Archaeologies of African American Life in the Upper Mid-Atlantic

Michael J. Gall is a principal senior archaeologist at Richard Grubb and Associates, Inc., in Cranbury, New Jersey, and has directed more than two hundred archaeological projects in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.Richard F. Veit is professor of anthropology and chair of the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University. He is a North American historical archaeologist whose research focuses on the Mid-Atlantic region between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries. He is the author and coauthor of six books including Digging New Jersey's Past: Historical Archaeology in the Garden State.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Exploring and Contextualizing Historic African American Life in a Cultural Borderland, 1690s to 1950s — Michael J. Gall and Richard F. VeitPart I Slavery and Material Culture1. Identifying an Eighteenth-Century Slave Quarter Complex at the Cedar Creek Road Site in Southern Delaware — William B. Liebeknecht2. Colonoware in the Upper Mid-Atlantic and Northeast — Keri J. Sansevere3. An Archaeological View of Slavery and Social Relations at Rock Hall, Lawrence, New York — Ross Thomas Rava and Christopher N. MatthewsPart II Housing, Community, and Labor4. Navigation and Negotiation: Adaptive Strategies of a Free African American Family in Central Delaware — Michael J. Gall, Glenn R. Modica, and Tabitha C. Hilliard5. The Material Culture of Tenancy: Excavations at an African American Tenant Farm, Christiana, Pennsylvania — James A. Delle6. Mapping Marshalltown: Documentary Archaeology of a Southern New Jersey Landscape of Emancipation — Janet L. Sheridan7. Tenants on the Woodlot: The Bird-Houston Site, St. Georges Hundred, Delaware — Jason P. Shellenhamer and John Bedell8. The Relationships of Race, Class, and Food in the African American Community of Timbuctoo, New Jersey — Christopher BartonPart III Death and Memorialization9. “Born a Slave, Died Free:” Antebellum African American Gravemarkers in Northern New Jersey — Richard F. Veit and Mark Nonestied10. Above the Valley and Below the Radar: Mount Gilead African Methodist Episcopal Church and Its Community — Meagan M. Ratini11. An African American Union Soldier Remembered: James Elbert and the African Union Church Cemetery in Polktown, Delaware — David OrrPart IV Reflections12. Reflections on Dynamic African American Social Cultures and Communities in the Upper Mid-Atlantic, 1610s to 1950s — Christopher C. Fennell13. African American Cultures and Place in the Greater Delaware Valley Borderland, 1620s to 1920s — Lu Ann De CunzoReferences CitedContributorsIndex

Editors Gall and Veit offer a fascinating historical spectrum of regionally specific sites within African American archaeology. The collected works go above and beyond the initial goal of simply 'call[ing] attention to the historical contexts in which enslaved and free blacks lived, the obstacles they faced in daily life, and the ongoing power struggles within white dominated or controlled communities.' . . . A terrific addition to the study of African American archaeology. Highly recommended." - CHOICE"This is an important collection for at least two reasons. First, it expands the knowledge about African-American daily life. All books published on the subject in archaeology also make this contribution, and each is valuable for this reason alone. But in this particular case, readers are confronted with the reality that African captivity for the purposes of forced labour existed throughout the USA until the middle of the nineteenth century, and that African-Americans still faced significant challenges after emancipation. This book offers additional object lessons to shatter the silence that once surrounded the practice of human bondage in the American North. Equally striking is the authors' appreciation for the infrangible connection between past and present. [. . .] That the authors of this collection, along with growing numbers of archaeologists, are willing to use their research to illuminate the historical legacies of the USA's most damning social disgrace is a healthy sign for the discipline." - American Antiquity"This volume is an important regional contribution to the story of African Americans in a borderland that has been little studied. It uses the latest techniques of the growing field of historical archaeology to provide us with new insights on a critical part of American history." - American Archaeology"This volume is essential for scholars of African Americans, working class families, industrialization, capitalism, landscape organization, and consumerism. Past publications have often concentrated on the limitations of African American lives and achievements. Contemporary scholars highlight the agency of these marginalized groups-the talents, skills, and inspirational tactics that allowed these families to negotiate their lives, support one another, and express their identity in a highly racialized society. Together we strive for a more perfect union." - Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology"The first comprehensive look at the archaeology of African American sites in the Upper Mid-Atlantic. This volume should be well received by historical archaeologists of the African diaspora and historians alike." - J. W. Joseph, president of the Society for Historical Archaeology and coeditor of Another's Country: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on Cultural Interactions in the Southern Colonies" . . . the combined fields of archaeology and history-inclusive of material culture-offer an excellent scholarly foray into the early lives of African Americans and the legacies that continue to resonate today." - Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography