Democracy, Diversity, and Race: Interpreting humanities to the public through context of place at Jamestown

Summary

Jamestown Rediscovery’s museum and exhibits center on archaeological discoveries in and around 1607 James Fort, the first permanent English settlement in the new world. In addition, Jamestown is notable as the meeting place of the first representative government, the arrival of enslaved Africans, and for Virginia Indians. While the locations where these historic events took place do not change, the landscape often does, thus providing challenges to the communication of cultural concepts on the spot where they happened. Onsite interpretations should create a dialog between the site and exhibits, and the visiting public.  Archaeology provides a bridge between abstract subjects and their relevance to the visitor today. Many options were considered to convey the importance of place and historic events of 1619 and their relevance to today. This paper will elaborate on the process to decide the direction we are going in 2019.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• From Fort to Port: Examining the Legacies of 1619 at Jamestown   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 954