An Archaeology of Homeplace at the Parting Ways, an African-American Settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts
Author(s): Karen A Hutchins
Year: 2016
Summary
The paper will explore how the African-American residents of a late 18th- and 19th-century community called Parting Ways in Plymouth, Massachusetts constructed a homeplace in the years following their emancipation from slavery. Beyond their importance to household productivity, daily practices—for example, cooking, eating meals, taking tea, and household chores—constituted social interactions and exchanges between individuals that fostered a sense of security and strengthened the bonds of family, friendship, and community, and were the means through which the homeplace was built and given meaning to those who experienced it. This paper presents an archaeology of the homeplace at Parting Ways that links these quotidian practices to the creation of meaningful spaces for individual families and the local African-American community.
Cite this Record
An Archaeology of Homeplace at the Parting Ways, an African-American Settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Karen A Hutchins. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Washington, D.C. 2016 ( tDAR id: 434660)
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Keywords
General
African Diaspora
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homeplace
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Material Culture
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
1779-1840
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 93