Living in Work Spaces and Working in Living Spaces: Intersections of Labor and Domesticity in the Enslaved Community at Montpelier.

Author(s): Eric Schweickart

Year: 2015

Summary

The lives of the members of the enslaved community at James Madison’s plantation in Virginia, Montpelier, were shaped by the types of work they were expected to do in order to keep the president’s mansion and farm running smoothly.  Archaeological excavations at several different early 19th century enslaved households at Montpelier reveal the way their inhabitant’s labors influenced the domestic activities which took place within and around these structures.  By comparing and contrasting the artifacts found associated with buildings inhabited by slaves from different parts of the property this paper shows how plantation tasks were shared between different households and how the nature of an enslaved individual’s work effected not only their immediate families’ domestic life, but also the lives of others within their kinship network which spanned across Montpelier’s enslaved community.

Cite this Record

Living in Work Spaces and Working in Living Spaces: Intersections of Labor and Domesticity in the Enslaved Community at Montpelier.. Eric Schweickart. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Seattle, Washington. 2015 ( tDAR id: 433779) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8HQ42G7

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 173

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
SHA_Schweickart_2015.pdf 211.31kb Aug 17, 2017 6:26:38 AM Public