Archaeologies of African American Life in the Upper Mid-Atlantic

New scholarship provides insights into the archaeology and cultural history of African American life from a collection of sites in the northeastern United States. This groundbreaking volume explores the archaeology of African American life and cultures in the Upper Mid-Atlantic region, using sites dating from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Sites in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are all examined, highlighting the potential for historical archaeology to illuminate the often overlooked contributions and experiences of the region's free and enslaved African American settlers. Archaeologies of African American Life in the Upper Mid-Atlantic brings together cutting-edge scholarship from both emerging and established scholars . Analyzing the research through sophisticated theoretical lenses and employing up-to-date methodologies, the essays reveal the diverse ways in which African Americans reacted to and resisted the challenges posed by life in a borderland between the North and South through the transition from slavery to freedom. In addition to extensive archival research, contributors synthesize the material finds of archaeological work in slave quarter sites, tenant farms, communities, and graveyards. Editors Michael J. Gall and Richard F. Veit have gathered new and nuanced perspectives on the important role free and enslaved African Americans played in the region's cultural history. This collection provides scholars of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, African American studies, material culture studies, religious studies, slavery, the African diaspora, and historical archaeologists with a well-balanced array of rural archaeological sites that represent cultural traditions and developments among African Americans in the region. Collectively, these sites illustrate African Americans' formation of fluid cultural and racial identities, communities, religious traditions, and modes of navigating complex, cultural landscapes in the region under harsh and disenfranchising circumstances. This Collection Provides A Broad Overview Of The Historical Archaeology Of African American Life From The Early 18th To The Mid-20th Century In New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, And Southeastern New York--provided By Publisher. Introduction: Exploring And Contextualizing African American Life In A Cultural Borderland, 1690s To 1950s / Michael J. Gall And Richard F. Veit -- Part I. Slavery And Material Culture -- Identifying An Eighteenth-century Slave Quarter Complex At The Cedar Creek Road Site In Southern Delaware / William B. Liebeknecht -- Colonoware In The Upper Mid-atlantic And Northeast / Keri J. Sansevere -- An Archaeological View Of Slavery And Social Relations At Rock Hall, Lawrence, New York / Ross Thomas Rava And Christopher N. Matthews -- Part Ii. Housing, Community, And Labor -- Navigation And Negotiation : Adaptive Strategies Of A Free African American Family In Central Delaware / Michael J. Gall, Glenn R. Modica, And Tabitha C. Hilliard -- The Material Culture Of Tenancy : Excavations At An African American Tenant Farm, Christiana, Pennsylvania / James A. Delle -- Mapping Marshalltown : Documentary Archaeology Of A Southern New Jersey Landscape Of Emancipation / Janet L. Sheridan -- Tenants On The Woodlot : The Bird-houston Site, St. Georges Hundred, Delaware / Jason P. Shellenhamer And John Bedell -- The Relationships Of Race, Class, And Food In The African American Community Of Timbuctoo, New Jersey / Christopher Barton -- Part Iii. Death And Memorialization -- Born A Slave, Died Free : Antebellum African American Gravemarkers In Northern New Jersey / Richard F. Veit And Mark Nonestied -- Above The Valley And Below The Radar : Mount Gilead African Methodist Episcopal Church And Its Community / Meagan M. Ratini -- An African American Union Soldier Remembered : James Elbert And The African Union Church Cemetery In Polktown, Delaware / David Orr -- Part Iv. Reflections -- Reflections On Dynamic African American Social Cultures And Communities In Upper Mid-atlantic, 1610s To 1950s / Christopher C. Fennell -- African American Cultures And Place In The Greater Delaware Valley Borderland -- 1620s To 1920s / Lu Ann De Cunzo. Edited By Michael J. Gall And Richard F. Veit. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents 6 List of Illustrations 8 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction: Exploring and Contextualizing Historic African American Life in a Cultural Borderland, 1690s to 1950s / Michael J. Gall and Richard F. Veit 16 Part I. Slavery and Material Culture 34 1. Identifying an Eighteenth-Century Slave Quarter Complex at the Cedar Creek Road Site in Southern Delaware / William B. Liebeknecht 36 2. Colonoware in the Upper Mid-Atlantic and Northeast / Keri J. Sansevere 52 3. An Archaeological View of Slavery and Social Relations at Rock Hall, Lawrence, New York / Ross Thomas Rava and Christopher N. Matthews 70 Part II. Housing, Community, and Labor 84 4. Navigation and Negotiation: Adaptive Strategies of a Free African American Family in Central Delaware / Michael J. Gall, Glenn R. Modica, and Tabitha C. Hilliard 86 5. The Material Culture of Tenancy: Excavations at an African American Tenant Farm, Christiana, Pennsylvania / James A. Delle 103 6. Mapping Marshalltown: Documentary Archaeology of a Southern New Jersey Landscape of Emancipation / Janet L. Sheridan 116 7. Tenants on the Woodlot: The Bird-Houston Site, St. Georges Hundred, Delaware / Jason P. Shellenhamer and John Bedell 131 8. The Relationships of Race, Class, and Food in the African American Community of Timbuctoo, New Jersey / Christopher Barton 145 Part III. Death and Memorialization 158 9. “Born a Slave, Died Free:” Antebellum African American Gravemarkers in Northern New Jersey / Richard F. Veit and Mark Nonestied 160 10. Above the Valley and Below the Radar: Mount Gilead African Methodist Episcopal Church and Its Community / Meagan M. Ratini 173 11. An African American Union Soldier Remembered: James Elbert and the African Union Church Cemetery in Polktown, Delaware / David Orr 186 Part IV. Reflections 198 12. Reflections on Dynamic African American Social Cultures and Communities in the Upper Mid-Atlantic, 1610s to 1950s / Christopher C. Fennell 200 13. African American Cultures and Place in the Greater Delaware Valley Borderland, 1620s to 1920s / Lu Ann De Cunzo 213 References Cited 228 Contributors 272 Index 276 A 2018 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title New scholarship provides insights into the archaeology and cultural history of African American life from a collection of sites in the Mid-Atlantic This groundbreaking volume explores the archaeology of African American life and cultures in the Upper Mid-Atlantic region, using sites dating from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Sites in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are all examined, highlighting the potential for historical archaeology to illuminate the often overlooked contributions and experiences of the region's free and enslaved African American settlers. Archaeologies of African American Life in the Upper Mid-Atlantic brings together cutting-edge scholarship from both emerging and established scholars. Analyzing the research through sophisticated theoretical lenses and employing up-to-date methodologies, the essays reveal the diverse ways in which African Americans reacted to and resisted the challenges posed by life in a borderland between the North and South through the transition from slavery to freedom. In addition to extensive archival research, contributors synthesize the material finds of archaeological work in slave quarter sites, tenant farms, communities, and graveyards. Editors Michael J. Gall and Richard F. Veit have gathered new and nuanced perspectives on the important role free and enslaved African Americans played in the region's cultural history. This collection provides scholars of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, African American studies, material culture studies, religious studies, slavery, the African diaspora, and historical archaeologists with a well-balanced array of rural archaeological sites that represent cultural traditions and developments among African Americans in the region. Collectively, these sites illustrate African Americans'formation of fluid cultural and racial identities, communities, religious traditions, and modes of navigating complex cultural landscapes in the region under harsh and disenfranchising circumstances. A 2018 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title New scholarship provides insights into the archaeology and cultural history of African American life from a collection of sites in the Mid-Atlantic This groundbreaking volume explores the archaeology of African American life and cultures in the Upper Mid-Atlantic region, using sites dating from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Sites in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are all examined, highlighting the potential for historical archaeology to illuminate the often overlooked contributions and experiences of the regions free and enslaved African American settlers. Archaeologies of African American Life in the Upper Mid-Atlantic brings together cutting-edge scholarship from both emerging and established scholars . Analyzing the research through sophisticated theoretical lenses and employing up-to-date methodologies, the essays reveal the diverse ways in which African Americans reacted to and resisted the challenges posed by life in a borderland between the North and South through the transition from slavery to freedom. In addition to extensive archival research, contributors synthesize the material finds of archaeological work in slave quarter sites, tenant farms, communities, and graveyards. Editors Michael J. Gall and Richard F. Veit have gathered new and nuanced perspectives on the important role free and enslaved African Americans played in the regions cultural history. This collection provides scholars of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, African American studies, material culture studies, religious studies, slavery, the African diaspora, and historical archaeologists with a well-balanced array of rural archaeological sites that represent cultural traditions and developments among African Americans in the region. Collectively, these sites illustrate African Americans formation of fluid cultural and racial identities, communities, religious traditions, and modes of navigating complexcultural landscapes in the region under harsh and disenfranchising circumstances. "This groundbreaking volume explores the archaeology of African American life and cultures in the Upper Mid-Atlantic region, using sites dating from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Sites in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are all examined, highlighting the potential for historical archaeology to illuminate the often overlooked contributions and experiences of the region's free and enslaved African American settlers. Archaeologies of African American Life in the Upper Mid-Atlantic brings together cutting-edge scholarship from both emerging and established scholars. Analyzing the research through sophisticated theoretical lenses and employing up-to-date methodologies, the essays reveal the diverse ways in which African Americans reacted to and resisted the challenges posed by life in a borderland between the North and South through the transition from slavery to freedom. In addition to extensive archival research, contributors synthesize the material finds of archaeological work in slave quarter sites, tenant farms, communities, and graveyards. Editors Michael J. Gall and Richard F. Veit have gathered new and nuanced perspectives on the important role free and enslaved African Americans played in the region's cultural history. This collection provides scholars of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, African American studies, material culture studies, religious studies, slavery, the African diaspora, and historical archaeologists with a well-balanced array of rural archaeological sites that represent cultural traditions and developments among African Americans in the region. Collectively, these sites illustrate African Americans' formation of fluid cultural and racial identities, communities, religious traditions, and modes of navigating complex cultural landscapes in the region under harsh and disenfranchising circumstances."--Résumé de l'éditeur