Many thoughts rumbled for space in my head as I watched the media’s relentless updates about the flames slowly engulfing the historic Nottoway Plantation in White Castle.

First, I thought it was interesting that it was a plantation burning. That was a strategy of the Union army in the Civil War, to burn down plantations that could provide food for Confederate soldiers.

That thought was then overtaken by my knowledge that Nottoway was known as a plantation that kicked the human horrors of its origins under its grand sofas. In my mind, the destructive yellow and orange flames became emblematic of the federal and state governments’ current efforts to minimize or destroy information about the suffering that happened at places like Nottoway.

In the news accounts, some spoke glowingly of Nottoway. After all, it is described as the largest surviving antebellum plantation home in the South. Written descriptions said it was a 53,000-square-foot Greek Revival and Italianate-style mansion. (I dunno what that means, but I was born into a three-room house, no hot water, no tub and no toilet. I think it was Black Church Revival Shotgun-style.)

But, while adjectives overflowed about Nottoway among reporters, I swear I could hear the faint sounds of slaves, human beings forced to work home construction, tend sugar cane fields and supply the plantation owner the broken-back work needed to keep his family fed and rich.

Working sugar cane was the most brutal of plantation jobs. That, the heat and poor food probably shortened the life span of many slaves.

Ed Pratt

A common phrase in the Black community when I grew up was that those slaves, then later plantation workers, “worked from can’t see (in the morning) to can’t see (at night).” They were denied any form of human dignity, as the owners sipped mint juleps.

As Nottoway’s ceiling fell, I could imagine Black women wailing as their children, even infants, were sold to other slaveowners like horses and shoes. I could hear the frail, muffled sounds of Black women being raped, while their families and friends could do nothing but accept the outcome.

As the fire continued its slow march through Nottoway, it reminded me of the effort across the nation to burn down the history of my people. Like Nottoway, they want the cruelty done to Blacks and, in some instances, even the heroism of Black people lessened or swept away like ashes from a fire.

Young and old deserve to know the true history of this country, even if they must ask about an old newspaper photo showing grandpa yelling at young Black people at a lunch counter or walking to a classroom.

I wonder if I would have felt differently about Nottoway had its owners done what another plantation a few miles away has done.

In its online advertisement, the Whitney Plantation in Wallace has this interesting message: “Whitney preserves the history of those enslaved with facts, testimonies, and memorials … No one should let the current times in the United States deter us from hearing and speaking the truth — here or abroad.”

As I used to hear from an old history teacher: “Write that down.”

But as the Whitney tells it straight, education and government officials here and across the nation, under the guise of protecting students, are fighting to board up the real history of the country. This includes book bans, curriculum restrictions and state-level mandates intended to downplay or erase the struggles, heroic resistance and contributions of Black people. Well, just like Nottoway.

Let me be clear. If the owners of that plantation want to use it for anything, from a dance hall to a wedding facility to a place for country western bands, that’s all fine. But given the inhumanity that ruled the people who suffered there every day, they deserve to have some information about their unbelievable struggle in that building and on the website.

Now, do I have any personal feeling about Nottoway burning? I saw where many people rejoiced, even posting “burn, baby burn” on social media. I think I know where they are coming from. I believe sometimes things happen for a reason, and I’ll leave it at that.

Word has it that the owner may rebuild the site. If he does, it will be great if he adds information about the real history of Nottoway.

It will be the right thing to do, and I hope to see it.