Submitted by Robert L. Blakely
Georgia State University
In 1989, Robert Blakely (Georgia State University) and Chad Braley (SoutheasternArchaeological Services) directed salvage archaeology in the earthen floorof the basement of the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) in Augusta, Georgia.The team recovered human bones representing hundreds of cadaver parts—arms,legs, torsos, skulls. Many of the bones show signs of postmortem dissectionand amputation. Others had been autopsied, and a few had specimen numberswritten on them with India ink. The remains include African Americans andEuro-Americans, both sexes, and all ages from fetus to the elderly. Alsorecovered were hundreds of artifacts, including scalpels, syringes, thermometers,microscope slides, coins, clothing, coffin lining, nonhuman animal bones,and medicine bottles. Some bottles contain residue of their original contents;one holds liquid preserving human organ tissue.
Because dissection was illegal in Georgia until 1887, the procurementof cadavers had to be carried out surreptitiously. Grave robbers, or "resurrectionmen" as there sometimes known, were employed by the college to robcorpses from their graves in nearby cemeteries. Bodies also were providedby local hospitals. Much of the dissected material was discarded in thebasement of the college building.
With funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and GeorgiaState University, Blakely and his students are conducting studies to learn(1) the preferences of anatomy professors in the procurement of cadavers,(2) the social attitudes and medical knowledge of the college physicians,and (3) other activities carried out at the college in the 1800s.
Throughout the project, we have attempted to minimize researcher biasin three ways: (1) by drawing upon evidence from a wide array of sources,including forensic anthropology, archaeology, experimental anatomy, historyand ethnography; (2) by involving both African-American and Euro-Americanscholars in all levels and components of the research; and (3) by engagingresidents of Augusta in the processes of discovery and interpretation.
A comparison of demographic data from the skeletal remains with censusfigures from nineteenth-century Augusta showed that MCG's professors preferredas cadavers African Americans over Euro-Americans, males over females, andadults over children. Given the prevailing social attitudes and economicrealities of the day, these findings are not unexpected. Today, with legaldissection and body donor programs, the preponderance of cadavers are Euro-American.
By replicating nineteenth century dissection techniques on modern cadavers,the investigators found that dissection in the last century was more comprehensivethan it is today. This change largely reflects two factors: (1) the specializedcourse work and medical practices of today leave far less time for trainingin gross anatomy than in the past; (2) much of anatomical dissection inthe nineteenth century entailed practice amputations, a treatment that wasquick, if not always efficacious.
The analysis of artifacts revealed that the MCG building was more thana teaching facility during the last century. Bottles containing medicinalssuch as cod liver oil indicate that there was a dispensary on the premisesfor administering to patients. Cod liver oil used be a common treatmentfor "consumption" (tuberculosis).
To its credit, the Medical College of Georgia has not tried to keep alid on a potentially embarrassing and painful aspect of its past. The boneseventually will be returned to Augusta for reinterment, and the artifactswill form part of a museum exhibit to chronicle the history of MCG, nineteenth-centurymedical practices, and the decedents who unknowingly gave themselves toscience—not once, but twice.
Submitted by Michael F. Barber and Michael B.
Barber Preservation Technologies, Inc.
The Burrell Pharmacy Site represents a window on the day to day activitiesand lifestyle of the black community in Roanoke at the turn of the century.The excavations sampled a city block of the historic Gainsboro Communityon which the Davis Hotel was situated. A number of businesses shared thebuilding throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, includinggroceries, restaurants, and the Burrell Pharmacy. The cultural remains consistedof the pharmacy foundations and a sample of an extensive trash midden deposit.Over 27,000 artifacts were recovered with a large number relating to thedrugstore era. The material culture was investigated with an eye towardcommunity, regional, and national implications. Social and economic patternswere discovered in the personal items and the commercial products availableto the Gainsboro community.
The midden deposit reflects the isolation and cohesion of the black communityduring this period in many ways. This is seen in the personal and domesticitems recovered. Personal items were relatively low in number, and limitedto small, relatively inconsequential items such as marbles, and a porcelaindoll. Although the generally low income of the black population during thisperiod provides some cause for this, personal items may be limited by otherfactors as well. Items of personal adornment may have been inappropriatefor public display due to social pressures. Whites may have deemed accessto certain wealth items as mirroring aspects of white culture which wereinappropriate.
