The New York Times reports on the growing movement at Southern historic house museums to emphasize the experiences of enslaved people. Instead of focusing only on the dazzling beauty of the homes, reenvisioned tours are explaining how that beauty was contingent on the exploitation of slavery, and describing the lives of the enslaved people who helped keep up appearances.

Most guests at the Nathaniel Russel House remark on the beauty of the mansion and its décor, Ms. Northup said, adding that she reminds them that the house was built with the purpose of “keeping people in, keeping people from seeing each other, from socializing, from talking,” she said. “It was a prison. That is what I’m trying to make people understand — you are in a beautiful prison.”