Northeast Historical

Volume 39 Article 9

2010 Book Review: Black Feminist Archaeology by Whitney Battle-Baptiste Barbara J. Little

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Recommended Citation Little, Barbara J. (2010) "Book Review: Black Feminist Archaeology by Whitney Battle-Baptiste," Northeast : Vol. 39 39, Article 9. https://doi.org/10.22191/neha/vol39/iss1/9 Available at: http://orb.binghamton.edu/neha/vol39/iss1/9

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in Northeast Historical Archaeology by an authorized editor of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 153

Book Reviews Book Review Editor - Christa Beranek

Black Feminist Archaeology, by embrace of literature as a source of inspiration Whitney Battle-Baptiste, 2011, Left Coast and rich understanding. Press, Walnut Creek, CA, 200 pages, Three chapters offer case examples: the $94.00 (cloth), $32.95 (paper), $32.95 Hermitage Plantation in Tennessee; Lucy Foster’s homestead in Andover, (ebook). Massachusetts; and the W. E. B. Du Bois Reviewed by Barbara J. Little Boyhood Homesite in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Three themes that bring these sites together are first, homeplace, which is Ever since archaeologists started seriously something encompassing but moving beyond considering in the early 1990s, there household. The second theme concerns mate- have been frequent cautions against the “add rial wealth and class, with special attention to women and stir” approach. No one should the meaning of poverty. The third theme con- misconstrue the purpose of Whitney Battle- siders women’s labor and cultural choices. Baptiste’s powerful agenda laid out in this Drawing from her work at the Hermitage, book. This is not simply about stirring in race Battle-Baptiste outlines her “functional planta- with gender, and it is not an agenda that tion model” within which to approach the archaeologists who are not “interested” in plantation proper, the captive African or gender can wisely ignore. domestic space, the labor sphere, and wilder- Battle-Baptiste adds her compelling voice and ness. She applies her model to the full land- experience to those who would reinvent scape and layers on her “complex plantation archaeology as a trustworthy practice relevant household model“ to address domestic to descendant communities. As she bridges exchange across that landscape. Re-examining politically-charged theoretical standpoints, she Lucy Foster’s homestead raises a number of embraces and even celebrates the discomfort interesting issues, both about the site itself and and confusion of creating a new practice and about the ways in which archaeological trends seeks to open a dialogue. influence what we think we know about a site The introduction, Understanding a Black and its meanings. Questions about poverty, Feminist Framework, states the far-reaching what it meant within a community and to an inter-disciplinary aspirations of what Battle- individual, and how we define and interpret it Baptiste wants to achieve. She offers her sense through an archaeological lens intersect pow- of responsibility, her personal journey as an erfully with questions of race and gender. archaeologist, and the meaning of race, asking, The title of the fourth chapter reveals “what does it mean to be of African descent in something of the complexity of the story: The America?” (p. 22). In the first chapter, Burghardt Women and the W. E. B. Du Bois Constructing a Black Feminist Framework, Boyhood Homesite. The depth and breadth of Battle-Baptiste describes how she came to the connections and meanings of this site are terms with both feminist and womanist per- worthy of the attention of a career, and it is spectives. There are many different feminist clear that Battle-Baptiste intends to devote her- perspectives, and, although she does not label self to developing what she calls a “Black it as such, it seems that she is mainly con- Feminist Du Boisian Archaeology.” She asks, cerned with the useful elements of liberal fem- “Why shouldn’t a site as significant as the Du inism. Readers will want to spend some time Bois Boyhood Homesite bring up and display engaging with the nuances here and think the everyday lives of women and men of about the implications of Black Feminist African descent and place them both at the Thought for their own work, regardless of center of interpretive models?” (p. 160). This is whether they research the African American an important question to ask, especially of past. Battle-Baptiste offers a humanist and archaeological and preservation traditions that anthropological perspective, including an have privileged “great man” history and 154 Book Reviews Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 155