This is not to say that wealth items were not available. One examplewould be porcelain, a well made and relatively expensive ceramic type. Theporcelain subassemblage recovered from the midden was comprised primarilyof demitasse, cup and saucer fragments for use in the American "Teaceremony". This would indicate a certain ability to demonstrate someindications of wealth within one's home which may be interpreted as inappropriatein a more public setting.
The exchange of products exhibits differential patterns at the pharmacyand neighborhood levels. Commercial goods such as medicines, ceramics, andperfumes were shipped from other states, while consumables such as sodaand beer were bottled and distributed locally. Dr. Burrell obtained medicinesfrom the Northeast and Midwest. Some of the cures were mixed and formulatedin the pharmacy, while others came prepackaged. A dual pattern becomes evidentbased on market size, product type, and investment in mechanization.
The excavations at the Dr. Isaac David Burrell Pharmacy site providedmuch information concerning the pharmacy, the Gainsboro neighborhood ofwhich it was a part, social and ethnic patterns and processes, and localand national marketing patterns of the turn of the century South. The importanceof individuals such as Dr. Burrell and communities such as the Gainsboroneighborhood in the history of the Roanoke Valley cannot be over emphasized.
Removed at author's request
Submitted by Laurie A. Wilkie
Institute of Archaeology, UCLA
December, and the Christmas lights are lit at Poplar Grove Plantation.Since 1990, a preservation group has outlined the remaining, dilapidatedbuildings of the plantation quarters with Christmas lights, producing anostalgic holiday display. Recently, school children from the area haveadded painted cut-out figures of African-American tenants involved in differentplantation activities, such as slaughtering hogs, cutting sugar cane, tendingto children, sitting on porches, cooking, etc. To the average visitor, thelight display presents a cheery portrait of yesteryear gone by. So convincingis the display, that it is easy to ignore the broken down trucks and carsparked by the houses, the tattered clothes lines hanging in the backyards,and the scattered children's toys on the porches. If approached in the daylight,however, it is this present reality of Poplar Grove that must be seen.
The African-American families that now live on Poplar Grove are squatters,tied to the land not through legal holdings, but through years of associationand occupation. They are the living legacy of the collapsing plantationsystem, and are increasingly trapped between the goals of developers, and,ironically, historical preservationists. Poplar Grove is a plantation indispute. The plantation lands were originally acquired in the 1820s, butthe plantation operated most successfully as a sugar plantation from the1880s through 1982. Quarter houses built as early as the 1870s still standas part of one of the most intact plantation complexes from the late nineteenthto early twentieth centuries.
A non-profit organization has been attempting to purchase the site tocreate an interpretive center/museum complex. The owner of the land, a descendentof the planter family who ran Poplar Grove, does not want to sell the landdespite the urgings of other family members, but rather, wants to raze mostof the complex to build a warehouse facility. It is unclear how this disputewill play out. One aspect is clear, however, whether the buildings are razedor made into a museum complex, the lives of the current squatters, the livingrepresentatives of the Poplar Grove community, will be impacted.
As an archaeologist, it would be desirable to ensure that some sort ofarchaeological testing and excavation could take place at this valuablesite before any demolition might occur. However, as an anthropologist, suchresearch may serve to facilitate or quicken one conclusion or the other.The preservation group is dedicated to preserving a portion of the African-Americanhistorical experience through the buildings and plantation complex, butto do so may be at the expense of the living members of that community.
Given the nature of negotiations at this time between the preservationgroup and the landowner, it is possible, that if the preservation groupsuccessfully purchases the property, somehow the needs of the modern communityat the plantation will be addressed and incorporated into the interpretivedevelopment as has been publicly stated. However, previous cases in Louisianahave had a very different outcome.
Poplar Grove is not the only plantation where preservation conflictswith the needs of contemporary communities. In 1992, another historicalgroup based in Baton Rouge purchased four standing antebellum cabins fromRiverlake Plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish. The cabins were constructedcirca 1845, making them rather rare. Three of the four cabins were in anadvanced state of disrepair, but the fourth was still occupied. It was thehope of the preservation group to move the four cabins to Baton Rouge, tocreate 2 or three complete cabins from the four and lay them out in a rowpattern behind another historic plantation house.
