Memory and Engagement with Sacred Ground: the many publics of Mount Vernon's African-American Cemetery

Summary

In 2013, Mount Vernon's archaeology department began a long term research project to locate the graves of enslaved and emancipated individuals interred within the African-American cemetery on the home quarter of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate.  Four years deep, dozens of graves have been reclaimed from new growth forest and the cemetery has taken on new life as a touchstone of memory and an interpretive vehicle for a diverse array of descendants, scholars, and visitors to the historic estate from across the globe.  This paper examines the levels of engagement and horizons of meaning invested by various "publics" through the lens of material offerings left by contemporary visitors and commemorative practices that often materialize in both communal and deeply personal ways on sacred ground.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Monuments, Commemoration, and Heritage: New Perspectives on the Archaeology of Cemeteries and Commemoration   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 694