skewed lessons from the past toward indi- Saugus Iron Works: The Roland W. soon discovered that Robbins, like so many house and move it to Dearborn, Michigan, a vidual achievement and away from commu- Robbins Excavations, 1948–1953, edited archaeologists past and present, had never fin- plan which happily fell through. Ultimately, nity and collective action. I suspect Du Bois by William A. Griswold and Donald W. ished a report on his fieldwork. Griswold and the First Iron Works Association (FIWA), with would wholeheartedly approve of the ques- Linebaugh, 2011, National Park Service, Linebaugh have done the discipline a great help from Quincy Bent, a Vice President of tion and of the trajectory that Battle-Baptiste service in pulling together Robbins’ materials Bethlehem Steel, purchased the site, though U.S. Department of the Interior, 440 intends for the increasing relevance of this site. and presenting the results in what can only be Bent’s interest was in the remains of the iron- In her final chapter, Moving Mountains pages, 182 black-and-white illustrations, described as a lavish format. The book is over- works rather than the historic house. Hoping and Liberating Dialogues, Battle-Baptiste high- index, appendices, no price given. sized, measuring 9.5 inches tall by 11.5 inches to find tangible evidence that remains of the lights the need to allow different kinds of wide, and features 182 black and white illus- ironworks were present, the FIWA hired questions. She asks how archaeology can over- Reviewed by Richard Veit trations, almost all of which are large format. Robbins, and the rest, as they say, is history, or come the distrust of descendant communities These photographs, taken during the original in this case historical archaeology. Robbins’ and become trustworthy. Black Feminist Wow! This beautiful, large-format volume excavations, are the work of Richard Merrill. fieldwork, carried out between 1948 and 1953, Archaeology is part of an answer to that ques- on the Saugus Iron Works by William Quite simply, they are stunning. The volume is certainly exceeded the expectations of his tion as in Battle-Baptiste’s own words, she Griswold, Donald Linebaugh, and other con- also exceptionally well-referenced and clearly employers, as he identified the remains of a “begin[s] to tell a story that is not just about tributors is a tour de force of industrial archae- written. blast furnace, slitting mill, forge, and archaeology or artifacts, but about people and ology. From 1948 to 1953, Roland W. Robbins, Saugus Iron Works begins with an overview numerous other structures. places, women and men, leisure and labor, an individual who even today tends to elicit of the practice of iron manufacture in the 17th The fourth chapter, contributed by William with details that can be relevant to contempo- mixed responses from historical archaeolo- century. Particular attention is paid to the state Griswold, looks at Robbins in context. As he rary struggles for social justice and liberation“ gists, carried out pioneering excavations at the of the iron industry in Great Britain and the notes in his introduction, “Robbins managed (p. 31). site of the Hammersmith Iron Works in attractions of North America, with its exten- to do what few academic archaeologists are Saugus, Massachusetts. Robbins, who had sive forests and rich deposits of ore, to English ever able to do: successfully investigate an already garnered some fame for his excava- ironworkers. Next, the volume examines the early industrial site buried by huge amounts Barbara J. Little is an Adjunct Professor of tions at the site of Henry David Thoreau’s historical record relating to the Hammersmith of fill, gather archaeological information that Anthropology and an Affiliate of the Center cabin on Walden Pond, began his work at ironworks at Saugus. This chapter was supplemented and informed a privately- for Heritage Resource Studies at the Saugus nearly two decades before the passage authored by Janet Regan and Curtis White. funded reconstruction, create a large amount University of Maryland, College Park. She of the National Historic Preservation Act, at a Saugus was unusual in that it was an early of public interest in the project, and launch a works for the National Park Service in time when there were no college courses in example of an integrated ironworks. It con- career in archaeology that lasted throughout Washington, DC. historical archaeology, and most North tained a blast furnace, a forge, a rolling and his lifetime” (p. 101). This accomplishment is American archaeologists were focused on slitting mill, two blacksmith shops, a coal even more impressive given that Robbins was Native American sites. In every sense, Robbins house, and a large number of ancillary build- a high school dropout, who had previously Barbara J. Little was a pioneer. In this volume he shines ings. Saugus operated from 1646 to 1670 when supported himself as a house painter and Department of Anthropology through as gifted, witty, and driven; however, it closed, an unfortunate victim of mismanage- handyman. Nevertheless, through his intelli- 111 Woods Hall he could also be combative and headstrong. ment. The result was an exodus of ironworkers gence, savoir faire, and persistence he became University of Maryland Although he was one of the first historical across North America. Indeed, it was from the go-to archaeologist for individuals inter- College Park, MD 20742 archaeologists, and a vocal advocate for what these sparks cast off by Saugus that many later ested in early American ironworks. [email protected] we today call public archaeology, the self- ironworks sprang up in New England and the Chapter Five, also by Griswold, deals with trained Robbins would ultimately become a Middle Atlantic regions. the excavation of the blast furnace. It is fol- victim of the ongoing professionalization of Donald Linebaugh authored the book’s lowed by chapters on the forge and slitting the discipline he helped found and popularize. third chapter, which deals with the excava- mill, the Jenks area, and tailrace all contrib- This book describes and illustrates Robbins’ tions at the site. Linebaugh begins with an uted by Curtis White. Joseph Jenks is an work at a truly significant site. Moreover, it interesting discussion of early preservation intriguing fellow who was a blacksmith, mill- serves, in part as a palliative, restoring efforts at Saugus. I was intrigued to see wright, swordsmith, and manufacturer of wire Robbins reputation as an exceptional field- William Sumner Appleton, founder of the and pins. Chapters Eight and Nine, both by worker and pioneering public archaeologist. for the Preservation of New England Griswold, discuss the waterpower system and Indeed, Griswold and Linebaugh’s book Antiquities (now Historic New England), other miscellaneous features. would not have been possible if Robbins had make a guest appearance in 1911 when the Janet Regan and Curtis White wrote not been a careful excavator who took consid- Iron Works House, the sole standing original Chapter 10 which provides an overview of the erable pains to document his work. structure from the ironworks, went on the artifact collection. In addition to an exception- The book project began when Griswold, market. Appleton apparently acted as a his- ally interesting collection of finds relating to the senior author, was charged with managing toric property broker and helped find a sym- iron manufacture, prehistoric Native American some structural improvements associated with pathetic purchaser, the photographer and anti- artifacts were also present in abundance. It is the Americans with Disabilities Act at the quarian Wallace Nutting, for the building. clear from reading this chapter that there is reconstructed Saugus Ironworks. Griswold Later, Henry Ford attempted to acquire the still much more work that could be done with