Tales From the Foot: An Oral History Project

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Exploring the Recent Past" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Established in the early 1900s, The Foot was once a thriving African American neighborhood located below Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri.  The Foot was home to black-owned businesses that provided goods and services to a segregated population not always welcome in the white-owned businesses.  In the 1950s and 60s, highway construction and urban renewal destroyed the neighborhood, leaving little trace of a once vibrant past.  In 2014, the Missouri Department of Transportation designed a new interchange in a portion of the former Foot .  In addition to an archaeological survey, MoDOT and the Historic City of Jefferson worked together to record and transcribe recollections of life in The Foot.  These memories provide a glimpse into the life of those who created their own community out of necessity rather than desire.  They also help archaeologists piece together findings from the field that further enriches the history of The Foot.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Exploring the Recent Past

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 252