American University Thesis and Dissertation Template for PC 2016
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© COPYRIGHT by Karen Marie Black 2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This thesis is dedicated to my mom, Joan Black. Without you, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. You have shown me how to be a strong, independent woman. Your guidance and love have gotten me through life. You will always be the Lorelai to my Rory. I love you. PUBLIC MEMORY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PAST: THE FUTURE DIRECTION OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE DIASPORAN HISTORY IN THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP BY Karen Marie Black ABSTRACT The Great Dismal Swamp is located in North Carolina and Virginia. Many people, referred to as Maroons who wanted to escape a life of slavery and colonization, lived there during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. This project focuses on the archaeology that was done there and how it should be presented in a museum exhibit. Further, this project evaluates the current exhibit in the National Museum of African American History and Culture and offers a critique to better display and showcase the history of the Dismal Swamp Maroons. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to acknowledge my chair, Dr. Daniel O. Sayers; without whom, this thesis could not have happened. Your interest in my topic and help throughout this whole process (twice) has been invaluable. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Rachel Watkins and Dr. Buck Woodard. Your expertise and knowledge helped me to complete this paper. Special thanks to my friend and fellow swamper, Tamara Mulhall, for lending me her valuable suggestions and comments in the early stages of this process. To my Lobsta, Ashlee Di’Orio, I thank God every day that we chose to be roommates during field school. You are an inspiration to me in so many ways. Your endless encouragement helped me finish this. Thank you to my mom, dad, stepmom, and grandma. Having you in my life to raise and guide me helped me reach so many of my goals, including this one. Jonathan, this paper wouldn’t have been possible without you. I know I made it difficult for you, but the love, sweat, tears, and frustration all led to this. William and Mia, you two are the shining stars in my life. Thank you for helping me realize my ultimate dream of being a mom. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ......................................................................................................... vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 THE HISTORY AND FOLKLORE OF THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP ........................................................................................................................ 5 CHAPTER 3 THE INHABITANTS OF THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP 1607- 1865............................................................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER 4 THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP AND ITS INTERPRETATION .................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER 5 A CRITIQUE OF, AND RECOMMENDATION FOR, THE EXHIBIT AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE ...................................................................................... 25 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 41 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1. List of Artifacts Donated to the NMAAHC.................................................................... 28 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Location of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina and Virginia (Adapted from the USFWS Website) ....... 5 Figure 2. Dirt Roads in the Great Dismal Swamp Refuge with Daniel Sayers in Foreground ...... 7 Figure 3. Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal Swamp Refuge .................................................... 8 Figure 4. Interior of the Great Dismal Swamp Refuge ................................................................... 9 Figure 5. Part of an island in the interior of the Great Dismal Swamp Refuge ............................ 18 Figure 6. The Tools of a Typical Archaeology Field School Kit ................................................. 20 Figure 7. An Excavation Unit on the Nameless Site .................................................................... 22 Figure 8. Ceramic Sherds Acting as Structural Support in an Excavation Unit on the Nameless Site .................................................................................................................................... 24 Figure 9. The Liberation Communities Exhibit at the NMAAHC ............................................... 31 Figure 10. Close-up of the Liberation Communities Exhibit at the NMAAHC ........................... 32 Figure 11. The Exhibited Artifacts from the Great Dismal Swamp at the NMAAHC ................. 33 Figure 12. Text for the Exhibited Artifacts from the Great Dismal Swamp at the NMAAHC .... 34 Figure 13. Excavated Ceramic Sherds on the Nameless Site ....................................................... 36 Figure 14. An Example of the Paper Airplanes Kids Can Create at the National Air and Space Museum............................................................................................................................. 37 Figure 15. The G Force Encounter Simulator Logo from the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum............................................................................................................................. 38 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS GDSLS Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study NMAAHC National Museum of African American History and Culture USFWS United States Fish and Wildlife Service vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION It is not the data with which we are working that must change or has changed; it is our interpretations, as well as our awareness of the consequences of these interpretations, that must change. —Mark P. Leone, Archaeology’s Relationship to the Present and Past I plan to explore how the archaeological interpretations stemming from the work of Daniel Sayers should be presented as a museum exhibit. The archaeology that has been done thus far in the swamp provides a varied and more in-depth look at the history of the swamp compared to the legends and myths that people have heard about the area. Sayers is the predominant archaeologist that has been working in the Great Dismal Swamp. His dissertation was the first relevant piece of work about the archaeology of the swamp. From his dissertation, Sayers has published multiple papers, field school reports, and one book continuing the work done in the swamp. Through the Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study (GDSLS), several other students were inspired by the archaeology being completed there and have published theses and dissertations about the archaeology of the swamp as well. Jordan Riccio’s thesis, “The People of the Lonely Place: An Archaeological Exploration of Community Structure Within the Great Dismal Swamp,” and Julia Klima’s thesis, “A Human Resource: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Permanent Interpretive Texts in the Great Dismal Swamp,” are both products of the interest and dedication the archaeology of the Great Dismal Swamp can create. Despite the several years of archaeology that has been completed, only one museum exhibit has been created to inform the general public about the Great Dismal Swamp outside of the refuge itself. 1 Therefore, this author will be critiquing the current museum exhibit of the swamp, as it is important to consider what message this presentation conveys. As Mark P. Leone explains, “Once archaeological materials are put on display there are two messages. The obvious one is what the past was like. The other one is the meaning the present imposes on data from another time and which the present thus feeds back to itself. The first message is one we help create as archaeologists. The second is one we can help understand as anthropologists” (1981:5). This research will focus predominantly on the second message and how the first message, Sayers’s archaeological interpretations of the Great Dismal Swamp site, should be presented to the general public through a museum exhibit. As archaeologists and anthropologists, we know that our interpretations are subjective. We view things from the past through the lens of the present. It is vital that a museum exhibit show the most authentic message possible. I will be using Leone’s theory of critical archaeology, the theory of resistance in African American archaeology, and Paul A. Shackel’s theory of public memory as guidelines to develop my interpretation of how this archaeology should be presented. Leone’s theory of critical archaeology focuses on the impact of a more critical interpretation. Leone explains that “a critical archaeology retains and reaffirms the discipline’s commitment to understanding the past, but what past to construct becomes a matter of conscious choice that inevitably