Epitaphs, paternalism, and post-mortem resistance of African and African Americans in colonial New England

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Epitaphs, an example of the overlap of text and material culture, have been given little research focus from a linguistic standpoint and archaeology has not fully utilized written text as a branch of material culture, despite the information epitaphs provide about changes in language and social attitudes toward religion, class, race, and death. New England gravestones reflect the region’s artistic and literary legacy as well as ideals of liberty, freedom, and justice, but New England’s active participation in slavery is overlooked in favor of “benevolent slavery” myths. This paper analyzed epitaphs from majority colonial-era New England burial grounds belonging to enslaved Africans and African Americans to explore attitudes toward race in a Eurocentric but self-perceived “progressive” society. The study found that epitaphs commissioned by Euro-American slave owners were more likely to be imbedded with paternalistic views, while those commissioned by blacks likely showed evidence of resistance to this paternalism.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2022 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology