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

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.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Bringing back the Community: Archaeology of an Early 19th Century Enslaved Community at James Madison’s Montpelier in Orange County Virginia   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015

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Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 173

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