African American Archeology in Texas: a Planning Document
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AFRICAN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY IN TEXAS: A Planning Document By Carol McDavid, Rachel Feit, Kenneth L. Brown, and Fred L. McGhee with contributions from Jannie Scott Prepared by The Community Archaeology Research Institute, Inc. Houston, Texas June 1, 2013 Prepared for Preface and Acknowledgements Before we begin our formal introduction to this document, we will share, in a somewhat informal manner, some background about why it exists. Many of this document’s readers are probably aware that in 1999, the Texas Historical Commission (THC) published guidelines concerning archaeology on late-19th and early-20th sites in Texas. One of the guidelines stated that most late 19th and early 20th century sites “do not warrant extensive excavations because the data recovered will not make a substantive contribution to our understanding of the human activities that occurred at these sites” (Denton 1999:13-14). Another statement was that “the distribution of mass-produced goods across the United States produced amazing artifact assemblage uniformity, and, therefore, the archaeological results rarely provide important new interpretive insights for the historical record” (Denton 1999:13-14). As soon as this policy was published, several archaeologists who specialized in the archaeology of African America quickly realized that this policy could cause problems in terms of evaluating the significance of African American sites in Texas. First, several of the sites they were studying dated from after the civil war, and well into the Jim Crow period of the late 19th and early 20th century. This was a period of tremendous change, upheaval, progress, and struggle for African Americans, and these scholars were finding archaeological evidence of these processes and were making a “substantive contribution” to the understanding of what African American life was like during that time. Second, some of these same sites were in urban contexts, where the archaeological remains did indeed consist of a great many mass-produced goods. However, as this policy was being written, the field of African Diaspora Archaeology was growing, and many specialists in this research area were learning new and important things about late 19th and early-20th century African American life from urban sites. Otherwise ubiquitous goods (bottles, for example) did sometimes have different meanings for African American citizens, and despite their apparent uniformity, they did provide “new interpretive insights”. Therefore, several of those involved in this work began to call the policy into question, and over a period of time, Jim Bruseth (then the Director of the Archaeology Division of the THC) invited some of the Texas archaeologists who worked primarily at African American sites to come to the THC to discuss possible changes. This meeting took place in the summer of 2007. The archaeologists invited included Rachel Feit (a CRM archaeologist in Austin), Ken Brown (at the University of Houston) Fred McGhee (also a CRM archaeologist in Austin), and Carol McDavid (who directed an archaeology nonprofit in Houston as well as several community archaeology projects). Also present were several key players from the Texas Historical Commission (including the current director of the Archaeology Division, Pat Mercado-Allinger) as well as the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDot). After a very serious but productive 3-hour conversation about the issues, Bruseth asked Feit, McGhee, Brown and McDavid to write a new historic context document, which would to serve as a “best practices” guide” for conducting African American archaeology in Texas. At this meeting, it was decided that the Community Archaeology Research Institute, Inc., would organize the document and seek funding to make it happen. Accordingly, this group, under the direction of Carol McDavid and Robert Marcom, applied for and received a major grant from the Texas Preservation Trust Fund, as well as, later, matching funds from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Texas Historical Foundation, the Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation, and the Levi Jordan Plantation Historical Society. Therefore, all of these individuals and groups deserve our sincere thanks for making this project possible. A number of other individuals also deserve thanks and recognition here: Jannie Scott (for her diligent and professional research in assembling the database in Appendix A, and for substantial assistance on the theory chapter), Maria Franklin (for introducing us to Ms. Scott and providing valuable input in several content areas), Doug Boyd (for suggestions which greatly improved portions of the draft document), Tim Pertulla, Roger Moore (for helping us chase down several critical examples of previous archaeological work done in Houston), Jorge Garcia-Herreros and Robert Marcom (for the many hours they spent reading drafts, as well as providing ongoing ideas and feedback), Ruth Marcom (for helping us to raise matching grant funds), all of our spouses and children, and, importantly, Pat Mercado-Allinger, Jeff Durst, Tiara Westcott Lisa Harvell, and the rest of the THC staff, past and present. They have answered many pesky questions over the past five years, spent countless hours reviewing and commenting on this document, and provided considerable ongoing guidance. Our most unreserved and heartfelt thanks, however, goes to Jim Bruseth. Without his scholarly vision, his political judgment, and his profound commitment to a Texas archaeology that has meaning for all of its citizens, this writing of this document would never have begun. It certainly could not have been completed. Thank you, Jim. Carol McDavid Rachel Feit Kenneth L. Brown Fred L. McGhee Preface and Acknowledgments 1 Table of Contents 3 Chapter 1 7 Introduction By Rachel Feit and Carol McDavid Document background, purpose and need 7 Underlying motivations: ideas, methods and concepts 10 Organization of this document 12 Chapter 2 16 A Summary of African American Archaeology and the Public Archaeology of African America: Histories and Theories By Carol McDavid, Rachel Feit and Jannie Scott Introduction 16 African American Archaeology: Beginnings, Theoretical Themes, and Approaches 16 A Word about Terminology 18 Cultural Continuity, Cultural Change 18 Domination and Resistance 21 Race, Class, Gender and Archaeology 22 Foregrounding Politics: Critical Theory 24 Public Archaeology: Beginnings, Theoretical Themes, and Approaches 25 The Birth of Public Archaeology; Definitions and Scope 25 Changing Definitions: Into the 1980s and 1990s 27 Public Archaeology as Archaeology Education 27 Critical public archaeology 29 Pragmatism and Public Archaeology 31 Through the 1990s to the present: Broadened definitions and collaborative trends 32 Contemporary definitions 33 Chapter 3 35 Black Texas: A Historical Summary By Rachel Feit Historical Overview 35 Introduction and Early African Texas 35 The Plantation Economy 39 Reconstruction 42 Freedmens Communities- Freedom Colonies and Urban Freedmen’s Towns 46 Labor into the 20th Century 49 From Jim Crow to Civil Rights 52 What does African American Archaeology look like? Previous Archaeology in Texas; 53 site types and themes for Future Study Themes and Site types to consider for future archeological work 55 Plantations, Slave Markets and other Antebellum Sites (1821-1865) 55 Farmsteads and Rural Freedmen’s Communities (1865-ca. 1965) 56 Urban homes and Freedmen’s Towns (1865-ca. 1965) 57 Manufacturing, Industry and Business 59 Schools, hospitals and other institutions (1865-ca. 1965) 60 Churches and Cemeteries (1821-1950) 62 Military Sites (1860-ca. 1945) 65 Fraternal Organizations (1865-ca. 1960) 67 Sports/Parks/Entertainment (1865-ca. 1960) 68 Prisons (1865-1950s) 69 Chapter 4 72 Collaboration and Inclusion in African Diaspora Archaeology By Carol McDavid and Fred L. McGhee Introduction 72 Focusing on Collaboration 74 Descendant Communities: A foundation for collaborative practice in African 76 American archaeology More than biology 76 New ways to define “descendant communities” and “clients” 77 Case Study: The African Burial Ground Project, New York City 77 Locating Descendant Communities 80 Engaging Descendant Communities: Models for Collaborative Practice in African 87 American Archaeology Oral research in the historical archaeology of African America: Types of Research and 87 Case Studies Types of Oral Research 89 Race and Memory in Oral Research 93 Case Studies: Benefits and challenges of doing oral research in historical archaeology 98 Laurie A. Wilkie: Louisiana 99 Gabriel Moshenska: United Kingdom 100 Paul Mullins: Indianapolis, Indiana 101 The Levi Jordan Plantation (Brazoria County, Texas) 103 Ransom and Sarah Williams Farmstead Project (RSWFP) 107 Doing oral research: sources and practical guides 110 Other Modes of Collaborative Practice 112 Archaeological Ethnography 112 Participatory Action Research (PAR) (sometimes known as applied “advocacy” 113 anthropology) Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) 117 Education Models: traditional and more recent 118 Conclusion 122 Chapter 5 124 Archaeological Methodology and the African American Past: A Comparative Study of Four Plantation Quarters Sites, 1780-1964 By Kenneth L. Brown Introduction 124 Can these methods be used in CRM practice? 127 The Jordan Plantation Quarters Site Investigation 129 Project Beginnings 129 Continued Excavations and Methodological Changes 134 The Artifact Classification System 137 Summary of the Research Design and the Questions Asked 140 Crossroads: