Sugar Land 95: Using Investigative Genetic Genealogy to Identify Individuals from a Clandestine African American Cemetery

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Sugar Land 95 are victims of the convict leasing era in the United States that began after the ratification of the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery,"...except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted..." (U.S. Const. Amend 13). As a result, the Sugar Land 95 individuals were leased to sugar plantations in Sugar Land, Texas, where they were forced to work in brutal conditions and endure abuse and neglect at the hands of plantation owners. These individuals sustained numerous injuries, including gunshot wounds, bone infections, fractures, head injuries, and many other ante- and perimortem injuries evidenced on the skeletal remains. The remains of the Sugar Land 95 were disinterred in 2018 and subsequently analyzed to create biological profiles, and assess trauma, pathologies, and taphonomic condition. These profiles were compared to historical records to begin identifying the individuals as well as their living descendants. Today, Principal Research Group 501(C), and the Snow Molecular Anthropology Laboratory have begun the process of genetic identification using Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy. This cemetery represents a unique opportunity not only to restore identity but to test the validity of FIGG for historic/degraded samples.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53359