"We have Enriched it with our Blood and Tears": Debating Citizenship and Colonization at Montpelier

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Materialities of (Un)Freedom: Examining the Material Consequences of Inequality within Historical Archaeology", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In his 1829 Appeal, David Walker argued for African Americans citizenship, asking, "will they drive us from our property and homes, which we have earned with our blood?" The Appeal was part of a larger resistance in Black political thought against the racist political policy of Colonization, championed by the American Colonization Society and put into practice during the Monroe administration. This debate over colonization was grounded at the intersection of race, space, citizenship, and freedom. At its core, the debate was over who was American, and who was not. This paper argues that archaeology provides an opportunity to explore how enslaved African Americans participated in this debate through placemaking and consumer practices that expressed their alignment with Walker's views. It will use the archaeological record of the African Americans enslaved by US President James Madison, who was also the third president of the American Colonization Society.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Materialities of (Un)Freedom: Examining the Material Consequences of Inequality within Historical Archaeology

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow