Now streaming on PBS’s Independent Lens, Natchez takes a thoughtful and often uncomfortable look at how Natchez continues to market the romance of the Antebellum South while wrestling with the realities of slavery and its lasting impact. What happens when tourism meets America’s darkest history?
In our interview, director Suzannah Herbert and producer Darcy McKinnon explained that the documentary goes beyond debates over historic home tours and Southern nostalgia. Instead, they wanted Natchez to become a portrait of a town through the people who live there and the stories they choose to preserve, challenge, or reclaim.
The filmmakers discussed how generations of tourism in Natchez have centered on an idyllic vision of the Old South, even as residents confront questions about race, historical accountability, and economic survival. Herbert noted that the film explores the tension between maintaining a tourism industry built on history and recognizing the painful truths often left out of those narratives.
McKinnon also emphasized that Natchez is ultimately about community and identity. By following tour guides, residents, business owners, and descendants of enslaved people, the documentary captures a town at a crossroads — one trying to determine what stories should define its future.
Rather than offering easy answers, Natchez invites audiences to sit with the contradictions of preserving history while questioning who benefits from it and who has historically been excluded from the conversation.
