The Archaeology of Race in the Northeast

389 Pages·2015·4.41 MB·English

by  Christopher N. Matthews

The Archaeology of Race in the Northeast
A co-publication with the Society for Historical Archaeology
University Press of Florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola
The Archaeology of Race
University Press of Florida
Gainesville / Tallahassee / Tampa / Boca Raton / Pensacola / Orlando / Miami / Jacksonville / Ft. Myers / Sarasota
in the Northeast
Edited by Christopher N. Matthews and Allison Manfra McGovern
Copyright 2015 by the Society for Historical Archaeology
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
This book may be available in an electronic edition.
20 19 18 17 16 15 6 5 4 3 2 1
A record of cataloging-in-publication data is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-8130-6057-6
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State
University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic
University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida
State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University
of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University
of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
1. The Archaeology of Race in the Northeast: An Introduction 1
Christopher N. Matthews and Allison Manfra McGovern
Part I. Archaeologies of African Americans in the Northeast
2. Looking for Africans in Seventeenth-Century New Amsterdam 29
Anne-Marie Cantwell and Diana diZerega Wall
3. Guineatown in the Hudson Valley’s Hyde Park 56
Christopher R. Lindner and Trevor A. Johnson
4. The Racialization of Labor in Early Nineteenth-Century Upstate New
York: Archaeology at the Rose Hill Quarter Site, Geneva, New York 78
James A. Delle and Kristen R. Fellows
5. “The Character of a Woman”: Womanhood and Race in Nineteenth-
Century Nantucket 98
Teresa Dujnic Bulger
6. Josiah Eddy, Richard Allen, and the Complexity of the Past: Thoughts
on African American Identity in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia 118
Rebecca Yamin and Grace H. Ziesing
7. Race and Remembering in the Adirondacks: Accounting for Timbucto
in the Past and the Present 134
Hadley Kruczek-Aaron
8. Construction of Identity in an African American Activist Community
in Albany, New York: The Trajectories of Racialization and Community
Formation 150
Corey D. McQuinn
9. The Hunterfly Road Houses and the Evolution of Weeksville, an African
American Community in Brooklyn, New York 176
Joan H. Geismar
10. A Practice Theory of Improvisation at the African American Community
of Timbuctoo, Burlington County, New Jersey 198
Christopher P. Barton and David G. Orr
Part II. Native American Historical Archaeologies
11. Facing “The End”: Termination and Survivance among the Montaukett
of Eastern Long Island, New York 215
Allison Manfra McGovern
12. Race-Based Differences and Historical Archaeologies in Indian New
England 232
Russell G. Handsman
Part III. Archaeologies of Whiteness in the Northeast
13. Whiteness and the Transformation of Home, Work, and Self in Early
New York 255
Christopher N. Matthews
14. Materiality, White Public Space, and Historical Commemoration in
Nineteenth-Century Deerfield, Massachusetts 273
Quentin Lewis
15. An Archaeology of Accountability: Recovering and Interrogating the
“Invisible” Race 291
Meg Gorsline
Part IV. Reflection
16. The Tyranny of Silence and Invisibility 313
Charles E. Orser Jr.
References 325
List of Contributors 367
Index 371
Figures
1.1. Map of the northeastern region 7
1.2. Native American Sachem, ca. 1700 10
1.3. Promotional image of “Nieu Amsterdam” 12
2.1. Detail of the Labadist General View of New Amsterdam 38
2.2. The bottom of the barrel from the Broad Financial Center site 41
2.3. The contents of the barrel from the Broad Financial Center site 41
3.1. Detail of ca. 1819 Survey of the Hunting Sherrill property 60
3.2. Artifact frequencies at the Primus Martin site 66
4.1. The original house at Rose Hill 81
4.2. The second house built at Rose Hill 83
4.3. Segments of the foundation wall and kitchen addition at Rose Hill
quarter 89
4.4. The Jean Nicholas House, Geneva, New York 90
5.1. The Boston Higginbotham House on Nantucket 100
5.2. Pearlware bowl with mother-bird-and-nest transfer-printed image 108
5.3. Victorian brooches 114
6.1. Josiah Eddy site on Arch Street in Philadelphia 119
6.2. Pearlware chamber pots recovered on the Eddy site 123
7.1. African American farmers at North Elba, New York 138
8.1. Location of Johnson House site, Albany, New York 153
8.2. The Livingston Avenue sites in 1892 and archaeological results from
2010–2012 field schools 153
8.3. The Johnson house at 194 Livingston Avenue 155
8.4. Black transfer-printed whiteware platter found at the Johnson house 169
8.5. Blue transfer-printed whiteware ewer or tureen found at the Elkins site
170
9.1. Location of Weeksville in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York 177
9.2. Detail of an 1869 Dripps map showing the eastern portion of Weeksville
179
9.3. The Hunterfly Road houses looking south from Bergen Street in 1920
180
9.4. Plan of the 1978–1982 and 2000–2003 excavations in and around the
Hunterfly Road houses 188
9.5. The base of a clear glass mug from the Hunterfly Road houses 192
9.6. Small porcelain figure of a formally dressed African American man 193
10.1. Sample Testing of Feature 13 lot at Timbuctoo, Burlington County, New
Jersey 201
10.2. Andrew Fleming and his family, 1880–1920 207
11.1. Map of Long Island 217
11.2. Bone knife handle with the name “Pharaoh” carved into it 225
12.1. Mashantucket Pequot Ephraim Williams, ca. 1915 242
12.2. Eastern Pequot Sarah Sebastian Williams, ca. 1915 243
13.1. Front view of King Manor Museum in Jamaica, Queens, New York 264
13.2. Large fragments of eighteenth-century dark olive-green wine bottles
recovered at King Manor 267
14.1. Map showing the location of Deerfield, Massachusetts 275
14.2. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association monuments 277
15.1. Long Island Farmhouses, by William Sidney Mount, 1862–1863 301
Tables
3.1. Comparison of vessels by functional groupings for contemporaneous
sites in the Northeast 68
4.1. Racial composition at Rose Hill, 1810–1860 85
9.1. Documented occupants of Hunterfly Road houses, ca. 1867–ca. 1873 184
12.1. Published descriptions of the Pequot, 1850–1935 244