Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Melissa L. Cooper

Melissa L. Cooper is the author of Making Gullah: A History of Sapelo Islanders, Race and the American Imagination.

Stories from Melissa L. Cooper

Major Pierce Butler, a U.S. senator representing South Carolina and an original signer of the United States Constitution, left the 1,500-acre rice plantation—and its enslaved laborers—to his grandsons when he died. For locals whose ancestors were forced to work there, it’s considered a sacred place.

Inside the Struggle to Preserve Georgia’s Butler Island, Home to a Notorious Plantation

Descendants of people enslaved at the site are grappling with its complicated history while also honoring the region’s rich culture