Naming the Unnamed: Identifying Colonial Williamsburg's Early Black Archaeologists

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Returning to Colonial Williamsburg (General Sessions)" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Descriptions of Williamsburg’s earliest excavations have thoughtlessly applied the term “unskilled labor” or “day laborers” to the local African American workforce employed to expose brick foundations between the late 1920s and 1960. Even as Historical Archaeology found its footing in the 60s and 70s, the budding discipline continued to rely on the African American community for labor. Generally unidentified in site photos, and unmentioned in site reports, these early excavators were neither unskilled nor temporary; many developed a depth of knowledge and expertise that has furthered the growth of Historical Archaeology. Using oral histories, images, and site notes, this project works to identify previously unacknowledged Black archaeologists and their contributions to Colonial Williamsburg.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Returning to Colonial Williamsburg (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology