Not just Jed and Jethro: Erasing Diversity from Public Memory in the Ozarks

Summary

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

The dominant historical narrative of the Ozarks characterizes the region as rural, white, and agrarian, with racial diversity and industrialization limited to modern urban contexts and nearby cities like St. Louis. Building on the work of descendant-activists and avocational historians, our research in northwest Greene County, Missouri shows that while this part of the Ozarks is now predominantly rural and white, it was more industrial, urban, and racially diverse in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Using archaeological, documentary, and oral history data, we investigate the growth of Black and White communities supported by local limestone industries, daily life in Black and White households in these communities, and the eventual relocation of most Black households from northwest Greene County by the mid-20th century. An application of critical theory to the results illuminates the processes that created today’s rural, white communities and the concomitant erasure of economic and racial complexities from public memory, in both Greene County and the Ozarks generally. The findings demonstrate the value of archaeology in producing more accurate, multivocal narratives relevant to past and ongoing inequities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40263.0