Remembering River Road: A Study of Three African American Communities in the Lower Cape Fear Region of North Carolina

Summary

This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This project focused on African Americans who lived and worked on several of the plantations in the Lower Cape Fear region of North Carolina during the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of the powerful landowners in this region are known and included in the local historical narrative, but disenfranchised groups, such as the enslaved or working class African Americans, have not been incorporated in the larger story, even though these places feature prominently in regional history. Using a combination of deeds, census records, cemetery lists, and other documents, an attempt was made to organize people into the communities they once lived. This study helps to diversify and tell a more complete story of this region, further incorporating the people that made the operation of these plantations possible. Future archaeologists in this region can use the information gained through this project to associate excavated physical remains with the people who once utilized them.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2020 SHA General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 386