Heritage is Eroding: The Point Molate Shrimp Camp and Coastal Erosion in Richmond, California

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "In the Sticks but Not in the Weeds: Diversity, Remembrance, and the Forging of the Rural American West", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

For over 50 years, Chinese American shrimpers processed their catches on the banks of San Pablo Bay in what is now Richmond, California. Dozens of Chinese Americans lived at the Point Molate Shrimp Camp (CA-CCO-506H) where they worked for competing shrimp processing companies owned and operated by Chinese American entrepreneurs. The small village they created is now an archaeological site that is imminently threatened by coastal erosion. This talk is a summary of a collaborative community-based project conducted by the University of California, Berkeley to document the site, teach archaeological survey and artifact identification to undergraduate students, and collect valuable information that can be used by Chinese American community to have a deeper understanding of the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• In the Sticks but Not in the Weeds: Diversity, Remembrance, and the Forging of the Rural American West

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow