Landscapes of Silence at the First Baptist Church

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Recent excavations at the First Baptist Church on Nassau Street in Williamsburg, Virginia, have illuminated significant information about the site, most notably the presence of over 60 burials. However, the First Baptist site also provides an opportunity to literally excavate the history of our own discipline. Following the concept of an “anthropology of White supremacy” (Beliso-de Jesus & Pierre 2020), I examine the history of archaeological research at the First Baptist site from 1956 to present and its contrasting deployments: first to erase the First Baptist community from the museum landscape and, seventy years later, to uncover and memorialize that same history. I discuss the creation of physical and symbolic landscapes within the museum and the ways in which Black history was displaced during the creation of Colonial Williamsburg. I then examine the ongoing, community-driven archaeological project which is resituating the site within the visible historical landscape. In the past five years, the project has garnered national and international attention as an example of ethical, community-engaged research. However, I suggest that while this project is a good start, there is still much work to be done in the pursuit of a truly ethical, reconciliatory archaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38625.0