Life and Labor: An Archaeological Exploration of the Lives of Enslaved African Americans at Fort Snelling, Minnesota

Author(s): Sophie Minor

Year: 2020

Summary

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

This study explores ongoing research at the military site of Fort Snelling at Bdote located in St. Paul, Minnesota. This study focuses on the lives and roles of enslaved African Americans at the Fort between the fort’s construction in the 1820s to emancipation in 1863. Specifically, this study focuses on the Commandant’s House kitchen area where enslaved individuals are known to have worked and lived. Through the study of artifacts and faunal materials recovered from the kitchen the lives of the individuals who were forced to labor there can be more fully understood. In addition, this new information can be utilized by interpreters at the site to deconstruct the Euro-centric narrative that has long served as the centerpiece for this popular historic site.

Cite this Record

Life and Labor: An Archaeological Exploration of the Lives of Enslaved African Americans at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Sophie Minor. 2020 ( tDAR id: 457382)

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

General
Midwest Military Slavery

Geographic Keywords
United States of America

Temporal Keywords
1820-1863

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 477