Reckoning: Landscapes and Legacies of Slavery
Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2018
The landscape of Virginia, as elsewhere in the U.S., is largely a legacy of slavery. Enslaved women and men constructed roads, cleared fields, and raised buildings still used today, but the centrality of black people’s labor, skill, knowledge, and ability in crafting these spaces was often publically obscured during the twentieth century. Many people have been able to move along country roads, sidewalks in small towns, and paths on university campuses without acknowledging – some indeed oblivious to – the role that coerced labor played in their creation. Recent archaeological and historical investigations help prompt remembering and greater understanding of African-Virginians’ creation of the enduring landscape, not only re-illuminating their activity but also facilitating reflection on and discussion of the racialized past. Research focused on human remains, cemeteries, plantation yards and quarters, town lots, and university campuses obliges diverse community members, including historical archaeologists, to reckon with legacies of slavery in Virginia.
Other Keywords
Slavery •
Landscape •
Labor •
Plantations •
Social Order •
Virginia •
Memory •
Memorialization •
Access •
inequality
Temporal Keywords
Early To Mid-19th Century •
Antebellum •
19th C. •
19th and early 20th centuries •
Slavery and Post-Emancipation Time Periods •
1770-1830 •
Early National and Antebellum
Geographic Keywords
North America •
Coahuila (State / Territory) •
New Mexico (State / Territory) •
Oklahoma (State / Territory) •
Arizona (State / Territory) •
Texas (State / Territory) •
Sonora (State / Territory) •
United States of America (Country) •
Chihuahua (State / Territory) •
Nuevo Leon (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-7 of 7)
- Documents (7)
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The "Colored Dead": African American Burying Grounds in a Confederate Stronghold (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Some call Lexington, Virginia the place "where the South went to die": Generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee are buried there, along with countless Confederate soldiers. The extent to which the South truly expired is controversial, given for example the continuing, frequent presence of enthusiasts with gray uniforms and battle flags. How, in this context, have African Americans been memorialized? This paper considers marked and unmarked antebellum burials, Reconstruction-era graves, and...
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An Examination of Enslaved African Domestic and Labor Environments on St. Eustatius (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The discovery of dry stone rock features in the northern hills on the Dutch island of St. Eustatius presented a unique opportunity to investigate an enslaved African environment during the time of enslavement. Abandoned after emancipation, the intact nature of the sites held potential to add significantly to our understanding of choices enslaved Africans made in slave village design, orientation, and the construction of their dwellings, as well as the labor activities of daily life. Research for...
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Interpreting Landscapes of Slavery at James Monroe’s Highland (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The rediscovery of the previously unknown plantation house at James Monroe’s Highland has provided a new anchor to interpret the historic landscape of the 535-acre property. As much as the discovery of the Monroe house has grabbed the headlines and facilitated discussion about President Monroe’s place in American history, research into the landscapes of slavery, including dwellings, yards, and workspaces, stands to contribute even more to our understanding of social order on the plantation and...
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The Landscape through Nat Turner’s Eyes (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Landscape, to some degree, is in the eye of the beholder. In the late summer of 1831 in Southampton, Virginia, enslaved African Nat Turner led one of the largest slave revolts in U.S. history. Devoutly religious, Turner believed God summoned him to violently rise up against the white master class to end slavery. Where once Turner had gazed upon a bleak rural landscape of captivity—farms, fields, and woods, intersected by dirt roads and footpaths, as he led his insurrection, Turner saw the...
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The Rise of Slavery in the Valley of Virginia and its Enduring Presence on the Landscape of Lexington and Rockbridge County (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Settled in the 1730s by Scotch-Irish immigrants who initially eschewed the institution of slavery, Rockbridge County, Virginia eventually became home to a society reliant on the enslavement of African Americans. After the Revolution, an elite class of newly minted American citizens established its identity through economic, social, and symbolic associations with Chesapeake plantation society. William Alexander (1738-1797) and his son Andrew (1768-1844) exemplified this transition, with Andrew...
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"That Kind of Place": Re-Illuminating Enslaved Women at Buffalo Forge Plantation, Rockbridge County, Virginia (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Often unacknowledged in archival documents and recent historical research, enslaved women’s diverse roles in industrial contexts shaped antebellum Virginia’s infrastructure, economy, and culture. This paper on the Buffalo Forge iron plantation in Rockbridge County, Virginia, uses archaeological, documentary, and architectural research to illuminate enslaved women as active agents within the plantation’s complex built environment. Archaeological examination of yards around two extant quarters in...
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Up and Down the Mountain: Exploring differential access within Monticello’s enslaved community (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Recent research at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello demonstrated marked differences between the late 18th century household assemblages of enslaved laborers living in the fields and enslaved domestic and artisan workers living by the mansion. Ceramics from Mulberry Row’s mountaintop quarters exhibited more variety in ware and decoration, while those at the Site 8 field quarter included high proportions of costly decorated Chinese porcelain. Expanding the original analysis, we incorporate additional...