Conference Agenda

There is a dearth of substantive research concerning segregation in lumber mill towns in Florida, particularly related to Black communities. This results in a significant gap in the understanding of these sites just as they are being encountered more frequently in CRM. Using the lenses of materiality and Critical Race Theory we build a series of questions concerning how to identify Black communities archaeologically within mill sites. Detailed analysis of archaeological results, GPR, and LiDAR data alongside oral histories, historic maps, and other archival resources found that many of the mill towns in northern Florida demonstrated higher artifact density and diversity as well as variations in artifact distributions. However, smaller or shorter-term mill towns, particularly in mid to south Florida, did not share these patterns. Although records detail segregation, these towns either did not have the resources or the time to fully manifest that structure at the artifactual level.

The United States was founded on a principle of Dual Sovereignty, State and Federal. State Governments then ceded some sovereign rights to counties and municipalities. These jurisdictions are made up of privately-owned properties and buildings that come with their own sets of rights. This results in a system of nested sovereignties. In most cases, Americans of European descent have controlled each of these levels, except for Black-owned property. What happens when those layers of control emerge from Black-Centered Authority that grows from the smallest level of the individual property to the level of State Governance? North Brentwood is a small, historically Black town, whose material reality has been influenced and shaped by this system of control. This paper explores the ways that each level of Black sovereignty has shaped the lived experiences of town residents and their materiality, as observed in the archaeological record and the built environment.

In 2019, in anticipation of rail improvements through Springfield, Illinois, Fever River Research mitigated portions of five houses occupied predominately by Black tenants that were destroyed by a white mob in the 1908 Springfield Race Riot—a seminal event that led to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Subsequently, in 2022, the remains of two additional houses destroyed by the mob were excavated. This paper presents a short historical context for both Springfield’s Near North Side and the 1908 Race Riot, as well an introduction to the extensive archaeological investigations conducted at the seven houses. The data recovered has given voice to the victims of the riot and challenges the historic perceptions of the African Americans targeted.

In August 1908, seven Black-occupied houses located north of the Tenth and Madison Street intersection in Springfield, Illinois were destroyed by a white mob during the Springfield Race Riot. Recent archaeological investigations at these house sites have resulted in detailed information pertaining to the house occupants and various activities undertaken at these houses. Although archival sources suggest all seven dwellings functioned as multi-family residences at the time of the riots, the artifact assemblages recovered from several of these dwellings hint at other non-residential activities. This paper focuses on the non-domestic activities (gambling, prostitution, as well as opium and liquor consumption) documented at several of the houses located within this neighborhood.

The Springfield Railroad Improvements Project necessitated the mitigation of parts of five house sites that were burned down by a mob driven by racial hatred in August, 1908. Whereas archaeological investigations by Fever River Research have emphasized the families and individuals that were directly impacted by this event, research also provided the opportunity to better understand the history of a neighborhood where affordable housing was available close to the central business district of Illinois’ capitol city. Excavations resulted in the recovery of nearly 6,000 identified animal remains that were associated with numerous artifacts. Together these provide a unique perspective on consumer choices and foodways for working and merchant class families of various ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds who resided in the “Near North Side” from the 1840s until 1908.

Centuries before the first free-Black settlement on Manhattan Island known as Seneca Village was recorded, the Lenape people laid claim to that central spot. In addition to what has been referred to as Manahatta the indigenous civilization called the larger encompassing landmass Lenapehoking. Before and after European contact, Brown and Black people were environmental stewards and laborers of the land. As power dynamics evolved – and European dominance prevailed, contested concepts of land use, development and redevelopment left an altered landscape with scars and markings. Focusing on the people of Seneca Village whose intimacy and practices with the landscape as 19th century land sustainers, and Black environmentalists, this paper examines past interactions: the social, political and economic to examine climate change and the environmental impact of the site of land that lies within the boundaries of present-day Central Park.