Abstract
Despite the growing interest in archaeological studies of race there have been no investigations clearly negotiating race and/or racism in Philadelphia during the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. This reality is perplexing, given the prevalence of race and racism in the past and present. Though this article does not explicitly discuss recovered artifacts it does situate scientific racism at the University of Pennsylvania, White violence in response to Black male enfranchisement and the popularity of blackface minstrel shows as everyday practices used to facilitate racial hierarchies and, thus influence identities and relationships. Although these practices lack salient archaeological materiality the purpose of this article is to convey the bombardment of dehumanizing tactics endured by Black Philadelphians as measures to contextualize the unavoidable dynamics of racial and class oriented repression unto the archaeological record.
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Acknowledgments
First, thank you to Charles Orser for inviting me to contribute to this volume as well as his continued support of my work. I would like to thank Matt Kalos and Deidre Kelleher for their reviews. I am indebt to Paul Shackel, Kyle Somerville, and my loving wife, Jessica for their insightful comments and thoughtful reviews. Finally, I would like to thank David G. Orr—though I have always lived in the Philadelphia area it was not until I met Dave that I truly began to understand this amazing city.
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Barton, C.P. Tacking Between Black and White: Race Relations in Gilded Age Philadelphia. Int J Histor Archaeol 16, 634–650 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-012-0195-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-012-0195-9