Parasitism and Care in the Schoolyard: Archaeoparasitology of an Early Twentieth-Century School Latrine in New Orleans, USA

Summary

This is an abstract from the "*SE New Orleans and Its Environs: Historical Archaeology and Environmental Precarity" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

McDonough No. 5 School (1882-1930) was built in the historic Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans and was one of the first schools to educate black children. But as the neighborhood turned whiter and wealthier, the school was renovated, the black children turned away and relocated, and the newly renovated school was given over to the white children of Algiers. In 2021, R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. conducted extensive excavation locating deposits and cultural features that were associated directly with the historic McDonogh No. 5. School. Among them, a privy feature containing large quantities of school-related artifacts and rich in nightsoil was identified. Three samples consisting of two coprolites and a general soil subsample were submitted for parasitological examination. These analyses have recovered evidence of whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) and mawworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) signaling the presence of fecal-borne parasitic infections. Low parasitic rates and the finding of medicinal bottles, some of which were marked as vermifuge, suggest that care measures were put in place. As the first of its kind in Louisiana’s historical archaeology, the present study contributes to a better understanding of the nature of parasitism and care among Black American communities at the turn of the 20th century.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• *SE New Orleans and Its Environs: Historical Archaeology and Environmental Precarity   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40238.0