Labor, settlement, and race: Investigating ‘Plural’ Sites in Eastern Long Island, NY

Summary

The making of communities is often treated as a quasi-natural process in which people of similar backgrounds and heritage or people living in close proximity form meaningful and mutual ties. Missing from this approach is an appreciation of the ties that bind people to others that are beyond their own control. Especially in contexts of inequality, communities form around shared interests in perpetuating, dismantling, or simply surviving the disproportionate distribution of resources. This paper investigates the formation of communities of color in eastern Long Island in the 19th century by looking at intersections between labor and settlement as evidence for how Native and African American people worked within and against the systems that controlled them. By considering patterns in class and race formation, we can better understand formative elements of the region’s working class.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Labor and Plurality: Excavating the Political Economy of Identity   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-58,02