Silenced Lifeways:The Archaeology of Free African-American Communities in the Indiana and Illinois Borderlands
Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2019
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Silenced Lifeways:The Archaeology of Free African-American Communities in the Indiana and Illinois Borderlands," at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
Prior to the Civil War free African-Americans established a series of rural farmstead communities in the southern parts of Indiana and Illinois on lands now contained on the Hoosier and Shawnee National Forests. Such settlements typically consisted of dispersed farmsteads occupied by related families centered around churches, schools, cemeteries and landscape features that helped create a shared identity. Oral histories as well as the location of such communities on lands near or bordering former slave states attest to their role in helping African-American escapees from slavery on their pathway to freedom. Over the past 20 years archaeological investigations conducted in both Indiana and Illinois have begun to break through the historical silences that surround such communities, providing a fuller picture of the daily lived experiences of those free African-Americans who deliberately placed themselves and their families in unsafe borderland areas in order to assist others in their quest for freedom.
Other Keywords
antebellum •
Education •
Underground Railroad •
African-American •
Community •
Farmstead •
African Diaspora •
Midwest •
Virtual reality •
Borderland
Temporal Keywords
19th Century •
1840-1900
Geographic Keywords
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) •
Delaware (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-4 of 4)
- Documents (4)
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In Search of Freedom: Investigating 19th Century African American Settlement Development in Southern Indiana (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Silenced Lifeways:The Archaeology of Free African-American Communities in the Indiana and Illinois Borderlands" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. During the early 19th century, free African Americans began moving from North Carolina to Orange County, Indiana, developing a small farming community in Southeast Township. This community, known today as the Lick Creek African American Settlement, thrived for several...
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The "Place Where No One Ever Goes": The Landscape and Archaeology of the Miller Grove Community (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Silenced Lifeways:The Archaeology of Free African-American Communities in the Indiana and Illinois Borderlands" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The African-American inhabitants of the Miller Grove community in southeastern Illinois lived within a dynamic landscape of interlocking natural and cultural features that expressed their identity as a free people as well as their resistance to slavery. Bluffs and caves...
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Teaching Hidden Histories: A VRchaeology Experience of the Miller Grove Community (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Silenced Lifeways:The Archaeology of Free African-American Communities in the Indiana and Illinois Borderlands" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Free African American communities in southern Illinois have complex social histories underwritten by ideas of freedom, slavery and resistance. The compelling dynamics of church, community, and negotiated inter-ethnic experiences faced by our nation’s first generation of free...
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Using Material Culture to Understand Freed African-American Lifeways in Early 19th Century Borderland Communities of Indiana and Illinois (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Silenced Lifeways:The Archaeology of Free African-American Communities in the Indiana and Illinois Borderlands" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. This paper presents a comparative analysis of historic assemblages from two Antebellum African-American communities to better understand resilience among these freed groups. Recently excavated materials from the Lick Creek Community within the Hoosier National Forest and the...