The intent was to create an interpretive exhibit focused on African-Americanplantation life, certainly a laudable goal. The land owner planned to plowthe land where the houses stood to plant more sugarcane. Living in the fourthcabin was a seventy year old African-American squatter and his female companion.The two were evicted from the house during the Christmas of 1992.
Archaeologists from LSU were contacted by the architectural historianoverseeing the house moving after it was suggested that archaeological testingof the site may be appropriate. Paul Farnsworth and myself, agreed to runvolunteer excavations at the site as a salvage operation. We worked closelywith the former tenant population, gathering oral histories and perspectiveson plantation life. Having been brought into the project at a very latestage, we were very distressed to learn that the offer by the preservationiststo purchase the buildings had led to the eviction of the elderly couple.We were able to build strong ties with the former community of the plantationdespite this, but became very aware of the conflicting goals of the project.
There is an additional element of the Riverlake story which makes itmore sardonic. Riverlake Plantation was the boyhood home of world-renownedAfrican-American author, Ernest J. Gaines. Riverlake Plantation and itscommunity was the inspiration for much of his literary work. In his novels,A Gathering of Old Men, and Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Gaines discussesthe plight of older African-Americans living as squatters on plantationswhere they once worked, dependent upon the whim of their former employerfor their homes. The connection between the cabins, the author, his writingand the plantation landscape would have made this a valuable site to preserve.Instead, the cabins have been removed from a significant historical context.In preserving only the architectural remains from the plantation, the remainsof the community whose history is to be told through the interpretationof the houses, have been forced from their homes.
Conflicts between the interests of landowners, squatters and preservationistsare likely to increase in frequency as interest in interpreting the African-Americanpast for the public grows. The issue is not new however. The state of Louisiana,in 1947, purchased Oakley Plantation and began to develop the land as aState Commemorative Area, which it still is. In 1949, Sam Scott, who hadlived on the plantation for thirty years, and two other elderly tenants,were evicted from their homes, which were located within the new state park.From 1991-1992 I conducted excavations at Oakley Plantation. As part ofthe park's interpretive plan, they are interested in adding interpretivethemes related to the African-American experience at the plantation. Theonly remaining African-American house in the park, however, is the one SamScott built in the 1920s. The older slave cabins and outbuildings had beendemolished in the early 1950s as part of park development. Materials werestripped from the cabins and used to renovate the Great House and PlanterKitchen. The Scott house, out of visitor access, is currently used for storingheavy equipment. The front of the structure has fallen from its piers andis likely to completely decay in a few years if no repairs are made. Thehouse has not been lived in since 1949, when the State of Louisiana evictedSam Scott as part of their preservation plan for the park.
How can we protect the past without sacrificing the present? Increasingdiscussion and controversy in archaeology about issues such as reburialand the archaeological study of disenfranchised communities has demonstratedthat we must work to make the past meaningful to the living representativesof communities we study. As archaeologists we must be aware of the impactsof preservation and living history museum development on the living descendentsof the people we study and whose history is to be presented.
In the American South, there is increasing interest in the African-Americanpast. This is a very positive trend, however, in many instances, the pastis closely linked to the present. Landowners have already recognized thatinvolving preservation groups and developing historic sites provides a mechanismfor removing squatters from old plantation housing. We must not allow ourinterests as archaeologists to interfere with our role as anthropologists,sacrificing the people of the present for the good of the past.
To the Editor: Soon Antigua & Barbuda will have its own archaeologist.Reg Murphy, ex Chairman of our Archaeological Society, through his experienceof archaeology in Antigua, is now studying in Canada earning his Master'sDegree. I have been attending Caribbean Archaeological Congresses for manyyears and have met few black archaeologists from the Eastern Caribbean,so Reg will be one of the first for the Eastern Caribbean and certainlythe first born Antiguan. He is closely followed by a fellow Caribbean studentat the University of Toronto, Toni Frederick, from Montserrat, working forher B.A. degree. So it seems we will not have to entirely rely on outsidearchaeologists for the future. Our next step is to save what we have leftfrom the jaws of the bulldozer, so there WILL be something left for Caribbeanarchaeologists!
Desmond Nicholson Museum of Antigua & Barbuda.
