Black Bodies Matter: Violence Against Black Women Across the Life Course

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Archaeology of Urban Dissonance: Violence, Friction, and Change" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Beginning with the recent movements #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName, I consider how bioarchaeology can be used to reveal the long history of violence against black women in the United States. I do so by studying the skeletal and archival remains of 79 black women who were dissected in New York City during the Progressive Era. Many of these women lived through and witnessed race riots in the city, including the Anti-Abolitionist Riots (1834), The 1863 Draft Riots, and the Tenderloin Race Riot (1900). They also lived through various social reform movements and died during the Progressive Era. Their remains are now valued for potential scientific contributions. I reflect upon how as a black woman and anthropologist I am living through and witnessing events similar to those that transpired over a century ago, and consider what else these women’s bodies might tell us about our current moment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology of Urban Dissonance: Violence, Friction, and Change   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology