Abstract
The African Meeting House in Boston became a center of the city’s free black community during the nineteenth century. Archaeological excavations at this site recovered material from the Meeting House backlot and a neighboring apartment building occupied by black tenants. These artifacts reveal strategies the community used to negotiate a place for themselves, create economic opportunities, and build community institutions. The Meeting House helped foster community success and became a powerful center for African American action on abolition, educational equality, and military integration. The present study argues that the archaeological and historical evidence from the African Meeting House demonstrates the power of the actions of individuals in the black community to counter widespread racial inequality with personal and community success.
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Acknowledgments
This article is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0243593. Thanks to all of the students who participated in the project, especially the field crew of Joe Bonni, Kate Descoteaux, Darios Felix, Tim Hollis, Jennifer Malpiedi, Shantu Salvi, and Tom Witt. Dr. Cheryl LaRoche assisted with the research design and helped the project greatly by sharing her detailed understanding of African American History and African Diaspora archaeology. The Museum of African American History supported this project throughout, and we are especially grateful to Chandra Harrington, Diana Parcon, and Executive Director Beverly Morgan-Welch. Thanks also to Christopher Matthews, Jodi Barnes, and our other colleagues for suggestions to help clarify the article. The authors are responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation.
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Landon, D.B., Bulger, T.D. Constructing Community: Experiences of Identity, Economic Opportunity, and Institution Building at Boston’s African Meeting House. Int J Histor Archaeol 17, 119–142 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-012-0212-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-012-0212-z