To the Editor: At the SHAs this past January, I presented a paperentitled "African-American Archaeology in the Public Eye." Init I attempted to summarize the work of several organizations which weretrying to increase and improve public participation at African-Americansites. I concluded with suggestions for creating a network of professionalsinterested in sharing information about their triumphs and pitfalls in involvingthe public--including, but not limited to, black Americans--in their workon historic or archaeological sites. There are a lot of really good ideasand programs out there, but without a centralized "meeting place,"it's hard to find out about them. The response so far has been very supportive.Now I'd like to approach the readership of this Newsletter. If you wouldlike to participate in a network like the one described above, please contactme at this address: Dept. of Archaeological Research, Colonial WilliamsburgFoundation, P.O. Box 1776, Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776. All of these ideasare very preliminary, so patience is encouraged and suggestions are welcome.Especially helpful would be information and ideas about preparing this networkfor the twenty-first century by getting it onto the information superhighway!Thank you in advance.
Anna Agbe-Davies Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Wessyngton Plantation, Robertson County, Tennessee
Submitted by David Babson
Illinois State University
In November of 1994, the Midwestern Archaeological Research Center (MARC)at Illinois State University submitted a report of investigations to theTennessee Historical Commission. This report, Families and Cabins: Archaeologicaland Historical Research at Wessyngton Plantation, Robertson County, Tennesseeis the final report on two Survey and Planning Grant projects undertakenby MARC at Wessyngton Plantation in 1991 and 1993. It includes informationabout the archaeological investigation of three discrete cabin sites anda five cabin area occupied from the early nineteenth century to the midtwentieth century. It also includes an extensive discussion of African-Americangenealogy and history developed from an independent program of oral history,genealogy and research in primary documents underway at Wessyngton Plantationsince the 1970s. Under the terms of the Survey and Planning Grant program,the purpose of this research was to establish the National Register eligibilityof the archaeological site present at Wessyngton Plantation. This was amplyestablished by the work described above, and nomination of the site to theNational Register is now under consideration. Manuscript copies of the reportare on file at the Tennessee Historical Commission in Nashville, Tennessee.Publication of the report is also under consideration, and may be completedin 1996.
Submitted by Henry Kamerling
hkamerli@uiuc.edu
The following appeared in the Summer 1994 edition of Uncommon Sense,newsletter of the Institute of Early American History and Culture, and wassubmitted to H-Business at Austin Kerr's invitation (I thought many subscribersin other fields would be interested in knowing about the project). In 1993the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard Universityreceived a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to createa consolidated database on the Atlantic slave trade. The aim of the projectis to computerize voyage data on most of the slave voyages that sailed fromAfrica to the Americas from the sixteenth century to the 1860s. The coredata will consist of over 200 fields of information, including fields forthe names of vessels, captains and shipowners, regions and dates of tradein Europe, Africa and the Americas, and the number, age and gender of slavesconfined on the Middle Passage. When the project is completed in three tofive years, data on the Atlantic slave trade will be available through computernetworking services such as Internet. The first stage of the project establishedfields of information and integrated numerous computerized data-sets ofAtlantic slave voyages that historians have compiled over the past twenty-fiveyears. These sets include: Herbert S. Klein on the slave trades to Havana(1790-1820), Rio de Janeiro (1795-1811) and Virginia (1727-1769), and theAngola slave trade (1723-1771); Svend E. Green-Pedersen on the Danish slavetrade (1698-1789); David Eltis on the Atlantic slave trade (1811-1867);and Johannes Postma on the Dutch slave trade (1675-1802). The second stageof the project will computerize published and unpublished sets of slavevoyage data compiled by Jean Mettas (French slave trade), Jay Coughtry (RhodeIsland slave trade), James Rawley and Joseph Inikori (British slave trades),and then will integrate several new British slave trade data-sets createdby Stephen D. Behrendt, David Eltis and David Richardson. Well over halfof all transatlantic slave voyages—including the majority of British,French and Dutch slave voyages—soon will be recorded in machine-readableformat. The major tasks in the project are the matching of fields of informationcreated from widely different sources often for different purposes, andthe elimination of duplicate voyages. When completed, the core set of morethan 20,000 transatlantic slave voyages will comprise the largest data sourcefor the long-distance movement of peoples before the twentieth century.Refined demographic data on the volume of the trade (and thus of pre-colonialAfrican populations) and the