Join us for Whitney Plantation’s 10th Annual Ancestral Blessing Ceremony on February 22, 2025, from 12:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
At 12:30 p.m., we will hold the inaugural viewing of “Hope Out of Darkness,” a statue of Solomon Northup by sculptor Wesley Wofford. Solomon Northup was born free in New York in 1807. He was a skilled violinist, farmer, lumber rafter and landowner. In 1841, he was kidnapped in Washington D.C. and sold into slavery in Louisiana. The story of his capture, enslavement, and eventual freedom has been memorialized in his autobiography, Twelve Years a Slave. “Hope Out of Darkness” will be displayed permanently at the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse in 2026. The installation at Whitney Plantation will be its first public showing. Wofford says that his sculpture depicts “the duality of his life – freedom and enslavement.” In his left hand, he holds “a bundle of papers, symbolizing Northup’s free legal documents and his memoir Twelve Years a Slave.”
At 1:00 p.m., join Sister Sula, Baba Luther and the Congo Square Drummers for an ancestral blessing ceremony that honors the legacy and resilience of the people who were once enslaved at Whitney Plantation.
Entrance to the Blessing Ceremony is free of charge. Guided or self-guided tours of Whitney Plantation are available for an admissions fee.
