The Tale of Two Plantations: Uncovering 19th Century Enslaved African American Houses in Western Tennessee

Summary

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

Within plantation archaeological sites, locating enslaved African American houses are often difficult due to their ephemeral signatures on the contemporary landscape. Many times, the house structures were burned down (after emancipation) and/or the architectural materials were repurposed. But the narratives tied to these dialectical spaces of struggle and oppression vs. resistance and familial and community cohesion should be explored and investigated. Since 2013, Rhodes College has located and excavated two different plantations, Fanny Dickins (400 acres) and Cedar Grove (5000 acres), which housed enslaved African Americans in the modern Ames-land base in Western Tennessee. Although the plantations are only located two miles from each other, detecting the 19th century houses at each site presented its own set of challenges. Within this poster, we will explore what methodological approaches (oral history, historical documents, non-invasive techniques and archaeological survey) were most useful to identify and reconstruct the tale of these two plantations.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• 2020 SHA Poster Submissions

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 1056