"‘All this appears to be forgotten now’": Memory, Race, and Commemoration at Red Bank Battlefield

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Beyond Battlefields: Culture and Conflict through the Philadelphia Campaign" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 1831, businessman and leader of Philadelphia’s free Black community, James Forten, wrote to William Lloyd Garrison. Only 54 years had passed since the Battle of Red Bank yet, Forten notes, the memory of Black participation in the battle had already faded. For Forten, this memory burned bright and he was not alone in his memories. Long after the battle, the African American community kept alive these memories: celebrating holidays at Red Bank in the 19th century; advocating for Black enlistment in the Civil War; challenging the 1904 monument commission to include Black patriots in their commemoration of 1777. Almost all accounts of the Battle of Red Bank fail to include the story of its Black participants. Drawing on the research of historian Bob Selig and primary sources such as abolitionist papers and newspaper accounts, this paper explores the complexities of memory, race, and commemoration at Red Bank Battlefield Park.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Beyond Battlefields: Culture and Conflict through the Philadelphia Campaign   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology