Examining the Archaeology of Critical Whiteness at Montpelier

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Critical Archaeologies of Whiteness", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This paper will bring attention to possible avenues of inquiry at James Madison’s Montpelier to explore the ways that whiteness was a prevalent factor on the plantation. It will explore the plantation landscape, architecture, and material culture of the Madison family and their white employees who lived at the overseer’s house on the property. These efforts will explore ways that the material life of white people on the plantation developed and supported concepts of white racial superiority, privilege, and racist ideology. Additionally, the paper will address ideas or opportunities for using archaeology to engage with visitors and program participants on the ways that whiteness has been an invisible, yet powerful, means of providing privilege and supporting inequity in our nation. And, it will address the ways that presidential homes such as Montpelier can work to address and make visible the ways whiteness has permeated and influenced their own practice

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Critical Archaeologies of Whiteness

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow