Confronting Confederate Narratives: Archaeology at the Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park

Summary

In recent years, the southern United States has experienced a growing movement to remove confederate memorials from public spaces. These efforts have initiated a dialogue about representations of heritage, and the ethics of memorialization. Arguments for the removal of these memorials and monuments maintain that they misrepresent the past, and minimize the suffering of enslaved people and their descendants. Gamble Plantation was one of several sugar plantations established along the Manatee River in Ellenton, Florida in the mid-19th century, and had nearly 200 enslaved laborers at its peak. Judah P. Benjamin, whom the site commemorates, was the confederate Secretary of State, and took refuge at the site for a brief period before escaping to England. Archaeological research currently in progress at the site aims to complicate the current site narrative that focuses primarily on Robert Gamble (the plantation owner) and the confederate history, by developing a more inclusive historical perspective.

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

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 553