On visiting a new city, I usually take the hop on hop off bus tour, but none was available in Charleston, so I took a city tour with Adventure Tours.
After that tour, I concluded that Charleston remains a solidly segregated city. (You never get a second chance to make a first impression !).
Beautiful Charleston was established in 1670, and is named in honor of King Charles 11. It is the oldest city in South Carolina.
During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, about 40 percent of enslaved Africans brought into the country passed through Charleston Harbor, and while many were sold around the south, a great number were kept there to enrich the greedy and brutal land owners.
It is today a very beautiful city with magnificent architecture, emphasizing the affluence of its bloody past.
It is today a very beautiful city with magnificent architecture,
emphasizing the affluence of its bloody past.
All buildings have to maintain their original look on the outside but inside can be used for anything. |
A private dwelling |
Even through my visit was so many centuries after slavery was
allegedly abolished, I had no difficulty
imagining how it must have been during that horrible period and the Jim Crow era, as
the disparities are still so obvious.
For where the multi-million dollar mansions were located
(average price $7 million for one of those residences, we were told), you would
see the white people lolling around, tanning, walking their dogs, jogging,
enjoying a leisurely life, while the black people were outside tending the
lawns, cleaning and fixing the roads.
On the table in front, roses made from sweetgrass which young afro American boys sell on the streets as they hustle to make a buck. It was pathetic scene in such a wealthy place. |
I don't know what the racial situation is in offices is, but that's what I saw on the streets outside.
The regular market where you get great Gullah art and craft. |
Everything about Charleston still seems to revolve around
color, I concluded.
This is the Citadel, which was established in the early
1820's with the formation of a militia and state arsenal, to defeat a slave
revolt.
An actual aircraft on the lawn at the Citidel |
You can get a tour of the city in a horse drawn carriage |
This elegant jail was originally built for white prisoners! |
Senator Tim Scott |
Considering its history and present appearance, Charleston is naturally a solid bastion for the Republicans.
So, who better to try to hide
the troubling realities other than the one and only Tim Scott, who is now striving to be Donald
Trump's vice president!
Just close your bathroom door.
I have always wondered why architects don't just design buildings with twice as many female rest rooms as men’, but this is also a solution to our problem!😆.
Yes, pretty city and fururistic, but Charleston still left me feeling depressed and uncomfortable!
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