Race, Racism, and Montpelier

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Race, Racism, and Montpelier," at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In “How to be an Anti-Racist”, Ibram X. Kendi (2019: 18) describes racism as the “marriage of racist policies and racist ideas that produces and normalizes racial inequalities.” Montpelier, home to James Madison, our nation’s fourth President, Father of the Constitution, and architect of the Bill of Rights as well as over 300 people enslaved by the Madisons, was at the center of the creation of national policies and ideas that outlined how rights were distributed in the United States. This session will examine Montpelier’s plantation landscape by examining how Madison built racist policy into the landscape, and how it influenced the behavior and ideas of African Americans enslaved by the Madisons, and the white people who lived, worked, and visited. This session will also discuss our efforts, mistakes, and mishaps to enact anti-racist policies in the Montpelier Archaeology Department to combat racism in our home institution and throughout archaeology.

Other Keywords
Slavery • Medicine • Plantation • Race • Racism • Plantations • Gis • Landscape • 3D modeling • archaeological practice

Geographic Keywords
MIDDLE ATLANTIC • Eastern • Virginia • MID ATLANTIC • Mid-Atlantic, Virginia

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-6 of 6)

  • Documents (6)
Documents
  • Anti-Racism & Archaeological Practice at Montpelier (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mary Minkoff. Terry Brock. Matthew Reeves.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Race, Racism, and Montpelier" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Archaeologists studying the African American experience have a responsibility to not only examine the complicated relationships and emergence of race and racism in the past, but also its legacy in the present. This is particularly true when this research is done as part of a public archaeology program, especially one that claims to engage with...

  • Enslaved Below the Temple of Liberty: Exposing the Hidden Landscape of the Temple and Icehouse at James Madison's Montpelier (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Christopher J Pasch.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Race, Racism, and Montpelier" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. While the presence of enslaved African Americans in plantation museums is being increasingly acknowledged and presented, interpretations of their lives are still kept largely to the areas in which they lived and labored. Slave quarters, kitchen, vegetable gardens, trash deposits, and barns are data rich and provide invaluable insights into the...

  • Examining Racist Policy through Plantation Landscapes at Montpelier (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Terry P. Brock.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Race, Racism, and Montpelier" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. For decades, archaeologists have examined the design and orientation of plantation landscapes to understand the way plantation owners use space to shape and manipulate dynamics of power between enslaved and free people. At Montpelier, archaeological excavations and survey has revealed a great deal of evidence relating to the arrangement of...

  • Modeling Labor at a President’s House: Using 3D Technology to Document the Construction of an 18th Century Plantation Main House (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Angie Payne. Matt Reeves. Jennifer Glass.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Race, Racism, and Montpelier" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The Montpelier Foundation in partnership with University of Arkansas’s Center for Advanced Spatial Technology are working together to make the history and archaeology of James Madison’s Montpelier estate accessible to the public in an innovative way. Funded by the Institute for Museum Library Science, this work combines 3D modeling, GIS software,...

  • Outliers: Looking at Human Behavior Patterns through Vesselization (Or A Journey Through Legacy Data) (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Hannah James.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Race, Racism, and Montpelier" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Vesselization is an essential method for more accurately understanding the number, form, and use of vessels at a site. When paired with new technologies, like GIS, it can be used to understand how people’s behavior and interactions with the landscape affect how vessel sherds are deposited. Working with legacy data, I used GIS to identify vessels...

  • Unruly Bodies, Holistic Healing: Balancing the Understanding of the Health and Well-being of the Enslaved at James Madison’s Montpelier (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Taylor W Brown.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Race, Racism, and Montpelier" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Medicine is rarely neutral or objective. This was especially true in the 19th century, as physicians worked to encode slavery in the very biology of Black enslaved people. The accounting logs of President Madison’s physician paint a one-sided picture of the health of the enslaved community at Montpelier. These logs argue that their bodies were...