An Anthropological Study of Charles' Corner, Virginia, 1862-1922
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Community Building After Emancipation: An Anthropological Study of Charles’ Corner, Virginia, 1862-1922 Shannon Sheila Mahoney Hayward, California Master of Arts, College of William & Mary, 2004 Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1995 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of William and Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Anthropology Department The College of William and Mary May 2013 UMI Number: 3574198 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3574198 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013 . Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 © 2013, Shannon Sheila Mahoney APPROVAL PAGE This Dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Or. Kathleen Bragdon, Anthropology College of William & Mary COMPLIANCE PAGE Research approved by Protection of Human Subjects Committee Protocol number(s): PHSC-2006-06-06-1 PHSC-2007-05-18-4775 PHSC-2008-06-16-5354 PHSC-2009-06-15-6026 Date(s) of approval: 06/08/2006 06/08/2007 06/16/2008 06/18/2009 ABSTRACT The half-century marked by the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War I was a critical period of cultural, social, and economic transition for African Americans in the southern United States. During the late nineteenth century, while African Americans were rebuilding communities and networks disrupted by enslavement and the ensuing Civil War, several settlements developed between Williamsburg and Yorktown on Virginia’s lower peninsula. One of the settlements, Charles’ Corner, is an optimal case study for understanding the gradual process of community building during a particularly challenging period of African American history dominated by systemic racism and legal persecution. A majority of Charles’ Corner residents made their living as self-employed farmers and oysterers, work which provided them with a significant level of economic stability and autonomy. The neighborhood continued to flourish until the United States government commandeered the property in 1918 in order to create a naval facility fronting on the York River. Residents were forced to relocate and abandon the property where they had invested decades of physical labor and built substantial social and economic networks. Fortunately, their farmsteads were preserved as archaeological sites which may be eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places as an archaeological district, due to their integrity and historical significance. Archaeological assessments at four sites located at Charles’ Corner provided an opportunity to address research questions and themes critical to the archaeology of African American life in the South after Emancipation. Questions focus on the establishment of socioeconomic networks after the Civil War, episodic displacement, and their role in the community building process. Addressing these questions through the application of an anthropological model for community building emphasizes the role of a diversified economy and construction of networks on a path of self-determination. This dissertation is a response to critiques about the need to understand transformative periods in African American history. A study of Charles’ Corner demonstrates the process of community building for one neighborhood during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through the application of data from the archaeological record, historical documents, and oral histories. Furthermore, the residents’ compelling narrative demonstrates the ways that rural African Americans contributed to the black freedom movement. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements vi Dedication ix List of Tables x List of Figures xi Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Sociohistorical Context 4 Case Study: Charles’ Corner 7 Research Questions 13 Data Collection 14 Assumptions and Limitations 16 Archaeological Significance 18 Chapter Summary 18 Summation 20 Chapter 2. Theoretical Approach 22 The Archaeology of African American Life 22 Community Building and the Black Freedom Movement 33 Research Questions and Public Engagement 41 Summation 45 i TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) Chapter 3. Methodology and Research Design 48 Comparative Framework 49 Previous Archaeological and Compliance Fieldwork 55 Background Research 59 Research Design 60 Field Methodology 64 Analytical Methodology 66 Summation 71 Chapter 4. Historical Background: Enslavement, Emancipation, and Reconstruction at Charles’ Corner 73 Antebellum 73 Charles’ Corner and the Civil War 76 Reconstruction 87 Post-Reconstruction 96 Summation 98 Chapter 5. Historical Background: The Progressive Era, World War I, and Displacement 101 Presidential Proclamation #1472 108 Assessment and Compensation 112 The Reservation 121 Resettlement 123 Summation 125 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) Chapter 6. Archaeological Site Descriptions 128 General Environment 129 Cheesecake Cemetery 130 Archaeological Site Descriptions 132 44YO318 133 44YO319 140 44YO857 147 44YO870 153 Summation 158 Chapter 7. Analysis 162 Socioeconomic Networks 164 Economic Diversification 170 Communal Activities 176 Self-Identification 181 Summation 189 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) Chapter 8. Interpretation 191 What socioeconomic networks were established by Charles’ Corner residents? 191 What was the community-building process for Charles’ Corner residents? What “community” were they building? 195 In what ways did African Americans continue to promote social equality in the rural South after Emancipation? How did these actions relate to other activist efforts in the decades leading up to the Civil Rights Movement? 202 What obstacles did residents face and how did these obstacles, and the response to them, change over time? 205 How did displacement affect the community-building process and how did residents’ social networks develop and change after displacement? 206 How can the archaeological record address these research questions? 207 How can this information be useful York County’s African American residents today? 209 Summation 209 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) Chapter 9. Conclusion 211 Discussion of Findings 213 Archaeological Significance of Findings 215 Opportunities for Application 216 National Register of Historic Places 217 Public Access and Interpretation 220 Present Connections: Displacement, Disenfranchisement and Reparations 221 Conclusion 226 Appendices Appendix 1: Timeline 228 Appendix 2: Presidential Proclamation #1492 229 Appendix 3: Petition from the Citizens of York County 233 Appendix 4: Assessor’s Notes for Properties Associated with 44YO318 238 Appendix 5: Assessor’s Notes for Properties Associated with 44YO319 239 Appendix 6: Assessor’s Notes for Properties Associated with 44YO857 240 Appendix 7: Assessor’s Notes for Properties Associated with 44YO870 242 Bibliography 243 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I truly respect and admire the residents of Charles’ Corner and it was an honor to study and write about their lives. This dissertation could not have been initiated, implemented, and completed without the intellectual, moral, and monetary support from a host of people and organizations. I am eternally grateful and indebted to everyone that follows. Funds for graduate student research from the Department of Anthropology, Vice Provost’s Office, and the Roy R. Charles Center at the College of William & Mary allowed me to conduct research at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington D.C. The documents at the National Archives provided a great deal of information about the families that were displaced from Charles’ Corner and they were an important source of data for Chapters 5 and 6. These collections are an incredible resource and I am appreciative of the services and resources that the National Archives offer to the public free of charge. The Santa Cruz Archaeological Society provided me with a grant that allowed me to participate in the fieldwork at the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station with SEARCH, Inc. and helped finance my field gear. The Office of Graduate Studies and Research for Arts & Sciences, and a student research grant from the Roy R. Charles Center at the College of William & Mary provided the funds for analysis of flotation samples. The Sandra Speiden Scholarship administered by the Virginia Archaeological Society allowed me to write the first half of my dissertation. Finally, the Anthropology Department at the College of William & Mary provided a fellowship which allowed me to complete my dissertation. The Charles’ Corner project was a collaborative venture involving archaeologists from the federal, compliance, and academic sectors. I am grateful to Navy archaeologist Bruce Larson for recognizing the inherent value of the archaeological sites representing African American heritage on the NWSY property. Bruce was very receptive to the proposed research and the potential for a collaborative work project. He translated my research into a scope-of-work and contracted with SEARCH, Inc. to conduct the fieldwork. Al Gregg and Rhonda Mickelborough