spatial distribution of African peoples throughoutthe Atlantic world will allow scholars to assess more accurately questionsof African state formation, agricultural and ecological change, Africancultural survivals, and the development of the Atlantic economies. Sub-setsof information on vessel tonnage, slave age/gender ratios, and crew/slavemortality will permit a more thorough analysis of shipping productivity,patterns of family structures, and disease transmission in the Atlanticworld. The database has been organized so that additional information onslave voyages can be added easily to the set and so that related information,such as African climatic patterns, slave phenotypes, slave rebellions, orslave prices, can be linked to the main data-set through a common variablesuch as the vessel name or the voyage identification number. Building relatedfiles will broaden the scope of analysis from the slave voyage to the impactof the transatlantic slave trade in the creation of the modern world. Indeed,it eventually may be possible to relate individual Africans or groups ofAfricans to the vessel on which they were disembarked in the Americas, ashas been done with other migrant groups. The project organizers welcomeadditional data on transatlantic slave voyages to include in the consolidateddata-set. Stephen D. Behrendt, U. Northern Iowa, steve.behrendt@cobra.uni.eduDavid Eltis, Queen's University, eltisd@qucdn.queensu.ca
At the recent Society for American Archaeology (SAA) conference in Minneapolis,it seemed to be the consensus that at least 70 percent of the archaeologybeing conducted in the country today is in response to federal regulations.Similarly, compliance archaeology is the impetus for the rapid and massivegrowth in the field of African-American Archaeology since the late 1970snoted by Theresa Singleton in her recent bibliography on African-AmericanArchaeology. This newsletter is, in part, a response to that massive growth.Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act is the basis for virtuallyall of this private sector or contract archaeology. Recently, it has beenmade clear in the House and Senate that the President's Advisory Councilon Historic Preservation will be underfunded, zeroed out or eliminated altogetheras part of the contract with America. From all appearances, the second 100days will be as busy or busier thant the first 100 days. Other historicpreservation programs will also be sharply curtailed or headed toward zerofunding.
You might ask yourself why this should be of concern to you or to African-AmericanArchaeology. The reason is simple. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservationis the agency that enforces the implementation of Section 106, without whichthere would effectively be no African-American Archaeology. We are not talkinga huge amount of money here. The Advisory Council has a budget of around$3 million to oversee implementation in all 50 states and U.S. territories.The Advisory Council and African-American Archaeology need your help. Pleasewrite a letter to your Senator and Representative supporting funding ofthe Advisory Council and Section 106.
Below are some hints from Loretta Neumann, a historic preservation lobbyistworking with SAA and the new American Cultural Resources Association (ACRA)to promote historic preservation. Follow them or not, but please write.Include (in readable print) your name and address. Better yet, use yourpersonal, professional, or organizational letterhead stationary. Withoutan address, the Member has no way of knowing whether you are a constituent.Do not, however, use an organization's letterhead or appear to representthat organization's view without permission. Be polite. Don't alienate theMember and his staff. Even if they disagree with you on this issue, theymay be more friendly on the next. You always want to keep the door open.Be brief, to the point, and try to discuss one issue only. If you writeon too many topics, your message is diluted. State in the first sentencewhy you are writing. If the subject is complex or technical, include a separatefact sheet rather than include all the information in the letter itself.Ask for the Member's position on the issue. This will force the member'sstaff to research the issue and ensure that you receive a response. Mostimportantly, it lets the Member know you are taking his or her actions seriously.Always clearly state what action you want your member to take. Underlineyour request.
Date:
The Honorable (full name) U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 (or) | The Honorable (full name) U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 |
Dear Representative (last name) or Senator (last name):
Opening: State why you are writing. Mention Section 106 of theNational Historic Preservation Act and the Advisory Council on HistoricPreservation. State briefly that you want to see the Council funded thisyear.
Background: Provide applicable background information or describethe issue . If you have an article or fact sheet, enclose it.
Your Interest: Briefly explain why this issue is important toyou and/or how it specifically impacts your community or state.
Closing: Thank the member. Restate your request. Ask for a response.Provide your full name and title (if appropriate). Sign with your full nameunless you are on a first-name basis. Indicate to whom copies are beingsent (it is often useful to show that others will see your letter, too).Sincerely yours,