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Reinterpreting Manassas: The Nineteenth-Century African American Community at Manassas National Battlefield Park

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  • Memory, Race Conflict, and Landscapes
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Abstract

The American Civil War is a watershed in United States history. One of the most important events that came from this conflict was the end of legalized enslavement of African Americans. Manassas National Battlefield Park is an excellent venue to present this history as it contains sites ranging from the period of enslavement through the Jim Crow era. These sites record the struggle of African Americans and place the battle-related events of the Civil War in historical context. The transformations that occurred within the African American community at Manassas are discussed in this paper. In addition to the battle events that transpired during the war’s five-year history, these transformations, a type of alternative history, should be presented at Manassas National Battlefield Park as well as at other Civil War battlefields across the South.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Montpelier Foundation, P.O. Box 67, Montpelier Station, VA, 22957, USA

    Matthew B. Reeves (Director of Archaeology)

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  1. Matthew B. Reeves
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Reeves, M.B. Reinterpreting Manassas: The Nineteenth-Century African American Community at Manassas National Battlefield Park. Hist Arch 37, 124–137 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376616

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