Geographically and Socially on the Periphery: People of Color and their Role in Social Life in Nantucket, Massachusetts

Summary

The Boston-Higginbotham House, located on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, was constructed by Seneca Boston, an African-American former slave, and his native Wampanoag wife Thankful Micah in the 18th century.  The couple's descendants continued to own and inhabit the home for more than a century until it passed to the Boston Museum of African American History.  Archaeological excavations conducted by the University of Massachusetts Boston at the home in 2008 shed light on the ways inhabitants negotiated their identities as people of color.  The continued investigation of the home in 2014 adds to this knowledge, examining the location of the island of Nantucket as geographically on the periphery and the social position of the house's inhabitants as non-Anglo-Americans.  The research shows that although Seneca Boston and his descendants lived socially on the periphery in a rural community, they purposefully and actively participated in the vibrant community's social life.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015   •
• Poster Session 1

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 406