave cabins can bring significant insights into the processes of power and access to resources underlying the public history and collective memory of slavery at plantation museum sites. It also explores documents and data that directly addressed slave cabins, heard black voices, and engaged with black visions. Finally, the chapter addresses issues concerning the literature review, online research, historical archives, site observations, texts and images, and unstructured interviews.
