The Archaeology of Canaan Cemetery and Post-Emancipation Burial Traditions in the Brazos Valley

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Following emancipation, many formerly enslaved Texas formed close-knit communities known as freedom colonies, often centered around their church, cemetery, and school. Canaan Cemetery and Canaan Baptist Church, situated on six acres of Brazos River bottomland, was one such community until the church was destroyed by a tornado in the 1950s. The Archaeology of Death and Memory in the Brazos Valley project, initiated in 2020 on behalf of the Brazos Valley African American Museum, focuses on documenting and preserving the significance of the remaining Canaan Cemetery. A large number of well-preserved grave goods have been recovered from the site that represent unique burial traditions practiced by some post-emancipation Black Texas. The number of artifacts collected at Canaan Cemetery now surpasses 800; many of them shed important light on unique freedom colony burial practices, proving Canaan Cemetery to be one the most well-preserved historical sites of its type.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow