Illegitimate Children, Single Parents, and Methodism in an African American Enclave in the Dominican Republic

Summary

In previous research on an African American enclave in Samaná, Dominican Republic baptism and marriage records have provided a wealth of information; this data has been looked at for marriage patterns within and beyond the confines of the community, naming practices, and even spatial information regarding where individuals lived. This paper, however, will begin a discussion on a component of these documents which has, to date, gone unexplored: legitimacy rates and the baptism of illegitimate children. The African Americans living in Samaná often tried to distance themselves from their Dominican and Haitian counterparts through their emphasis on education and their adherence to their Protestant faith. How, then, does the baptism and presence of illegitimate children and their single parents within the community fit into the Americans’ model of the larger Samanesa society? This paper will contribute to a more well-rounded view of this diasporic community.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Periphery of the Research Project: Tangential Narratives, Side Data, and Interesting Tidbits   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 64