The Current State of African American Archaeology in New York

October 1, 2022  2:00 to 4:30 pm EST
Huxley Theater, New York State Museum, 222 Madison Avenue, Albany NY 12230

This event is free and open to the public however registration is required of non-members.

Abstract:

Contrary to popular belief, the percentage of slave-holding households was higher in New York than many places in the South. Unlike the plantation economies to the south, enslaved people in the North rarely lived in clusters of separate quarters. Most often, enslaved people of African and Indigenous descent lived in the main house, an outer kitchen, or other multi-functional outbuilding. Such complex households as well as Free and Maroon communities have been investigated on archaeological projects in urban and rural settings. Surprisingly, there are few publications which address these households and communities that existed in New York. Only in cases where a household or a community was known to have been occupied by African Americans are deposits considered reflections of their lives. Archaeologists have struggled to interpret the lives of enslaved people through the material culture of plural households. Recent investigations, however. suggest that there are ways of ‘seeing’ African Americans in diverse households. This program brings together archaeologists to share what they have learned from their experiences working with plural households and communities in New York, suggestions for better material culture analyses, and the importance of working with descendant populations and vested communities.

Featuring: Christopher Lindner, Ann Morton, Marie Lorraine Pipes, Ed Curtin, Mike Lucas, Matt Kirk, Allison McGovern, and Douglas J. Perrelli.